President Joe Biden congratulated Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su after a deal was reached to end a crippling labor dispute at West Coast ports — but Biden did not mention Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.
As Breitbart News reported last week, dockworkers in Long Beach, Los Angeles, and other ports had slowed down cargo loading up and down the West Coast as they continued to negotiate with the Pacific Maritime Association over a collective bargaining agreement.
A deal was reached Wednesday evening, as the Seattle Times reported:
The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping lines and terminal operators in negotiations with the International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union, said Wednesday evening that the agreement covers workers at all 29 West Coast ports, which would include Seattle and Tacoma.
“We are pleased to have reached an agreement that recognizes the heroic efforts and personal sacrifices of the ILWU workforce in keeping our ports operating,” PMA President James McKenna and ILWU President Willie Adams said in a joint statement. “We are also pleased to turn our full attention back to the operation of the West Coast Ports.”
Parties declined to release details of the agreement Wednesday evening.
Biden issued a statement:
As I have always said, collective bargaining works, and I congratulate both parties at the ports for reaching an agreement. I want to thank Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su who used her deep experience and judgment to keep the parties talking, working with them to reach an agreement after a long and sometimes acrimonious negotiation. Above all I congratulate the port workers, who have served heroically through the pandemic and the countless challenges it brought, and will finally get the pay, benefits, and quality of life they deserve.
Julie Su has proven herself time and time again, both as Deputy Secretary working closely with Secretary Marty Walsh – and now as a leader who helped assure that our supply chains remain strong for America’s businesses, farmers, and working families.
The statement did not mention Buttigieg, who has previously been quick to claim credit for progress at the ports, though he himself was away for two months during the 2021 cargo crisis on unannounced paternity leave. He left no one to run the department in his absence.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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