Congressman Daniel Webster is urging the White House to take action to prevent a strike after maritime workers at key ports warned of a potential work stoppage.
Webster, a Republican who represents The Villages, serves as chairman of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.
He and 69 members of Congress sent a letter to the Biden-Harris Administration urging the White House to do everything in its power to prevent a work stoppage at East and Gulf coast ports that could lead to “dire impacts to our supply chains, our economy, and the American consumer.”
The leadership of the International Longshoremen’s Association, the largest union of maritime workers in North America, has warned of a potential strike beginning Oct. 1 if no agreement on a new labor contract is reached with the United States Maritime Alliance.
Members of Congress reminded the administration of the COVID-19 pandemics impact on the supply chain and highlighted their concerns about what could happen even with a comparatively brief work stoppage: “If a work stoppage occurred at East and Gulf Coast ports in October, estimates suggest that a one-week strike would take until mid-November to recover from and clear the backlog of cargo/ Estimates further suggest that a two-week strike would take until 2025 to fully recover from. Lengthier strikes would have an even greater cascading disruption. Any of these situations would have serious consequences for American consumers and the holiday season.”
The letter comes after Republican committee members were briefed yesterday by users of the supply chain – including representatives from the National Retail Federation, the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Forest & Paper Association, the National Cotton Council, and the American Trucking Associations – on the anticipated impacts of a strike at East and Gulf Coast ports.
Read the full letter here.