Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday he will deploy the Florida National Guard and Florida State Guard to ports affected by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) strike.
In an X/Twitter post, the governor stated that guard members will be deployed to ports affected by the strike “to maintain order and, where possible, resume operations at ports which are otherwise shut down.”
“Disrupting the distribution of food, equipment, and supplies as the Southeast U.S. recovers from Hurricane Helene is unacceptable,” DeSantis said in the post. “Floridians need a reliable, steady supply of resources and building materials to keep their families fed and rebuild their homes and businesses.”
In the post, DeSantis said the Florida Highway Patrol will manage the flow of traffic from all Florida seaports as needed to further speed the flow of goods held up by the strike. He said the Highway Patrol will provide escorts for commercial motor vehicles upon request.
“Unlike the federal government, Florida is taking decisive action to ensure that our economy continues to function and that victims of Hurricane Helene will have access to what they need to rebuild,” DeSantis continued.
The governor also ordered the Florida Department of Transportation to waive the collection of tolls and fees as well as size and weight restrictions for commercial vehicles to speed the transportation of goods and reduce operational costs.
Four of Florida’s ports – Port Everglades, Port Miami, Port Tampa Bay and Jaxport (Jacksonville) – are being impacted by the ILA strike, which is in its third day.
Mike Pellegrini
Hahaha! I wish the strike had gone on a couple more days so Gov Ron could have shown everyone how he was gonna open up the ports.
Short of forcing the striking longshoremen to work at the point of machine guns, there’s no way at all he could have actually accomplished anything. Speaking as a retired longshoreman (ILWU), ports are very complicated places, with complicated, very specialized equipment. It’s extremely unlikely Gov Ron has any Guardsmen with experience driving a container crane, a top pick, a sidepick, straddle carrier or transtainer. And the same is true with the terminal information systems – they’re very specialized and user-unfriendly.
If Gaurdsmen had been let loose trying to operate that sort of equipment, the only possible result would have been damaged containers, damaged equipment and possible dead Guardsmen.
What a blowhard moron!
Pepe Galleta
Thank you Mr. Governor. Fire them all, get rid off the union and hire people who want and need to work.
Michelle james
Now that’s a great Leader…He has my vote….xoxo
Jeff
Says the people whining for more pay when Americans are suffering from a disaster. Situational awareness Jack Wagon. Nice election year stunt trying to force the sitting President to intervene on your behalf in last quarter of the election because you can’t reach an agreement with your employer for more pay. It’s a stunt alright.
jgreaders
IMO, The International Longshoremen’s Association (a mandatory labor union) is a forced labor monopoly that prevents new workers and innovation for lowering costs. They prevent opportunities to other workers and solutions that can do better at serving customers at lower costs. I would not reward these destructive threats by The International Longshoremen’s Association.
Andrew W Chaney
Common sense leadership
Zeff Lomaski
So the “party of principle” (lol) now is the party of forced labor.
But of course one should expect nothing less from these duplicitous gangsters.
Ron deStupidFace
What a grandstanding jackass.