This Popular Fruit Might Be Disappearing From Grocery Stores Soon

If someone were to ask you what your favorite fruit is, what would you say? I figure that the response of apples, oranges, bananas, and grapes would be fairly common. Well, at least one of those popular fruits is at risk of being a scarce commodity in grocery stores. If a dockworker strike occurs, fresh fruit from South America and abroad could see their shipments stuck on US Docks. Here's what we know about the looming strike.

According to Fox Business "The International Longshoremen's Association, or ILA, is negotiating on behalf of the 45,000 dockworkers at three dozen U.S. ports that collectively handle about half of the nation's seaborne imports. The group said its members are prepared to stop working if they do not have a new contract by Oct. 1."

IF that were to happen, it would basically shut down the East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, where a majority of fresh fruit, and other items like plywood come into our country from places abroad.

You'd have ships sitting off the coast, or forced to turn back with literal tons of fresh fruit waiting to be offloaded, and if you know a thing or two about anything fresh, it doesn't stay that way for long.

So what do the dock workers want?

Fox Business reports that the ILA has "demanded an 80% pay raise over six years, in addition to other demands, claiming that workers deserve a share of profits foreign-owned container carriers received during the pandemic. The group is also demanding more restrictive language on automation, arguing that some companies are using technology in violation of the current contract"

Hopefully, this gets resolved by October 1st, as I don't think my wallet can handle another price hike at the grocery store, and I don't want to find bananas on some fruit black market.