North Dakota AG Commissioner weighs in on port workers strike, economy

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — The union on strike since Tuesday at ports along the East and Gulf Coasts are heading back to work Friday after a tentative deal over wages is reached.

Economists say if the strike continues it would cost the U.S. economy greatly.

With the thousands of dockworkers still on strike, it is estimated that if the strike continues for a week the U.S. economy will lose about $2.1 billion.

North Dakota AG Commissioner Doug Goehring says, “Besides just fruits and vegetables and food items, you have a lot of other products like electronics. You have other machinery, you have vehicles, you have certain other components that they don’t just make it to the consumer.”

Doug Goehring, the North Dakota AG Commissioner, has seen that the strike has taken effect on North Dakotans with meat, pork, and chicken. But the other concern on the commissioner’s mind is from when a previous strike took place in 2012, it left manufacturers not wanting to work with the markets again.

He says, “That was devastating to agriculture. In fact we never really recovered from that, we lost business that we never got back and it was simply because they couldn’t trust our markets anymore. They couldn’t trust the infrastructure and delivery system.”

While there hasn’t been much of a hit to consumers themselves, the Commissioner wants people to not buy items in bulk.

“Buy what you need, buy a little extra, but don’t go overboard,” says Goehring.

CNN reports that there is not yet a final agreement on the complete contract.