Protests by Boeing employees and other vital workers have put the economy on edge just days before early voting begins in many states.
One of Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign promises is that the country will be better off under her leadership as president. However, if there is another big strike, particularly one that could interrupt supply chains just as the holiday shopping season is about to begin, it could cripple the economy and turn off voters.
An additional public relations disaster for a blue chip American firm desperately attempting to shift its focus away from months of negative press began on Friday when 33,000 Boeing employees went on strike. Unloading container ships throughout the East and Gulf Coast ports is also on the verge of a strike that may devastate national supply lines and trade.
No action has been taken by either the White House or Harris’s campaign thus far. In contrast to President Biden’s decision to walk the picket lines at Boeing last year during the auto workers’ strike, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre stated on Friday that neither Harris nor Biden intended to do so. She was vague about whether or not one of them had contacted the union.
The subject is being monitored by the White House “very, very closely,” according to Jean-Pierre. The administration’s acting labor secretary, Julie Su, and others have communicated with Boeing and the union that is currently on strike.
When HEADLINESFOREVER asked for a statement from the Trump or Harris camps, neither one responded.
In what might be the most politically dangerous walkout to date, at least 25,000 dockworkers at ports along the Eastern Seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico could go on strike as early as October 1. This strike would impact the majority of products that enter and exit ports from New York to New Orleans.
The country’s port operations could be in jeopardy if a different union representing dockworkers on the West Coast joins the strike by other port workers. That might cause a huge political storm in the last months of Biden’s term, particularly if it affects food and other necessities for the American people.
The waterfront labor conflict has received minimal attention from national Democrats thus far.
However, city authorities are starting to think about a strike that would start in two weeks, which is both a long time in political terms and in terms of labor negotiations.
State Senator Joe Cryan (D-New Jersey), who represents a district close to the biggest port on the East Coast, said that “people need to be focused on” the event because of its potential to change the game.
Since becoming president and pledging to be “the most pro-union president” in U.S. history, Biden has had to deal with the ambivalent demands of the labor movement. Harris has been mum on the Boeing strike so far, but on Monday he visited with regular Teamsters to try to win their support.
The Steelworkers union is fiercely opposed to the planned acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japanese-owned Nippon, and both Biden and Harris have voiced their disapproval of the agreement.
Workers haven’t always been good about giving back. A leader from the Teamsters union, which represents people in the transportation and warehouse industries, gave a speech at the Republican National Convention this past summer. It’s interesting to note that even in unions whose top brass are still on the Democrats’ side, there are still some rank-and-file members who are huge fans of Trump. This is also true of the United Auto Workers.
Unions representing those who work in transportation, especially those who work for public transportation, have threatened strikes multiple times during Biden’s presidency, however very few of these actions actually took place.
Despite Boeing’s most recent contract offer, which contained a 25% overall salary rise throughout the four-year deal, the vast majority of workers—96 percent—represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers 751 and W24 decided to go on strike beginning Friday. Boeing chief financial officer Brian West informed workers on Monday that the firm is contemplating “temporary furloughs” for a large number of workers, supervisors, and executives in the upcoming weeks.
Harris may strengthen her position among union members by demonstrating greater solidarity with the Boeing strike, which has been a delicate issue for Democrats to address.
Local I-66 president Casey Yeager of the International Association of Fire Fighters claimed that during the three-week lockout with Boeing earlier this year over salary hike issues, Biden’s support for the union moved some of his members.
Yeager pronounced the president’s call for members to receive the “pay and benefits they deserve” as a “huge” step in showing members that the White House was on their side.
Harris is still cultivating connections with labor, in contrast to union members’ perception of Biden as an advocate for organized labor. This is despite her rapid consolidation of support from key unions following Biden’s withdrawal from the race.
Trump, meanwhile, has been wobbling as of late.
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain filed an unfair labor practice case against Trump’s campaign after he endorsed firing striking employees during an interview with Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla.
Just when things are looking good for the campaign, a port strike could derail everything. Apparently, there is a chasm between shipping businesses and dockworkers, and the union president for the former has flat-out rejected any federal aid from Biden’s administration.
An official in Biden’s administration made the following statement earlier this month: “All parties to remain at the bargaining table and negotiate in good faith.” The official went on to say that the government has never and is not considering using the Taft-Hartley rule to end a strike.
Neither major party wants to appear anti-union during an election, and that kind of thing may be seen as anti-union at the moment. said Ronald Leibman, an associate with McCarter & English who focuses on matters related to supply chains.
Some stores have tried to stock up on supplies before the strike, so it’s hard to say how it will impact holiday shopping. However, it doesn’t rule out the possibility that the strike could become a political lightning rod.
According to Jess Dankert, VP of supply chain at the Retail Industry Leaders Association, 46–53 percent of U.S. container imports go through ports on the East and Gulf coasts every month. In preparation for the impending strike, numerous large retailers have made arrangements to bring in products earlier or redirect them to the West Coast.
There won’t be any bare shelves throughout the holiday season. However, she warned that the supply chain networks would be severely impacted by the resulting delays, prices, congestion, and equipment dislocation, among other problems.
According to Sea-Intelligence, a worldwide supply chain industry research and advisory firm, a one-week strike in early October would delay the clearing of the port backlog of containers until mid-November, and a two-week strike would cause port operations to not return to normal until 2025.