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Port officials brace for potential strike by dockworkers along the East Coast
Authorities are gearing up as a threatened strike by dockworkers at ports along the East Coast and Gulf Coast draws closer.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is “coordinating with partners across the supply chain to prepare for any impacts” from a possible work stoppage by workers represented by the International Longshoremen’s Association as they negotiate with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), a Port Authority spokesperson told CBS MoneyWatch on Friday.
“We urge both sides to find common ground and keep the cargo flowing for the good of the national economy,” added the spokesperson, noting that $240 billion in goods move through the two ports each year and that such trade supports more than 600,000 local jobs.
According to the union, a strike would affect ports from Maine to Texas. A stoppage could involve up to 45,000 workers at ports that account for roughly 60% of U.S. shipping traffic, leading to a major disruption of shipments, Oxford Economics said in a report.
“Even a two-week strike could disrupt supply chains until 2025,” Grace Zwemmer, associate U.S. economist with Oxford, said in the report.
Key deadline looms
The ILA has threatened to strike if a new labor agreement with East Coast port terminal and shipping companies represented by the USMX is not reached by the time the current contract expires on October 1.
Although the sides continue to negotiate, the odds of a rare strike that threatens to shut down some of the nation’s busiest ports are rising.
“There will be a shutdown, assuming that there’s is no intervention, at midnight on Monday the 30th,” Bethann Rooney, director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the nation’s second-busiest port, told a briefing earlier in the week.
Should that occur, all activity loading and unloading cargo containers and automobiles would come to a standstill, while cruise ships would continue to operate, Rooney said.
The Port Authority isn’t involved in the bargaining between the ILA and USMX, bur rather leases space at the ports to shipping companies. Terminal operators and ocean carriers are “working to bring in as many ships as possible” ahead of a potential walkout, said Rooney.
Those steps include “working with truckers and the rail carriers to get as much cargo out as humanly possible, as quickly as possible,” the port director said.
A race to unload
The two ports are currently unloading about 20 large container ships a week, and they expect 150,000 containers to be unloaded ahead of the strike deadline, Rooney said.
“At the same time, ocean carriers are beginning to put essentially embargoes on export cargo “so that it doesn’t come into East and Gulf coast ports and then wind up sitting there,” she said.
Container ships carrying imports bound for Newark and Elizabeth in New Jersey and Staten Island in New York City will end up moored at specified spots in New York Harbor or off the coast during the strike, or remain at sea until they can come in. The Coast Guard and U.S. customs and Border Protection would oversee arriving ships at the port facilities once a strike was over.
The ILA union walked away from the bargaining table in June, declaring that a type of automation introduced at the Port of Mobile in Alabama was in violation of the current contract.
Based in North Bergen, New Jersey, the ILA represents 85,000 workers across the East and Gulf Coasts. The union is demanding sizable wage increases for its members as well as protection from job-killing automation.
The USMX has said it has not been able to schedule new bargaining sessions with the union.
“It is disappointing that we have reached this point where the ILA is unwilling to reopen dialogue unless all of its demands are met,” USMX said Tuesday in an update. “The only way to resolve this impasse is to resume negotiations, which we are willing to do at any time.”
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Canadian teen in critical condition with suspected case of bird flu
A Canadian teen is hospitalized in critical condition with what is believed to be bird flu, a British Columbia health official said Tuesday.
It’s not clear how the teenager picked up the virus, which has been detected recently in wild birds and poultry in the province, said Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer. The teen is not known to have any contact with infected animals, she said.
Officials have released few details about the patient. Henry said the teen was healthy before developing symptoms more than a week ago — initially eye redness, cough and fever — and has been hospitalized with a respiratory illness since Friday in Vancouver.
Initial testing indicated the infection is from bird flu. Officials believe it is the Type A H5N1 bird flu, but are awaiting confirmation. H5N1 has been spreading widely in the U.S. among wild birds, poultry, cows and a number of other animals.
In Canada, testing has been done on about three dozen people who were in contact with the teen. None of them have evidence of infection, Henry said.
Officials are trying to figure out how the teen was infected, although Henry said that may never be determined. In British Columbia, the virus has been detected in poultry, wild birds and some small animals, mostly when birds are migrating through the area.
The Canadian case was in the Fraser Valley area in southern British Columbia.
So far this year, at least 46 people in the U.S. — mostly farmworkers — have tested positive with mostly mild symptoms.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 21 of those patients were in California, 11 in Washington, 10 in Colorado, two in Michigan and one each in Missouri and Texas.
The source of the disease was traced to either cattle or poultry in all but one of the U.S. cases. The source in the lone Missouri case was unknown, the CDC said.
