“Open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.” That, based on Psalm 51:15, is an oft-repeated line in the Book of Common Prayer reminding the faithful to be quick to praise God.
White House port envoy John Porcari seems to have taken a similar approach to talking about the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
In an interview published yesterday at FreightWaves, these were the first words out of Porcari’s mouth:
I need to thank the ILWU and labor in general for working through the pandemic. They literally redefined front-line workers. As a starting point for this discussion, it is important to note they lost members, they have had difficulties with omicron that have impacted operations. So going forward we need to recognize that.
He was answering a question about the looming labor negotiations at our West Coast ports. The current collective-bargaining agreement expires on July 1, and the ILWU has a long track record of hardball tactics in negotiations that have resulted in port disruptions.
Outside the immediate context of labor negotiations, organized labor has for decades opposed the automation and technological advances that would make American ports more efficient. Consequently, our ports are uncompetitive by global standards. But they employ many unionized dockworkers, and that’s an important political constituency for Democrats.
Porcari is correct that the ILWU has lost membership. (The union had 37,000 members in 2001 and 29,000 in 2021.) But the members who remain keep seeing high pay and more generous benefits. According to the Wall Street Journal, a dockworker with five years of experience could expect a salary of $190,000 in 2019, and benefit costs were $110,000 per worker, up from $82,500 in 2009.
Later in the interview, Porcari talks about the need for the federal government to be an “honest broker,” a line he has used in public statements before. But heaping praise upon the ILWU as the first response to a question about labor negotiations does not portray a lack of bias.
It’s not a secret where Porcari stands with unions. Back when Biden was choosing his cabinet, Porcari was in the conversation for being nominated to lead the Department of Transportation. In December 2020, Politico reported that Porcari was the preferred candidate of organized labor. Of course, that job ended up going to Pete Buttigieg instead, but the unions must be pleased that Porcari ended up in the administration anyway.
Organized labor is part of the problem, and the ILWU’s political power stands in the way of many of the long-term efficiency improvements our ports desperately need. By making sure to praise unions, Porcari demonstrates that the Biden administration isn’t serious about solving the underlying problems that have led to port congestion.