Biden calls for a fair deal as port strikes threaten supply chains

• President Joe Biden called on port companies to offer striking longshoremen fair deals.
• Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg warned companies not to exploit the strike for profit.
• He and acting Labor Secretary Julie Su called on longshoremen and port companies to return to negotiations.

President Joe Biden and other administration officials are calling on port companies to offer tougher contracts to the 45,000 striking longshoremen at ports on the East and Gulf Coasts.

They are intervening because the strike poses major economic risks and has closed 36 ports. Analysts at JPMorgan say this will cost the economy $5 billion a day.

The Biden administration’s message is clear: Companies must give striking workers a fair deal as quickly as possible.

In a post on Tuesday

Biden added that his team is actively monitoring price gouging by foreign shipping companies.

“No company should exploit this for profit,” Biden said.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also warned companies against profiting from the strikes in a statement Tuesday and urged them 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 that the Federal Maritime Commission is tasked with ensuring that any fees collected 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 called on all parties to “reach an agreement in good faith, fairly and quickly.”

Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su has also held discussions with longshoremen and port operators, encouraging the groups to return to the negotiating table and “reach a fair contract,” she said in a statement Tuesday.

Su said longshore workers’ sacrifices and importance during the pandemic and helping communities recover from Hurricane Helene were not adequately reflected in their salaries.

“When companies make record profits, their workers should share in that economic success,” Su said in a Wednesday post on X.

The negotiations showed little movement until shortly before the strike began. The US Maritime Alliance, which represents the ports, offered employees 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 reiterated its call 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 end the strike, Biden has so far refused to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act, which would allow the government to call an end to 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 longshore workers.

The White House, Labor Department and Transportation Department did not respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment outside of business hours.