By Lisa Baertlein
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Officials from President Joe Biden’s administration are not trying to broker a labor deal to avert an Oct. 1 strike at U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports that handle roughly half of the country’s ocean imports, an unnamed administration official said on Tuesday.
Negotiations between the International Longshoremen’s Association union and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) employer group appear to be deadlocked over pay as the Sept. 30 contract expiration approaches.
A threatened strike by 45,000 ILA-represented workers 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 rising costs for necessities like food, housing and healthcare have become a pivotal issue in the Nov. 5 presidential election.
The USMX, which includes container carrier and terminal owner Maersk, on Monday said the Department of Labor, the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service and other federal agencies had reached out to the employer group.
Multiple media outlets, including Reuters, had previously reported that the Labor Department had reached out to USMX.
“It is very common for the Acting Secretary to be in touch with both parties during the course of labor negotiations,” the administration spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Getting involved in negotiations would be at the invitation both the union and employers, the official said.
The Biden administration also has said the president does not intend to invoke a federal law known as the Taft-Hartley Act to prevent a strike at East Coast and Gulf of Mexico ports.
Acting on the invitation of both sides involved in last year’s West Coast port negotiations, Biden dispatched Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su to help hammer out a deal, which resulted in a 32% pay increase for over the life of the new contract.
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Alistair Bell)