Port strike threatens to harm Lansing International Grocery Store

• About 45,000 longshoremen from Maine to Texas are striking for better pay and a ban on automation jobs
• The strike threatens to harm a Lansing company that relies on imported products
• The video shows a business owner expressing concern about the impact of the strike on his business

Hemm Magar-Lungeli woke up at 3 a.m. Wednesday morning to drive to Chicago and pick up imported products he normally gets from Detroit.
An order he placed failed two weeks after he placed it, forcing him to drive an extra two hours to get the products his customers wanted to buy from his store.

Magar-Lungeli, co-owner of International Food Mart in Lansing, says this is one fallout from a strike by thousands of longshoremen on the East and Gulf Coasts.

WATCH: PORT WORKERS ON STRIKE AT PORTS FROM MAINE TO TEXAS, A standoff leading to new shortages

Longshoremen at ports from Maine to Texas are on strike, and a standoff poses the risk of new shortages

“Sometimes it’s ups and downs,” Magar-Lungeli said, describing business in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Magar-Lungeli said the cost of items like chicken and fish has not returned to pre-pandemic prices since 2020.

The strike would only worsen the situation, which he believes is becoming increasingly difficult.

“If we don’t have it, we can’t make money and pay the bills,” Magar-Lungeli said.

Magar-Lungeli says the company has been around since 2013 and he relies on Hope and his neighbors to keep it going through another difficult period.

“We are opening this store to help our local communities. If we don’t have that, it will be very bad for us,” Magar-Lungeli said. “Please help us and we will help you too.”

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