Biden Administration in Talks to Prevent Dockworker Strike
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A trio of President Joe Biden’s aides are meeting with representatives of ocean carriers and terminal operators Sept. 27 with the aim of averting a strike that could shutter every major container port on the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coasts — while also signaling the White House won’t intervene to force workers back to the docks if they walk out.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard are urging the United States Maritime Alliance to get to the bargaining table, according to a White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to detail the discussions.
The official didn’t say who the officials are meeting with from the USMX, as the employer group is known, and said the Biden aides have also been in touch with the International Longshoremen’s Association this week to deliver the same message.
The USMX has accused the dockworker union of engaging in unfair labor practices and has asked the National Labor Relations Board to require the union to resume bargaining in the final days before their contract expires on Sept. 30.
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ILA President Harold Daggett has been telling union members to prepare for a strike for months and has pledged that dockworkers will walk out on Oct. 1 if there’s no deal on a new six-year contract. The USMX says the union has repeatedly refused to bargain since canceling negotiations earlier this summer.
The Biden administration has no plans to invoke Taft-Hartley powers that could break a strike, the official said. Biden has never used the power and brands himself as the most pro-union president in American history.
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Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump are both battling for rank-and-file union votes in their race for the White House.
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