Port employers meet with Biden administration as potential strike looms next week

The White House on Friday confirmed that officials have met with a group representing port employers as a potential strike at East Coast and Gulf Coast seaports could begin in a matter of days.

The U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents employers at the 36 seaports that could be affected by the strike, held meetings with White House officials as they look to kick-start negotiations in the hopes of avoiding a fast-approaching work stoppage.

Unionized dockworkers in the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), which represents 45,000 members at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, may go on strike beginning Oct. 1 if an agreement isn’t reached by the end of Monday.

“Senior officials from the White House, Labor Department and Department of Transportation have been in touch with the parties and delivering the message to them directly that they need to be at the table and negotiating in good faith fairly and quickly,” a White House official told FOX Business.

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The official added that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and Director of the National Economic Council Lael Brainard “are meeting with USMX to convey this message. Throughout the week, they have also been in touch with the ILA to deliver the same message.”

The White House has signaled on several occasions that President Biden doesn’t plan to invoke a labor law known as the Taft-Hartley Act that would allow him to intervene in a port strike to impose a “cooling off” period for negotiations while workers are back on the job.

The two sides to the labor dispute have been at an impasse over issues including wages and automation at ports.

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USMX on Thursday filed an unfair labor complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that accused the ILA of refusing to meet at the bargaining table to negotiate in good faith.

“USMX has been clear that we value the work of the ILA and have great respect for its members,” USMX said in a statement announcing its filing of the NLRB charge. “We have a shared history of working together and are committed to bargaining.”

USMX said the filing was due to the “ILA’s repeated refusal to come to the table and bargain on a new master contract,” adding it requested injunctive relief to require the union to resume bargaining.

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The ILA slammed the move as a “publicity stunt” and countered that the group should have filed a charge against its own members for failing to adequately compensate ILA’s workers.

“USMX filing these charges four days before the expiration of the current master contract clearly illustrates what poor negotiating partners they have been,” the ILA said in a statement Thursday. “If it wasn’t for the ILA engaging in serious and productive negotiations, most of the local agreements would not have been settled over the past year.”

A potential port strike would disrupt a variety of export and import shipments from East Coast and Gulf Coast ports.

An analysis by J.P. Morgan estimated a strike would cost the U.S. economy up to $5 billion per day.

FOX Business’ Daniel Hillsdon contributed to this report.