House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the dockworkers strike that began early Tuesday morning requires leadership from the Biden-Harris administration, leadership that the pair so far have been "incapable of providing."
Workers of the International Longshoremen's Association hit the picket line at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, shutting down 36 ports from Maine to Texas that handle half of America's cargo from ships. The 45,000-strong ILA is North America's largest longshoremen union.
The ILA said it is demanding a pay raise for its workers that amounts to roughly 77% over six years. The union and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents the ports, had not held negotiations since June until an 11th-hour final proposal on Monday that fell "far short of the demands of its members to ratify a new contract," the ILA said.
The USMX said in a statement on Monday it had offered to hike wages by nearly 50%, up from a prior proposal.
The White House released a statement Tuesday saying that President Joe Biden had instructed both sides that they need to be "negotiating in good faith — fairly and quickly."
In a statement, Johnson said "this administration's failure to encourage a resolution … will only exacerbate the economic pain wrought by four years of skyrocketing inflation, decreasing wages and fewer jobs."
"Just one day of paused operations will have devastating consequences on the economy, and hardworking American families will feel the impact of higher prices, empty shelves, and lost economic output," Johnson wrote.
The White House attempted to downplay the strike, saying in its statement that Biden-Harris expect the impact of the strike on consumers to be limited. However, experts said Monday that "a strike of even a week will block the flow of hundreds of thousands of containers into the U.S.," a paralyzing event with the holidays coming.
"Solving this problem requires leadership that the Biden-Harris Administration has been incapable of providing. They should ensure that both sides remain at the table, continue to negotiate in good faith, and ultimately reach a deal that keeps workers on the job and goods flowing through our ports, including those in Louisiana," Johnson concluded.