Time is running out to avoid the first major strike at shipping terminals along the East and Gulf coasts in nearly 50 years. A group of Biden administration officials, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, are meeting with United States Maritime Alliance representatives to negotiate a deal.
Seth Harris, senior fellow at the Burnes Center for Social Change and former deputy director of President Biden’s National Economic Council, joins Market Domination to discuss the looming port strike and how it will effect the economy.
As several White House officials try to work out a deal, Harris explains that the Biden administration is trying to "put pressure on the parties to keep the public interest in mind and to try to get to a resolution." This is a typical move for the White House, he explains, adding, "I don’t think it’s an indication of anything extraordinary other than that this is a big, important labor dispute."
President Biden has the authority to seek an injunction that would effectively end the strike through the Taft-Hartley Act. However, he has stated that he will not be doing so, and instead wants to come to agreement through collective bargaining. "He wants workers to have their say in their working conditions. He wants them to be able to use whatever economic power they have to get what they feel is owed to them. That has been his position very consistently throughout the course of the administration," Harris tells Yahoo Finance.
If a strike happens on Tuesday, Harris believes consumers won’t feel any meaningful effects during the first two weeks. "My expectation is that retailers and manufacturers and other importers have inventories built up that will allow them to withstand some period of strike," he explains. Yet, if there are any pressures, he believes it would likely be on perishable goods coming into the US.
In the case the prices rise rapidly, he expects President Biden and Vice President Harris to urge the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate cases of price gouging.
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