Instead of leaving it to the discretion of the president to decide whether to convene a “board of inquiry” to recommend whether the White House should intervene [in a labor dispute], the bill would compel the president to step in if certain economic thresholds were hit.
It also would expand the definition of a strike to include slowdowns, lock-outs and threatened strikes or lock-outs.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union blames the port operators and contends that the slow work on the docks came from unsafe conditions and lack of necessary equipment, rather than a tactic to get a better contract deal.
“Politicians are now pushing misguided ideas that won’t solve the root problems of congestion, and may in fact threaten safety on the docks by pushing for unsafe speed in an industry that already has a higher fatality rate than police work and firefighting,” said spokeswoman Jennifer Sargent Bokaie.