New U.S. House Bill Aims To Limit Dockworker Strikes

As Connecting the Dots reported last week, while the United States has avoided a lengthy dockworker strike for now, the threat of a shutdown has not completely gone away. Indeed, a strike may surface again in January 2025.

To try to prevent future strikes, however, one U.S. lawmaker in the House of Representatives has introduced legislation that would introduce stricter guidelines for dockworkers to strike and give the federal government greater leverage in handling employment disputes that threaten supply chain stability.

According to Politico, the Safeguarding the Supply Chain Act, introduced by House Ways and Means Committee Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.), would hold maritime workers to similar requirements as airline and railway workers before they can walk off their jobs. Indeed, the bill would effectively expand the Railway Labor Act, a near-century-old measure that says unions and employers must fully explore all mediation options in front of the National Mediation Board before a strike can take place. The Biden administration and Congress previously used the law to impose an agreement on rail workers in 2022. “Widespread strikes at American ports threaten product shortages and price increases for consumers,”

Rep. Steel said in a statement last week. “My bill would force both sides back to the negotiating table for a resolution and get our economy moving again.”

Since the U.S. House and Senate are out of session until November, and then only back for a matter of weeks, it is unlikely Congress would approve this bill, and even more unlikely that President Joe Biden would sign it into law. Still, Connecting the Dots will continue to track any progress on this legislation and efforts regarding the dockworker labor issue. Stay tuned.