Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
Cleo Winfield has worked at a warehouse located inside the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal<\/a> in South Philadelphia<\/a> for 22 years, stacking bananas and other cargo that are unloaded from ships docked on the Delaware River.<\/p>\n Now his job is at risk. <\/p>\n The warehouse, currently operated by an affiliate of Holt Logistics Corp.<\/a> and staffed by members of a longshoremen\u2019s union, is expected to be razed to make space on the terminal to stack more shipping containers.<\/p>\n As part of a port development plan, the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PhilaPort)<\/a> \u2014 the Pennsylvania state agency that owns the city\u2019s seaport facilities and leases them to private tenants \u2014 has built a new taxpayer-funded, Holt-operated warehouse a mile from the Packer Avenue terminal. <\/p>\n Gloucester City-based Holt says it has a deal to staff the new facility with workers represented by Teamsters Local 929. Holt has longshore work available for the members of International Longshoremen\u2019s Association Local 1291<\/a>, the company says, but it has been unable to reach an agreement with the union. A contract extension expired in June.<\/p>\n The ILA counters that such an arrangement would strip Winfield and 30 other warehouse workers of their seniority \u2014 sacrificing wages and benefits they\u2019ve accrued over the years.<\/p>\n He and the other ILA members who attended Monday\u2019s union meeting in Port Richmond<\/a> voted unanimously to authorize a potential strike \u201cif and when necessary,\u201d a development that would require approval from their parent organization.<\/p>\n \u201cBeen there so long. That\u2019s really all I know, man,\u201d said Winfield, 57. \u201cRaised my family with that job, put my son through college, man. I\u2019m still paying the student loan on that. \u2026 I just want to be able to take care of my family.\u201d<\/p>\n Holt said in a statement that the workers are all \u201cproductive and hardworking ILA members.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cTo be clear, there is more than enough terminal and stevedoring work for these men at Packer, and we remain interested in bringing them on if the ILA agrees,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n Regardless of the outcome, the episode has laid bare growing pains at the Port of Philadelphia, which has seen hundreds of millions of dollars of public and private investment over the past decade \u2014 as well as disputes over competition<\/a> and labor. That includes $85 million in state funds that were allocated to the new 165,500-square-foot warehouse, according to PhilaPort. Holt invested $81 million in the building. <\/p>\n Boise Butler, president of ILA Local 1291, said he wants Holt to be a healthy employer. \u201cBut don\u2019t screw them,\u201d he said, motioning to his members. \u201cDon\u2019t screw us. OK? Because it\u2019s not necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n Port development<\/p>\n Philly\u2019s port is relatively small compared to the biggest U.S. container ports, but it\u2019s seen steady growth in recent years and is a major gateway for refrigerated cargo, especially fresh fruit<\/a>.<\/p>\n Container volumes have more than doubled since 2016, from about 400,000 units that year to almost 900,000<\/a> in 2025.<\/p>\n During that time, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed the three-decade-long deepening<\/a> of the Delaware River from 40 to 45 feet, which allowed the port to accommodate bigger ships.<\/p>\n And Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf\u2019s administration invested more than $500 million in Philadelphia\u2019s port expansion. That included more than $120 million for a distribution center near Packer Avenue featuring two warehouses totaling 365,000 square feet. <\/p>\n