President Biden talks about the impact the dock strike will have on hurricane recovery.
Last thing we need on top of that is a man-made disaster, what’s going on at the ports. We’re getting pushback already, and we’re hearing from folks regionally, they’re having trouble getting product they need because of the port strike. Look, there is a consortium that controls the ports, from the East Coast down around the Gulf. They’ve made incredible profits, over 800% profits, since the pandemic. The owners are making tens of millions of dollars. The last thing they need is to profit off of this. Time to sit at the table and get this strike done.
“President Biden yesterday discussing the dock workers strike, now entering its third day, and as he said, stretching from the Northeast to the Gulf Coast. About 45,000 union workers at the ports hit the picket line on Tuesday for the first time in decades, looking for a better contract.
“Joining us now, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, his department oversees U.S. ports. Let’s just start there, Secretary Buttigieg. For people who haven’t been tuned in, first, what the dock workers are seeking in the negotiation, and what you see as the impacts, both immediate and long term if this stretches on for weeks,” Mika Brzezinski said.
“Yeah, so these dock workers, they’re the people who unload the ships, make sure the goods get to where they’re going, and on their way to our homes, to stores. They’ve been through a lot. If you think about covid, you know, this is obviously not a job that you can do over Zoom. They came in every day. Some of them lost their lives during that period,” Buttigieg said.
“What the union is demanding is wages that would help them participate in the enormous profits that the shipping companies have made, especially in recent years. If you start the clock in the middle of the last decade, over about an eight-year period, shipping profits went up 350%. The wages overall of workers in the country went up by about 42%. The wages of these workers only went up by about 15%. Their last contract reflected a tougher economic situation. They went certain years without any wage increases at all.
“So right now, they’re negotiating for better wages and terms. Them and the ocean carriers and ports, in order to reach a new contract. that has resulted in this stoppage, and it’s a big issue. This needs to be resolved. We’ve been in touch with the different parties, urging them to bridge differences. In particular, urging these ocean carriers which, again, have become extremely profitable in recent years, to put forward an offer that is enough to bring the union back to the table and get this done.”
