Fifty thousand dock workers from ports spanning Maine to Texas have gone on strike, creating a massive problem for both the import and export of goods into the United States. The affected ports are responsible for roughly half of all US imports and oversee billions of dollars of monthly trade. Something of an October surprise, the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) has initiated a protest that- unlike many union matters- will begin to affect a vast majority of Americans within a week.
Perishable goods, such as produce, will begin to dwindle on shelves in a few days, with the price of existing supplies rising with demand. Within a month, other goods, such as foreign made automobiles, furniture, and liquor, will become scarcer.
Negotiations with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) seem stalled, with massive gaps between the two sides. USMX negotiates on behalf of terminal operators, port authorities, and major foreign-owned shipping lines. ILA has not gone on strike since 1977, and the implications of the current situation are bleak. Not only will consumers and domestic distributors feel the pain of picketing, but those seeking to export their products to other nations as well.
The ILA is seeking significant wage increases, alongside promises against implementing automation at the ports, which would reduce the workforce substantially. They maintain that shipping rates skyrocketed during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Some experts believe that the profits within the shipping industry between 2020 and 2023 are larger than they have been during the total lifespan of containerized shipping- some 60 years. In response, the ILA is requesting a 70% pay increase over the six-year lifespan of the contract and aggressive promises against future automation.
For his part, President Biden has thus far declined to act. Hundreds of business owners, alongside the United States Chamber of Commerce, pled with the President to act in anticipation of the shutdown, which is his purview under the Taft-Hartley Act. His predecessor, George W. Bush, used similar mechanisms in 2002 to prevent a short lockout of union members that would have disrupted trade to a significantly lesser degree.
Also known as the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, the Republican-passed law limits the activities and powers of labor unions within the United States despite an attempted veto by Democratic President Harry Truman. Notwithstanding his resistance, Truman enacted the law twelve times during the remainder of his Presidency. The law essentially allows the President to prevent workers from walking off a job for 80 days, during which time negotiations can be finalized while labor continues.
President Biden has said on record that he doesn't believe in the Taft-Hartley Act and intends to allow collective bargaining to unfold organically. Despite issuing nearly 140 executive orders, including many that the Supreme Court has overturned for bypassing Congressional approval, the President will now sit silently and allow the American economy to crumble even further than it has under his administration. Someone ought to inform Sleepy Joe that his lame duck period isn't yet meant to begin, and he is still the active President of the United States of America.
Biden has been no stranger to executive orders, and many have been found out of legal bounds. From vaccine mandates to immigration protocols, even rules regarding COVID-19 testing on cruise ships, the President has not been shy thus far in using his pen for politics. However, as the nation faces down one of the greatest economic crises of his recent memory, he has declined entirely to act even with congressional approval through the Tuft-Hartley Act. While he may be trying to take a stand in favor of union labor, given the recent decline of the Teamsters to endorse a candidate, he has obviously yet to consider the optics of the current strike.
JPMorgan analysts predict that the costs of strike-related shutdowns could reach 5 billion dollars daily, not including knock-on effects such as warehouses and trucking companies having less cargo to hold and move. Even apart from a reduction in import and export, many other unions will not cooperate in activities that circumvent the ILA. Teamsters Union President Sean O'Brien said on social media the night before the strike, "Teamsters do not cross picket lines." In other words, any unionized organization that might help to mitigate the shutdown will likely opt out, leaving Americans high and dry.
Trump has come out in favor of enacting the Taft-Hartley Act and blames the strike itself on Biden-era inflation. He indicated, "Everybody understands the dockworkers because they were decimated by this inflation, just like everybody else in our country." The strike itself and its preceding negotiations underscore the dramatic shift in the economy post-COVID, and how American workers must exponentially increase their own income or risk being left behind. While only major unions can actually attempt such high-stakes discussions, labor as a whole has been overlooked while many corporations enjoy record profits. Allowing ILA workers to eat cake is the ultimate insult from the Washington elite, and the Trump/Vance team seems significantly more sympathetic to both sides.
The situation does not look good for Kamala and her Democratic cronies, no matter how they try to distance themselves from King Biden. Scores of people will be visiting the polls next month out of work or struggling to find hours sufficient to fund their lifestyles. Others will be suffering under the increased price of scarce goods, which will begin to run out by month's end. All on the tail of a massive Hurricane Helene, which literally destroyed small towns and killed dozens of people, leaving many others without food and water. Biden's resistance to action reads as a total abandonment of the American population and should likewise reflect poorly on Kamala. Even as she frantically tries to distinguish herself from the President, she has been his consigliere for nearly four years and quite capable of influencing or directing White House action.
No current negotiation is ongoing between the ILA and the USMX. The USMX has not released a statement, but ILA President Harold Daggett asserted, "If we have to be out here a month or two… this world will collapse."
How will the dock workers' strike impact the election? Should President Biden implement Tuft-Hartley to bring an end to the protest?
Hilary Gunn is a Connecticut native with a degree in Criminal Justice from the George Washington University. She works for a nonprofit and has previously collaborated with the CT GOP as an activist, political campaign manager and field director, and social media organizer. She is currently serving in her fourth term of municipal office and has previously acted as a delegate on the Republican Town Committee.