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President Joe Biden called on port companies to offer fair deals to striking dock workers.
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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg warned companies against exploiting the strike for profit.
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He and acting Labor Minister Julie Su urged port workers and port operators to return to negotiate.
President Joe Biden and other administration officials are pushing port companies to offer stronger contracts to the 45,000 longshoremen who are striking at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports.
They intervene because of the enormous economic stakes of the strike, which closed 36 ports. It will put a $5 billion a day dent in the economy, according to JPMorgan analysts.
The message from the Biden administration is clear: companies must offer striking workers a fair deal as quickly as possible.
In a post on X on Tuesday, Biden urged that ocean carriers offer “a strong and fair contract” that reflects workers’ contributions to the economy since the pandemic and to these companies’ record profits.
Biden added that his team is actively monitoring price gouging by foreign ocean carriers.
“No company should exploit this for profit,” Biden said.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also warned companies against taking advantage of the strikes, calling on them in a statement Tuesday to eliminate any surcharges that could unfairly burden consumers or businesses.
“No one should exploit a disruption for profit, especially at a time when entire regions of the country are recovering from Hurricane Helene,” Buttigieg said.
He also said the Federal Maritime Commission is tasked with ensuring that any fees imposed during this period are “legitimate and lawful.”
Buttigieg said in an Instagram post on Tuesday that he had been in contact with supply chain partners for months, and he urged all parties to “reach an agreement in good faith, honestly and quickly.”
Acting Labor Minister Julie Su had also been in talks with port workers and port operators, encouraging the groups to return to the negotiating table and “reach a fair contract,” she said in a statement on Tuesday.
Su said the sacrifices and importance of dockworkers during the pandemic and helping communities recover from Hurricane Helene were not fully reflected in their salaries.
“When companies make record profits, their employees should share in that economic success,” Su said in a post on X on Wednesday.
Negotiations showed little movement until just before the strike began. The US Maritime Alliance, which represents the ports, offered workers a 50% pay increase over six years.
Although the International Longshoremen’s Association, which represents thousands of longshoremen, briefly signaled its willingness to accept 61.5%, it has since reaffirmed its demand for a 77% increase over six years, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
Despite calls from retailers and manufacturers to use federal powers to intervene and stop the strike, Biden has so far resisted invoking the Taft-Hartley Act, which would allow the government to end the strike to force.
In a statement Tuesday, Biden said he remains committed to collective bargaining and called on the USMX to negotiate a stronger contract for longshoremen.
The White House, Department of Labor and Department of Transportation did not respond to requests for comment sent by Business Insider after business hours.
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