By Doyinsola Oladipo
NEW YORK (Reuters) – President Joe Biden’s administration has pressed U.S. port employers to increase their offer to strike a labor deal with longshoremen who struck for a second day on Wednesday, choking half of the country’s shipping industry .
The strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) union has blocked everything from food to car shipments to dozens of ports from Maine to Texas. Analysts warn this will cost the economy billions of dollars a day.
More than 38 container ships were already at U.S. ports on Tuesday, compared to just three on Sunday before the strike, according to Everstream Analytics.
“Foreign maritime vessels have made record profits since the pandemic, when port workers put themselves in harm’s way to keep ports open. It is time for those ocean carriers to offer a strong and fair contract that reflects the contribution of ILA workers to our economy and their record profits.” Biden said in a post on X late Tuesday.
He ordered his team to monitor for possible price gouging that benefits foreign maritime carriers, the White House said.
The ILA, which represents 45,000 dock workers, launched its strike just after midnight on Tuesday after negotiations with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) over a new six-year contract collapsed.
USMX had offered the union a 50% wage increase, but the ILA’s fiery leader, Harold Daggett, said the union is pushing for more, including a $5 per hour wage increase for each year of the new six-year contract and an end to port automation projects. that threaten union jobs.
“We are willing to fight for as long as necessary, to continue to strike for any period of time, to get the wages and protections from automation that our ILA members deserve,” Daggett said Tuesday.
Hundreds of dock workers demonstrated Tuesday at a New York City-area shipping terminal in Elizabeth, New Jersey, holding signs and chanting “ILA all the way!” as music blared and vendors sold food.
Trump on Tuesday blamed inflation, which he said was caused by the Biden-Harris administration.
“Everyone understands the longshoremen because they have been decimated by this inflation, just like everyone else in our country and beyond,” Fox News Digital quoted Trump in an interview.
“Devastating consequences”
The strike, the ILA’s first major strike since 1977, is worrying companies that rely on maritime shipping to export their goods or secure crucial imports. It affects 36 ports – including New York, Baltimore and Houston – that handle a range of containerized goods from bananas to clothing and cars.
The strike could cost the US economy about $5 billion a day, JP Morgan analysts estimate.
The National Retail Federation called on the Biden administration to use its federal authority to stop the strike, saying it could have “devastating consequences” for the economy.
Republicans, including Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, also called on Biden to end the strike and warned of its impact on the economy.
Biden has repeatedly said he won’t do that.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tuesday it doesn’t expect any significant changes in food prices or availability in the near term.
And retailers who account for about half of all container shipping said they have been busy implementing backup plans to minimize the impact of the strike as they head into the winter holidays.
(Additional reporting by Gursimran Kaur, Nilutpal Timsina, Shivani Tanna and Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru and David Shepardson in Washington; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Sonali Paul)