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DOC NYC documentary film festival showcases real life on screen
DOC NYC, America’s largest documentary film festival, returns Wednesday for its 14th edition in New York City, with films available for viewing both in-person and online.
The festival showcases an international lineup of more than 200 feature-length and short films, including many world, North American and NYC premieres. Held in-person Nov. 13-21 at venues in Manhattan, the festival also streams many features online through Dec. 1. (For tickets and streaming passes click here.)
The festival also includes filmmaker Q&As, panel discussions, master classes and workshops with notable documentarians and industry insiders.
The full lineup may be viewed here.
Special events
The festival’s opening night feature is the U.S. premiere of “Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story,” Sinéad O’Shea’s revealing portrait of the defiant Irish novelist. O’Brien’s sexually-infused stories of women pushing against societal expectations, beginning with “The Country Girls,” raised the ire of Catholic sensibilities and censors, but won her fans for her clear-eyed depictions of youth and innocence being shattered.
Cleverly piecing together archival footage and TV appearances, recent interviews with O’Brien (who died in July at age 93), and clips from films adapted from her works, with actress Jessie Buckley voicing the novelist’s books and diaries, O’Shea gives voice to a woman, inspired by the writings of James Joyce, who sought her rightful place at the table of Irish literati. (Screens Nov. 13, online Nov. 14-Dec. 1.)
The centerpiece selection is the world premiere of “All God’s Children,” Ondi Timoner’s story of a rabbi and a pastor working to bring their Brooklyn communities together amid rising racial and religious tensions. (Screens Nov. 14, 16, online Nov. 15-Dec. 1.)
The closing night feature is the world premiere of Peter Yost and Michael Rohatyn’s “Drop Dead City: New York on the Brink in 1975,” about how Gotham cratered in the 1970s, thanks to a budget crisis, rising poverty, and a political and banking establishment that was ready to cut the city loose. Still the greatest city in the world, though! (Screens Nov. 21.)
Special presentations include: “2073,” Oscar-winner Asif Kapadia’s fictional documentary from the future about what we might expect to happen, given the way things are going now; “Architecton” examines mankind’s relationship with architecture, from ancient ruins to contemporary cityscapes; “The Ride Ahead” follows a young man with a rare neurodevelopmental disorder navigating the challenges of life; and “Thom Browne: The Man Who Tailors Dreams” profiles the iconoclastic fashion designer.
World premieres
Other notable world premieres include the Alex Gibney-produced “The Bibi Files,” Alexis Bloom’s expose into the corruption investigations involving Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that led to his 2019 indictment. (An Israeli judged rejected Netanyahu’s demands that the film be blocked from public screenings. The corruption case against the prime minister is still ongoing.)
In the HBO documentary “Surveilled,” Ronan Farrow investigates companies that sell spyware and hacking tools to governments, which use them to surveille political activists, watchdogs and journalists. Farrow talks with software developers who explain why you’ll never know your phone has been compromised.
“Isla Familia” follows independent journalist Abraham Jiménez and his wife, producer Claudia Calviño, whose harassment by Cuban authorities leads to their living in exile in Spain. In “Mothers of Chibok,” families in a Nigerian village contend with the kidnapping of their daughters by Boko Haram.
Can comedy be therapeutic? “Anxiety Club” showcases comedians who channel their unease, agitation and apprehension into their acts.
The standup comic Gallagher became famous for smashing watermelons with a giant sledgehammer, and then seemed to fall off the map. Josh Forbes, a longtime fan, traces the path taken by Leo Gallagher, who was still trying to shake off the label “prop comic” in the years before his death in 2022, in the film “Gallagher.”
“Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse” follows the graphic artist and culture critic acclaimed for his Holocaust-themed “Maus,” who became a leading voice against book bans and Trumpism.
In “Front Row,” the United Ukrainian Ballet Company, engaged in an international tour as their country is gripped by war, offers comfort to a wounded Ukrainian soldier, who learns to dance with prosthetic legs. “After The Rain: Putin’s Stolen Children Come Home” examines the recovery of Ukrainian children, rescued following their abduction by Russian forces, and the healing they receive, among horses and dogs, at an animal therapy retreat.
“Spacewoman” profiles astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command the Space Shuttle. “Facing the Wind” follows the overwhelming difficulties faced by two women, Lida and Carla, who are each caring for spouses living with Lewy body dementia. Director Justin Schein takes a personal view of his father, Harvey Schein, a record company CEPO with an obsession about the estate tax, in “Death & Taxes.”
During World War II, Bruno Lohse, Hermann Göring’s art agent in Paris, facilitated the theft of masterpieces owned by French and Dutch families. But the end of the war didn’t end his work in the international art market. “Plunderer” looks at how he got away with stealing for the Nazis.
