“Retailers and thousands of other businesses depend on the global maritime transportation system to move goods through the supply chain every day and continue to face significant challenges, including unfair business practices by ocean carriers.”
— David French Senior Vice President for Government Relations National Retail Federation
the legislation will pass before the midterm elections in November. “Congress is looking a lot at the elections coming up in the next few months. There’s not a lot of time left for either house to be in session. The likelihood this goes forward at this point in time is pretty low. We’ll see what happens in the lame duck session, but how the elections go will go a long way toward determining the future of this legislation.”
New Contract for Dock Workers With that in mind, the current West Coast ports’
labor negotiations bear watching. Dockworkers have been working without a contract since July 1 and on August 19 The Wall Street Journal reported that the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) and Pacifi c Maritime Association (PMA) won’t negotiate issues as signifi cant as wages until an entirely separate dispute is settled. In its next labor contract, the ILWU wants
to ensure that its members handle equipment maintenance at a terminal that handles cargo at the Port of Seattle. The PMA, meanwhile, says the National Labor Relations Board ruled in 2020 that the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers has jurisdiction at the terminal and so that work cannot be awarded to the ILWU. The 29 West Coast ports handle about 60
percent of all imports coming from Asia. If the past is prologue, it is important to note that West Coast port negotiations in 2002, 2008 and 2014 have resulted in work slowdowns or shutdowns.
20 FEDA News & Views
But Drake said the enhanced scrutiny around these negotiations gives reason to hope that there won’t be a slowdown this time. Biden met with both sides during a trip to California earlier this year and appointed an envoy to monitor the negotiations.
“I do feel that the external pressure on a negotiation that ends with a contract that sees no service interruptions – those pressures are quite high,” Drake said. “There is a level of attention and focus on these negotiations on the public and the administration side I don’t think we’ve seen in quite some time.”
The federal government’s approach to supply chain issues largely depends on which party is in power and the midterm elections later this year could create a change in direction. With the possibility that the majority changes in both chambers, Drake said the U.S. Chamber would be working to protect the supply chain benefi ts that were included in last year’s $1 trillion infrastructure package. At the time, only 13 Republican legislators in the House supported the bill – a much stronger vote along party lines than the bill’s 69-30 passage in the Senate. “If there is a change in leadership, we’re going to be working hard to educate policymakers on the benefi ts and the importance of that infrastructure law and the importance of investing in America’s infrastructure. If you take that away, that’s a real easy way to seriously undermine U.S. competitiveness and the competitiveness of U.S. supply chains.”
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