White House urges dockworkers and East Coast ports to settle differences amid strike threat

White House officials on Thursday called for dockworkers and port operators to return to the bargaining table as time runs short to avoid the first major strike at shipping terminals along the East and Gulf Coasts in nearly half a century. 

Negotiations between the the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents ports, container carriers and other industry players, have been stalled since June. But the labor dispute has taken on added urgency as thousands of dockworkers are preparing to walk off their jobs when their contract expires at midnight on September 30. 

“Senior officials from the White House, Labor Department and Department of Transportation are in touch with the parties and delivering the message to them directly on being at the table and negotiating in good faith fairly and quickly,” White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson told CBS News. 

Top Biden administration officials, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and Lael Brainard, director of the National Economic Council, sought to reinforce the message in a meeting on Friday with USMX members.

Experts warn that even a short work stoppage at the ports that could close in a strike could temporarily disrupt supplies of food, auto parts and many other products, potentially driving up costs for consumers. The cargo gateways, which span from Massachusetts to Texas, handle about half of all goods shipped in containers in and out of the U.S.

A strike would reduce U.S. economic activity by between $4.5 billion and $7.5 billion for every week it continues, according to analysts at Oxford Economics. The investment research firm estimates it would take up to a month to clear the backlog of shipments that pile up while ports remain shut.

Still, the overall hit to the U.S. economy would likely be modest, amounting to only 0.1% of the country’s annualized gross domestic product, Oxford said in a report. Economists also note that such a dip would be reversed once the ports reopen for business.

Mitigating the potential fallout is that the nation’s economy and supply chains are more resilient than during the depths of the pandemic, Patterson said, adding that a task force formed by the Biden administration in 2021 to address supply-chain challenges is ready to respond in case of a prolonged strike. 

In the meantime, the Biden administration has been meeting with retailers, grocers, manufacturers, agriculture exporters, shippers and ocean carriers to learn about the potential impact on their businesses and their plans. 

Although President Joe Biden could delay a strike by seeking a court order under the Taft-Hartley Act for an 80-day cooling-off period, the White House has underlined that it isn’t weighing such a move. 

“We’ve never invoked Taft-Hartley to break a strike and are not considering doing so now,” Patterson told CBS News. “We support collective bargaining. We believe it’s the best way for both American workers and employers to come to a fair agreement — one that benefits the workers in a way that reflects the success of the companies.”