ILA Strike Watch 2024: Biden Won’t Stop Strike
A week ago, we asked in the ILA Strike Watch if the White House will stop the strike. The Biden/Harris Administration has given an answer:
No.
That’s probably not what shippers want to hear with only 11 days left until a strike is scheduled to shut down all U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports.
The administration says President Biden will not use the Taft-Hartley Act to stop the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) strike:
“We’ve never invoked Taft-Hartley to break a strike and are not considering doing so now,” a Biden Administration official told Reuters, Lisa Baertlein and David Shepardson reported. “We encourage all parties to remain at the bargaining table and negotiate in good faith.”
Did you hear that? It’s the sound of readers of that line slapping their foreheads. The current administration actually said it encourages the ILA and its employers to remain at the bargaining table.
You’d think the White House would know the parties have not been at the bargaining table in order to remain there. Maybe President Biden has been too busy vacationing and Vice President Harris too busy campaigning to know the ILA cancelled contract negotiations before they started in June and has refused ever since to sit at the negotiation table with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), representing employers at the ports.
The USMX has been imploring the ILA to come to the bargaining table, but the union has seemed resolute in its refusal, seemingly having decided well in advance that it’s going to strike.
Invoking the Taft-Hartley Act would immediately end an ILA strike for an 80-day cooling off period and send dockworkers to, you know, work at the docks. Of course, unions wouldn’t look too kindly on the use of the act. Yet anyone concerned about the economy, which has performed very poorly under the Biden/Harris Administration, would let out a sigh of relief that the White House stopped the crippling of supply chains and damaging blow to the economy an ILA strike would cause.
If not for the political consideration of appeasing unions, which are traditionally major Democrat campaign contributors and voting blocks for the party, utilizing the Taft-Hartley Act would seem an obvious decision. But as I said last week, politics are likely the Biden/Harris Administration’s top consideration.
Unfortunately for presidential-hopeful Harris, even her support from unions isn’t nearly as strong as it normally is for Democrat candidates. Yesterday, Nick Niedzwiadek reported in Politico about the Teamsters union’s presidential endorsement. The union announced it would make its endorsement “driven directly by [its] diverse membership.”
“Our members are the union, and their voices and opinions must be at the forefront of everything the Teamsters do,” the union said. However, when it polled its members about which candidate they support, around 60% chose Trump while only around 30% chose Harris.
The Teamsters union then decided not to endorse a candidate, breaking with its tradition of endorsing the Democratic nominee. Reportedly, this is the first time in decades the union hasn’t endorsed the Democrat nominee for president.
Maybe it’s the Democratic Party’s fault. Its leaders were too busy trying to make sure they stop their political adversary, whom they call a “threat to democracy,” to bother with an election that would allow voters to choose the Democrat Party’s nominee. Skipping the democratic process, in what many call a political coup, they made their nominee Harris, who has been the least popular vice president in history, even according to articles that try to make excuses for and brush aside her unpopularity.
Despite her poor polling as Vice President, polling so far behind President Trump in the polls of the Teamsters is surprising. That may cause the Biden/Harris to be extra cautious not to anger the ILA with a move like invoking the Taft-Hartley Act. The administration already seems to be on thin ice with the ILA.
After the Biden/Harris Administration pressured rail worker unions, who were about to strike a couple years ago, into a deal with the railroads and then involvement the ILA didn’t like from the administration in the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) master contract last year, the ILA announced it didn’t want any mediation from the Biden Administration, even if negotiations go poorly. Additionally, the ILA’s president took a meeting with President Trump that the former spoke about positively.
Losing the votes from union members would be a major problem for Harris in the election. However, the Biden/Harris Administration allowing East and Gulf Coast ports to close, dealing damage to the U.S. economy in the run-up to the election could possibly be an even bigger problem with the economy widely reported as the number one issue for voters right now.
It’s hard to imagine the current administration would allow the ports to be closed for long. I would expect the Biden/Harris Administration to at least start applying some pressure behind the scenes to avert a strike. If all else fails, the administration could always act as though they’d never said anything about not using the Taft-Hartley Act. After all, both Biden and Harris have been known to publicly take a position and then switch to the opposite position because it’s politically expedient.
ILA Strike Watch 2024 Lead Up & Posts
ILA Already Threatening Strike
ILA Stance Is Worse Than Just Threatening Strike
We Have to Talk About the ILA Strike Threat
How to Prepare for Potential ILA Port Disruption
No One Knows What Will Happen with ILA Port Disruption
Early Peak Season, High Freight Rates, & 5 Factors Shaping Ocean Freight Shipping 2024
ILA Strike Watch 2024: Cancelled Talks & Strike Threat Increase
Are There Any Signs the Early Peak Season Is Slowing Down?
ILA Strike Watch 2024 – US Trade Groups Ask Biden to Get ILA to Negotiation Table
ILA Strike Watch 2024: Biden No, Trump Yes?
ILA Strike Watch 2024: ILA Says Strike More Likely
ILA Strike Watch 2024: Union Rejects Wage Offer & Prepares to Strike
ILA Strike Watch 2024: With 1 Month Till Strike, ILA Flips on Mediation
ILA Strike Watch 2024: ILA Announces Unanimous Support for Strike
ILA Strike Watch 2024: Will White House Stop Strike?
