By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-10-02 19:58:45 | Updated at 2024-10-02 22:26:59
3 hours ago
US President Joe Biden ratcheted up pressure on port employers and shipping lines to restart talks with striking dock workers, warning that the unfolding strike could turn into a “man-made disaster”.
Biden spoke about the strike that has closed every major container port on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts before leaving on a trip to survey damage from Hurricane Helene, which has left communities in the US southeast facing an economic and humanitarian crisis.
“The last thing we need on top of that is a man-made disaster: what’s going on at the ports,” Biden said on Wednesday. He said six companies control the ports and have made “incredible profits”, calling on them to restart negotiations.
It’s time “for them to sit at the table and get this strike done”, he added.
The International Longshoremen’s Association called on members to walk out early on Tuesday morning when their labour contract with the US Maritime Alliance expired. The two groups are at an impasse over wages, and perhaps a more intractable issue, automation.
The USMX, as the group is known, maintains that the union has not bargained in good faith since calling off negotiations back in June. Hours before the midnight deadline, and with urging from the White House, the group offered to increase longshore wages by nearly 50 per cent over the new six-year contract, up from a previous offer of almost 40 per cent. The ILA rejected the offer.
