White House monitors US port talks, considering supply chain impact By Reuters

By Lisa Baertlein and David Shepardson

LOS ANGELES/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Officials in President Joe Biden’s administration are monitoring labor talks but are not trying to hammer out a labor deal to avert an Oct. 1 strike at U.S. Eastern and Gulf Coast ports that deal of about half of the country’s ocean imports, administration officials said Tuesday.

Negotiations between the International Association of Liquidators union and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) employer group appear to be deadlocked over wages as the September 30 contract expiration approaches.

A threatened strike by 45,000 workers represented by the ILA at three dozen affected ports, including New York and New Jersey, Houston and Savannah, Georgia, would send delays and costs cascading through U.S. supply chains at a time when costs growing for necessities like food, housing. and health care have become a key issue in the November 5 presidential election.

“We are monitoring and evaluating potential ways to address impacts to U.S. supply chains related to operations at our ports, if necessary,” said White House spokeswoman Robyn Patterson. “We continue to encourage the parties to continue negotiating for an agreement that benefits all parties and prevents any disruption,” she said.

USMX, which includes container carrier and terminal owner Maersk, said Monday that the Labor Department, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and other federal agencies had contacted the employers’ group.

Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and the Labor Department have been in contact for more than a month with the negotiating parties, as establishing lines of communication is standard operating procedure, an administration official said.

Any involvement in negotiations would be at the invitation of both the union and the employers.

The Biden administration has said the president does not plan to invoke a federal law known as the Taft-Hartley Act to prevent a strike at ports on the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico.

Acting at the invitation of both sides involved in last year’s West Coast port negotiations, Biden sent Su to help broker a deal that resulted in a 32 percent pay increase over the new contract.