FILE PHOTO: Docked cargo ships are loaded with shipping containers at Port Elizabeth, New Jersey, U.S., July 12, 2023.
REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo
Workers and port authorities on the East and Gulf Coasts of the United States are headed for a potential strike on Oct. 1, which poses a huge threat to American businesses, and a political problem for the government of Joe Biden.
Businesses have already been scrambling with alternative routes to avoid pre-Christmas supply chain problems as 47,000 eastern dockworkers press their employers for bigger wage packages. A similar showdown on the West Coast ended with a contract last year after workers staged slowdowns but no strike. Now eastern workers are seeking similar gains.
Any work stoppage could cost the US economy up to $5 billion a day, creating an enormous headache for Biden and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris during the crucial last weeks of the presidential campaign. It would put Biden in a difficult position, since he would be loath to either order workers back to the job, which would anger unions, or let the economy go into a headspin, which would anger everyone else.