Vice President Kamala Harris got here out in assist of the nation’s striking dockworkers Wednesday, casting the work stoppage that shut down ports from Maine to Texas as a struggle for “equity.”
“International-owned transport firms have made document income and government compensation has grown,” the Democratic presidential nominee stated in a statement. “The Longshoremen, who play an important function transporting important items throughout America, deserve a fair proportion of those document income.”
Tens of hundreds of employees walked off the job Tuesday morning amid a contract dispute with port employers. Their union, the Worldwide Longshoremen’s Affiliation, is looking for important raises and protections in opposition to automation in a brand new six-year deal. A protracted strike might find yourself squeezing the financial system simply because the November election approaches, placing Harris and President Joe Biden’s administration in a tough spot.
However to date, the White Home has resisted calls to intervene within the dispute and pressure employees again on the job within the identify of nationwide safety. Biden has stated he believes within the collective bargaining course of and that the 2 sides must type out their variations on the negotiating desk.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI by way of Getty Photos
On Wednesday, Harris used the strike as a possibility to focus on how she’s completely different from her GOP opponent, former President Donald Trump, who was hostile to unions all through his time within the White Home.
“Donald Trump … desires to tug us again to a time earlier than employees had the liberty to prepare,” she stated. “As President, he blocked time beyond regulation advantages for thousands and thousands of employees, he appointed union busters to the NLRB [National Labor Relations Board] – and only recently, he stated placing employees needs to be fired.”
The latter was a reference to a latest chat Trump had on X, previously Twitter, along with his supporter Elon Musk, the social media platform’s proprietor. The previous president praised Musk because the form of man who would hearth strikers, which is generally illegal. (The 2 males laughed.)
“The Longshoremen, who play an important function transporting important items throughout America, deserve a fair proportion of those document income.”
– Vice President Kamala Harris
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Harris can also be appropriate that, as president, Trump appointed anti-union officials to the NLRB who made it tougher for employees to prepare.
He additionally watered down a reform by his predecessor, Barack Obama, in order that millions fewer workers would have time beyond regulation protections once they work greater than 40 hours in every week. (If Trump wins in November, he might once again undermine a progressive time beyond regulation reform, this time issued by Biden.)
Most main labor unions have endorsed the Harris marketing campaign, excluding the Worldwide Brotherhood of Teamsters, which declined to again both candidate. A number of labor historians just lately told HuffPost that they think about Biden’s administration to be probably the most pro-union since no less than Franklin D. Roosevelt’s, and that Harris might construct on Biden’s legacy ought to she defeat Trump.
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