In “Yalla Parkour,” filmmaker Areeb Zuaiter takes a unique perspective among the ruins of Gaza, through the athleticism of parkour.
“Looking for Simone” explores the ramifications on feminism from the publication, in 1949, of Simone de Beauvoir’s “The Second Sex,” and the journey she took across America during the research of her manifesto.
“Nature of the Crime” follows three incarcerated men facing the bureaucracy of the parole process.
Satish Bhaskar, the “Turtle Walker” of the title, traces the Indian coastline to document the nesting areas of endangered sea turtles, and the threats to their survival.
In “Unearth,” local and Indigenous residents of the Bristol Bay area of Alaska fight the proposed development of mining near their homes.
Stories of resilience
Natalia Zubkova, a citizen journalist and mother in Russia, fields threats and harassment as she investigates corruption involving Russian authorities and the coal industry, in “Black Snow.” “Afterwar” is a coming-of-age story of children who grew up in war-torn Kosovo.
In “My Sweet Land,” director Sareen Hairabedian follows 11-year-old Vrej, an Armenian boy, whose family and village are disrupted when the neighboring country of Azerbaijan invades. Women in the Republic of Artsakh fight for their land in “There Was, There Was Not.” In “Forest,” a Polish family living an idyllic life in a remote cabin is confronted with the political implications of Europe’s migrant crisis.
“Sudan, Remember Us” follows young activists during the Sudanese revolution. In “All The Mountains Give,” two Kurdish men smuggle goods across the Iran-Iraq border. In “Flavors of Iraq,” French-born journalist Feurat Alani uses animation to tell the story of his complicated connection to his parents’ homeland.
The debilitating effects of PTSD on Navy SEAL veterans, and an experimental, hallucinogenic drug treatment, is examined in “In Waves and War.” Actors from Haiti and the Dominican Republic recreate the traumas of a 1930s genocide in “Twice Into Oblivion.”
Music
Profiles of musicians include documentaries about the rock group Steppenwolf (“Born to be Wild: The Story of Steppenwolf”); the absurdist counterculture band “Devo”; The Black Keys (“This Is A Film About The Black Keys.”); keyboardist and songwriter Billy Preston (“Billy Preston: That’s The Way God Planned It”); songwriter Diane Warren (“Diane Warren: Relentless”); trans singer Jackie Shayne (“Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story”); punker Harley Flanagan (“Harley Flanagan: Wired for Chaos”); singer-songwriter Janis Ian (“Janis Ian: Breaking Silence”); and the world of Steely Dan, Toto and Christopher Cross (“Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary”). And then, there is “Disco’s Revenge,” which traces the fall of the ’70s dance beat and its rebirth as house music.
Sports and Endurance
“Southpaw: The Life and Legacy of Jim Abbott” looks at the remarkable life and career of the New York Yankee pitcher born without a right hand. “Moses – 13 Steps” tracks how Olympian Edwin Moses used physics to triumph in the 400-meter hurdles.
Based on the New York Times bestseller, “76 Days Adrift” tells the story of Steve Callahan, who was stranded on a life raft in the Atlantic Ocean for nearly three months after his sailboat met with disaster. Aerial cinematographer and skydiver Joe Jennings is the subject of “Space Cowboy,” in which he attempts to film a car loaded with passengers as it hurtles towards the ground.
Profiles
“Beyond The Gaze: Jule Campbell’s Swimsuit Issue” explores the history of Sports Illustrated’s annual Swimsuit Issue and the editor behind it. The Iranian singer and actress Googoosh, whose career was stifled when she was placed under house arrest, made a comeback internationally, and now speaks out against the regime in Tehran, in “Googoosh – Made Of Fire.”
The fashion designer’s business success and activism are explored in “A Man With Sole: The Impact of Kenneth Cole.” “Man From Pretentia” profiles Paul Bridgewater, a gay NYC art dealer with an impeccable eye and a less-impeccable grasp of money.
“Petra Kelly – Act Now!” tells the story of the co-founder of German Green Party. “Shaking It Up: The Life and Times of Liz Carpenter” is a portrait of the journalist, activist and White House advisor.
“We All Bleed Red” examines the relationship New York photographer Martin Schoeller has with his subjects, from celebrities to those living on the margins. “What’s Next?” is the question posed to Dr. Howard Tucker, who at the age of 100 is recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest practicing doctor.
Georgina, a transgender woman in her early seventies and a member of the indigenous Wayúu tribe, travels across the Colombian desert to the family that rejected her, in “Soul of the Desert.” Filmmaker Rachel Elizabeth Seed delves into the archives of her late mother, journalist Sheila Turner Seed, to reconnect with her, and her legacy, in “A Photographic Memory.”
