Former US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross responds to shippers offering ILA on The Claman Countdown.
Integrated dock workers 36 East and Gulf Coast ports went on strike on Tuesday as negotiations over a new contract with a group representing port tenants became heated.
The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), which represents 45,000 longshoremen, began its first strike since 1977 after its six-year contract with the US Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents port tenantsexpired on Monday night.
Negotiations between the ILA and USMX have not ended so far regarding the union’s demands related to increased wages and compensation, and protection from automation at the ports.
The ILA said it would withdraw cruise ships and military supplies from the strike and would continue to handle them to prevent disruption to passenger schedules and national security.
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The shipping workers’ strike will affect ports on the Eastern and Gulf Coasts. (Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
USMX reportedly made a new offer to the ILA on Monday afternoon that would increase wages by nearly 50% in the new contract and triple that. employer contributions to retirement plansbetter health care and keeping the language about automaticity in the agreement. Sources told FOX Business that the ILA rejected the offer and did not counter.
The strike comes after USMX filed a labor complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against the ILA last week, saying the group is violating labor laws by refusing to negotiate. The ILA has denounced the move as a “publicity stunt” and said USMX should file labor complaints against port employers for not paying dock workers better wages.
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Port employers and union dock workers have been at odds in negotiations since Monday evening. (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
American ports from Maine to Texas will be affected by the strike. Those ports together handle about half US import and are important export destinations for American businesses.
Imports of cars and car parts, agricultural products such as bananas, machinery, wrought iron, furniture, clothing and more will be affected. Eastern and Gulf Coast ports and handles a significant percentage of exports of automobiles and auto parts, pharmaceutical products, beef, pork, poultry, eggs, wood, plastics and other products or goods.
A JP Morgan analysis estimated that the daily cost of a strike by port workers on the East and Gulf Coast would cost the US economy between $3.8 billion and $4.5 billion per day as operations slow.
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The US economy could see losses of up to $5 billion a day as the port strike continues. (Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
President BidenHis administration tried to encourage negotiations between the two sides, he said he would not use the labor law known as the Taft-Hartley Act to intervene in the strike. Under that law, Biden could take action that would lead to an 80-day “cooling off” period for negotiations to resume while workers return to work.
The US Chamber of Commerce, the largest group representing American businesses, urged Biden in a letter to ask Taft-Hartley to “protect our economy” by avoiding the shutdown.
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“Taft-Hartley will provide time for both sides in negotiations to reach an agreement on a new labor contract,” Chamber President Suzanne Clark wrote Monday. “Major differences remain between the USMX and the ILA on the new agreement that cannot be resolved before the current one expires.”
FOX Business’ Daniel Hillsdon contributed to this report.
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