Biden’s Longshoreman Strike
He wanted Big Labor to have more power. He’s got it—as the union shuts down East and Gulf Coast ports.
We hope you’re stocked up on bananas because supermarkets may soon be out. As the South works to recover from Hurricane Helene, a strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) at East and Gulf Coast ports is about to add to the economic damage. President Biden wants unions to have extortionary bargaining power, and he’s getting a demonstration of it on election eve. Congratulations.
The 50,000-member ILA walked off the job Monday at midnight after the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), the coalition of employers at East and Gulf ports, didn’t meet its costly demands. “We’ll shut them down,” ILA president Harold Daggett declared, and that’s what the union is doing. The strike at these ports is the first since 1977 and could cost the U.S. economy as much as $4.5 billion a day according to J.P. Morgan.
Businesses last week urged the Administration to intervene to head off a strike, but Biden officials took the side of the longshoremen. “This weekend, senior officials have been in touch with USMX representatives urging them to come to a fair agreement fairly and quickly—one that reflects the success of the companies,” White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson said Sunday. This echoes the union’s line that port employers need to pay up because they are profitable. Most workers would jump at the 50% pay increase that USMX has offered over six years. But the ILA is demanding a 77% pay raise to $69 an hour—which is more than West Coast longshoremen, who earn roughly $233,000 a year on average in wages and overtime, plus $99,474 in benefits.
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