Rolling for Initiative is a weekly column by Scott Thorne, PhD, owner of Castle Perilous Games & Books in Carbondale, Illinois and instructor in marketing at Southeast Missouri State University.  This week, Thorne discusses the dockworker's strike and the decision by Wizards of the Coast to take the Commander format's oversight in house.

The strike by members of the International Longshoremen's Association came to an end after about three days, instead of dragging out for days or weeks as some had feared (see "Dockworkers Agree to Suspend Strike").  A suspension of the strike also came before President Biden had to overcome his initial reluctance to use his power under the Taft-Hartley Act to order the striking dockworkers back to work, something that he, as the self-proclaimed "most pro-union President in history" would be loath to do.  If the strike had continued to drag out, it would've left shortages of consumer products on the shelves, which would have potentially had repercussions in the upcoming election.  Getting the strike wrapped up, or at least negotiations pushed into next year, was about as good an outcome as we could expect for the moment, save for an actual contract instead of pushing negotiations into next year.

A continuation of the strike would've hurt the economy in general, as imported perishable fruits, vegetables, and seafood, as well as a percentage of manufactured goods, enter the country through East Coast ports, meaning the country may have started seeing shortages of those items in three weeks or so.  The game and comic industries would've been hurt less, as a majority of the products for those industries enter the U.S. through ports on the West Coast, which were not affected by the strike.

We may still have to go through a strike again come the middle of January 2025, since the current contract only remains in effect until then.  The tentative agreement will raise dockworker's wages by some 62% over the next six years, from an average of $39 per hour, or $81,000 per year, to about $63 per hour.  The use of automation at east coast ports, which the ILA fears will put a large number of its membership out of work, is something that needs further negotiations.

The rest of the supply chain would certainly benefit from increased automation as shipments from port to final destination would speed up, with truck drivers saying they can get in and out of automated west coast ports in less than an hour compared to the one to three hours it takes on the east coast.

Hopefully the frenzy generated by the Commander Rules Committee's decision to ban Jeweled Lotus, Dockside Extortionist and Mana Crypt will be quelled now that the RC has been disbanded and its functions taken in house and assigned to Wizards of the Coast's game design team. Members of the Committee were, from what I understand, volunteers and receiving threats as a result of the banning (see "Magic the Gathering Commander Rules Committee Agrees to Fire Itself").

Given how much money Magic the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons bring in to Hasbro and WotC, relinquishing rules decisions to a volunteer organization with minimal oversight from WotC, seems a particularly ad hoc way to treat the brand (especially given that Commander is the most popular Magic format).  It will be interesting to see what happens with more direct control from WotC over it.

Comments?  Send them to castleperilousgames@gmail.com.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.