Other festival entries
A blind Anglican priest, after living without sight for nearly four decades, becomes one of the first people to receive an experimental bionic eye implant, in “Light Darkness Light.” In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, three Minneapolis women work to continue fighting injustice in “The People’s Way.” During COVID, millions of Indian farmers protested exploitative farm laws by marching to New Delhi, in “Farming the Revolution.”
Eddie Huang takes an irreverent tour of the rise and fall of the Vice media empire, which he watched fall into bankruptcy, in “Vice Is Broke.” “Balomania” enters the Brazil’s favelas to explore the world of baloeiros (men who create and compete with hot air balloons), a sub-sculture that doesn’t let its illegality get in the way. A group of Rhode Island artists who lost their living space to the developers of a shopping mall takes action by creating an illicit living space within the mall. Their secret, four-year residency is documented in “Secret Mall Apartment.”
Following a month-long ordeal when their village was occupied by Russian forces, the residents of Yahidne, in northern Ukraine, try to come to grips with a less-than-normal life in “The Basement.” “The Sing Sing Chronicles” goes inside the New York correctional facility.
Michael Premo’s “Homegrown” follows three Trump supporters who zealously join the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. A monument to the values of the Confederacy – a giant stone carving of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson – looms over Stone Mountain, Georgia, and over America’s current conversation about race and history, in “Stone Mountain.”
Parents of children with dyslexia, finding little support in New York City public schools, create the Literacy Academy Collective to help further their children’s education, in “Left Behind.” The war between renters and landlords/developers, with the outcome of unsafe housing and gentrification, is documented in “Slumlord Millionaire.”
Two aging artists — photographer Joel Meyerowitz and artist-writer Maggie Barrett — try to enact the lessons learned from previous relationships as they face the last chapter of their lives, together, in “Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other.”
“G – 21 Scenes From Gottsunda” tells the stories of immigrant families in a suburb of Uppsala, Sweden, a community that has suffered from drugs and gang activity. In “Roleplay,” college students create a play based on their campus experiences involving sexual identity and power.
The Negev Desert in Israel was used as a location for the 1988 Sylvester Stallone action film “Rambo III.” Daniel Mann looks at the desert’s importance over time as the tribal home of Bedouin, in “Under A Blue Sun.” “Welcome Interplanetary and Sidereal Space Conquerors” recounts the unique role that Colombia played for NASA during the Cold War Space Race.
“The White House Effect” looks back at how past administrations, from those of Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, responded to the growing climate crisis. In “The Battle for Laikipia,” Kenyan nomads and ranchers are both devasted by drought, stirring tensions that have existed for generations.
Years after having given up their baby for adoption, a Korean couple tracks down the young woman, raised in the Netherlands, in “Between Goodbyes.” Poet Stacyann Chin struggles with the fallout of being abandoned by her mother as a baby, while raising her own child in New York City, in “A Mother Apart,”
The son of a 60-year-old Chilean gold miner creates a machine to spare his father from the toil of labor in “The Fabulous Gold Harvesting Machine”
A Chinese woman, upon discovering her husband is having an affair, hires an agency to rescue her marriage in “Mistress Dispeller” “Bad Reputation” follows a Uruguayan activist fighting to establish a union for current and former sex workers.
Armed with 8mm archival footage, filmmaker Farahnaz Sharifi creates an alternative reality for life lived under the oppressive government of Tehran, magnifying how Iran’s Islamic Revolution affected the public and private lives of women, in “My Stolen Planet.” Native Hawaiian mothers and daughters fight to stop construction of a massive telescope on the sacred slopes of Mauna Kea in “Standing Above the Clouds”
Dancer-choreographer Hadar Ahuvia explores the Palestinian-Israeli relationship through dance in “Everything You Have Is Yours.”
Los Angeles Times journalist Rosanna Xia investigates the dumping of half a million barrels of DDT waste in the ocean in “Out Of Plain Sight.”
Also showing are episodes of the limited series “Conbody vs Everybody,” from director Debra Granik (“Leave No Trace”), and “Eyes on the Prize III: We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest.”
The festival also showcases recent acclaimed documentaries from Sundance, Tribeca and other festivals, including “Black Box Diaries,” “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin,” “Dahomey,” “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat,” “Porcelain War,” and “Eternal You.”
There are also numerous programs of short films, available in packages.
Screenings are held at the IFC Center, SVA Theatre, and Village East by Angelika theaters.
For complete program descriptions, schedules and ticket/streaming information, visit docnyc.net.
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