Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday said members of the Florida National Guard and the Florida State Guard will go to ports where union longshoremen are on strike seeking higher pay.
“At my direction, the Florida National Guard and the Florida State Guard will be deployed to critical ports affected by the strike to maintain order and, where possible, resume operations,” DeSantis said in a post on the social-media platform X.
DeSantis also issued an executive order with additional steps to respond to “any disruptions” caused by the strike. That includes allowing the waiver of tolls and weight restrictions for trucks, as the state tries to maintain the flow of materials to areas recovering from Hurricane Helene.
“We need to accelerate. We have no time for delays,” DeSantis said Thursday during an appearance in Anna Maria. “Biden-Harris has a responsibility to stand up for the storm victims, stand up for the people who’ve had their homes damaged or who’ve lost their homes and make sure they have what they need to get back on their feet.”
With the presidential election about a month away, DeSantis and other Republicans have increasingly tried to tie effects of the strike to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee. They also have criticized the Biden administration’s response to the hurricane.
DeSantis’ event in Anna Maria came as Biden flew into Tallahassee International Airport on Thursday and went to Taylor County, where the Category 4 hurricane made landfall Sept. 26.
When asked why he didn’t meet the president in Florida, DeSantis said his event had been planned. U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., joined Biden in Taylor County.
Biden and Harris have voiced support for the striking port workers.
“This strike is about fairness. Foreign-owned shipping companies have made record profits and executive compensation has grown. The Longshoremen, who play a vital role transporting essential goods across America, deserve a fair share of these record profits,” Harris said in a statement on Wednesday.
Among other things, DeSantis’ executive order also authorized the Florida Highway Patrol to provide escorts for trucks “to ensure the continuous and expedited movement of goods, fuel, container shipments, and cargo.”
Four of Florida’s 16 ports — JAXPORT in Jacksonville, Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, PortMiami and Port Tampa Bay — are directly affected by the strike, which includes workers at ports from Maine to Texas.
The strike began Tuesday after the union could not reach a deal with the United States Maritime Alliance, which represents shipping lines, terminal operators and port authorities.
The Florida Ports Council said the strike predominantly will affect containerized cargo, which can carry items such as clothing, furniture, automobiles, construction and hurricane supplies, medical supplies and perishable goods such as fruits, vegetables and seafoods.
Cruise operations aren’t impacted.
The strike is expected to affect about one-third of the business at JAXPORT, 41 percent of cargo operations at Port Everglades and 50 percent of cargo operations at PortMiami.
–Jim Turner, News Service of Florida
Tom Hutson says
Our Baby Mussolini needs to get a life. DeSantis needs to wake up, get out of his dreamscape , he is NOT the president of the USA. No matter how hard he tries he only makes a fool of himself; he and Daddy Warbucks. He has absolutely no business inserting himself in a labor dispute. No one has asked for any assistance with this labor situation. Take your wannabe army and the Florida National Guard and send them back home. They have no authority there and neither do you . You’re just a little man wanting to be the big guy.
Joe D says
Another attempt for DeSantis to keep his name in the news, although I have no problem with his sending State guard to ports to make sure that order is maintained, and there are no clashes between strikers and other groups, and no blockages of truck transports.
However, since the Union has postponed the continuation of the Strike until January (and the Companies have offered an increase on their 50% prior salary increase offer), all this is now kind of a “non starter”…..stay tuned until January for PART 2!
Alex says
Tell DeSantis the strike is over.
James says
He is a fool, he puts his nose in things that he has no right to. He just likes to see his name in the newspapers.
Florida will be in great shape once he is no longer Governor.
Skibum says
The idiot gov issued a statement just before Biden’s visit to Tallahassee, saying he should step in and stop the longshoreman’s strike. Then he skittled out of town so he would not be seen with the president who is here to see what damage the hurricane caused in Florida’s gulf coast communities. Now that the Biden administration had already been involved in bringing both sides together to hammer out a deal, and the surprise announcement late last night that the strike is over after only 3 days, just wait and watch both the lying duo DeSantis and Trump refuse to acknowledge Biden and his staff for accomplishing exactly what they both said needed to happen because they NEVER give him or his staff credit for ANYTHING! I bet they will try to take credit themselves for something neither had any part of in the settlement talks. This is how dishonest and unethical both our horrible gov and his daddy, the “orange Jesus” are. So DeSantis will be completely silent while his FL National Guard contingent disappears from where he just sent them yesterday, and I just bet he is fuming that he just lost another talking point against the “woke Dems”. Damn them liberals for getting stuff done!
Jim says
Per usual, DeSantis makes a political move that’s just symbolic and does nothing to help anyone, anywhere, at anytime. And I wonder what the cost to us taxpayers is for this wonderful wasted move. To top it off, the strike is over so whatever it costs to activate the NG and then send them back home without doing anything at all makes me glad to pay into Florida’s tax system. If DeSantis c0uld find ways to do more of this, like say activate a crisis security team to catch all the Haitians coming into the Keys every hour (oh, wait a minute, that’s not happening; we’re just paying for this security anyway), or send more migrants from Texas to some northern Democratic state ($1.5M per pop) or maybe investigate the latest idiot trying to shoot Trump (can’t trust the Feds to do that!), maybe he’ll dig deep enough into the surplus tax funds to assure we’ll get a tax hike soon!
And, God forbid he or his Republican state reps do anything about the insurance rates we’re all paying now. Let’s concentrate on this other stuff that does absolutely nothing for anyone who has the semblance of a brain. Gotta love the culture warriors!
Nephew Of Uncle Sam says
RonDUH yelling “Curses, Foiled Again by President Biden!”
jackson says
Florida Governor is a DISGRACE!!!!!