Fmr Labor Sec Warns Port Strike Could Cause ‘Extraordinary Consequences’ For Economy, May Lead To Court Action

Former U.S. secretary of labor in the Trump administration, Eugene Scalia, warned on Fox News Wednesday that the current port strikes could cause “extraordinary consequences” for the economy and could potentially lead President Joe Biden to file an injunction in court.

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) went on strike early Tuesday, affecting 14 major ports along the East and Gulf Coasts. On “The Ingraham Angle,” Scalia praised job creation under the Trump administration in response to Vice President Harris’ criticism of Trump while addressing the strike, noting the issue could become “severe” if Biden delays action.

“Of course he cares about workers, and I think that the Trump years were extraordinarily good for workers when it came to, you know, job creation, when it came to wage growth. They were good years. What I will say is I would like to see the administration step back a little bit. Avoid appearing to take sides in this dispute. What the ILA president said in that clip at the beginning of this segment, Laura, there is a lot of truth to it. These strikes can have just extraordinary consequences on the entire economy,” Scalia said.

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“Most of the time, when you’ve had a coast-wide strike like this. Up and down the East Coast, the Gulf of Mexico, if they have lasted very long, presidents, Republicans and Democrats, have decided they need to go to court and get an injunction,” Scalia continued. “That’s something, as the ILA president laid it out, you are looking at after two, three weeks, the consequences to the rest of the country become very severe. I think the president will need to give very serious consideration by next week to whether he needs to go to court. So I don’t think it’s constructive to take sides, I think we want the parties to come to an agreement.”

Harris voiced her support for union workers on strike Wednesday, stating the issue was about “fairness” and claiming former President Donald Trump wants to “pull us back to a time before workers had the freedom to organize.”

“This strike is about fairness. Foreign-owned shipping companies have made record profits and executive compensation has grown. The Longshoremen, who play a vital role transporting essential goods across America, deserve a fair share of these record profits,” Harris said.