Experts: Harris backing of nationwide port strike imperils economic message, presidential campaign

Vice President Kamala Harris offered her full-throated support for striking workers with the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) who walked out on the job this week over wages.

It’s a move that complicates her claim she would better manage the economy than her rival, former President Donald Trump, experts say.

“This strike is about fairness,” Harris claimed in a statement, according to The Hill. “Foreign-owned shipping companies have made record profits and executive compensation has grown. The Longshoremen, who play a vital role transporting essential goods across America, deserve a fair share of these record profits.”

The New York Times reports that the Harris statement, and President Biden’s refusal to use the Taft-Hartley Act to order union workers back to work, have left administration aides scrambling to contain the economic and political fallout.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and other administration officials have been charged with breaking the impasse between labor and management, said The Times.

The Hill reported the strike will cost the American economy $5 billion per day.

The Boston Herald Editorial Board called the Biden-Harris support for striking workers an “October Surprise” that could have election ramifications if it stretches out until November. 

On the one hand, a quick settlement could help Harris. “If, however, the strike stretches up to Nov. 5 and voters start feeling the pinch, Harris would be treading quicksand,” said the board. 

Politico gives Harris two weeks before Americans start feeling the effects of higher prices on everything imported from bananas to auto parts because of the strike. 

“The impact, potentially, as we’re heading into an election, is pretty serious,” Ray Zaccaro, a former adviser to the AFL-CIO told Politico. “This is a really precious and tender point of the election cycle when it comes to people’s view of the economy and who has the best economic solutions.” 

One White House advisor anonymously told Politico that behind the scenes, Biden and Harris are begging and pleading with union leaders to come to a quick settlement.  

Trump struck hard at Harris, not just for the labor walkout, but for the strike’s impetus, which he said came from the massive inflation that accompanied Biden-Harris policies. 

At the same time, Trump also showed sympathies for the workers’ plight.  

“The strike was caused by the massive inflation that was created by the Harris-Biden regime,” Trump told Fox News Digital. “Everybody understands the dockworkers because they were decimated by this inflation, just like everybody else in our country and beyond.” 

The House Ways and Means Committee said in September that inflation under Biden-Harris means that prices have increased 20.3% since the administration took over in 2021, while wages have grown just 3.4%, with mortgage payments 89% higher. 

The dockworkers’ strike will bring inflation even higher, no matter how it turns out: Either workers’ wages go up and prices follow, or the strike causes shortages, with the same result. 

The ILA is generally unconcerned with politics, an anonymous White House official told Politico.  

“What they care about is what their members want,” the Biden-Harris aide said.   

That makes the ILA less likely to crumble to political pressure, complicating matters for Harris as she rounds into the homestretch of the campaign. 

The ILA endorsed Biden in 2020, but took pains to stay out of the race in 2024, even when Biden was a candidate for reelection, reports NBC News. 

“People never gave a s— about us until now, when they finally realized that the chain is being broken,” said ILA President Harold Dagget, according to NBC. “Cars won’t come in, food won’t come in, clothing won’t come in” while the strike is going.  

Republicans in Congress urged Biden to use the provisions of Taft-Hartley to force the workers back to work until a settlement can be reached between management and labor.  

“Continued inaction only compounds our Nation’s economic harm, further burdening American families’ pocketbooks,” the Republicans wrote, according to Politico.  

Taft-Hartley allows the president to request courts to impose an 80-day “cooling off” period while the parties negotiate, which forces the workers back to work, but preserves their right to strike.