It may seem like all Iraq, all the time in the Oval Office, but the president has at least one other thing on his mind this week: that pesky port lockout. The freight still isn't moving, factories are running out of parts, produce is rotting, and retailers are more freaked about Christmas with every passing day.
On Monday, Bush stepped in and appointed a three-member panel to see how badly this shutdown is hosing the economy. (We hope this isn't a difficult question, as the panel's been given all of one day to report back.) When Bush gets the report on Tuesday, the next step might be a court order to reopen the ports under the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act. That would send employees back to work for 80 days while federal mediators duke it out over the disputed contract and retailers lower their Xanax dosages.
Invoking Taft-Hartley requires a threat to national health or safety -- not the economy. But Labor Secretary Elaine Chao covered that base in a statement on Monday, saying the work stoppage threatens the flow of supplies to the military (we knew Iraq would be in here somewhere). "Union officials quickly responded that their members have been unloading military cargo throughout the 10-day shutdown," said the L.A. Times, but an anonymous Bush administration official "said that only a portion of what the Defense Department needs has made it ashore."
Politically, this has been a tricky one. Using Taft-Hartley would annoy labor right before congressional elections. On the other hand, "Voter discontent with Bush's handling of the increasingly fragile economic recovery has begun showing up in polls, and such concerns may have outweighed the political danger to the Republican administration," said the San Francisco Chronicle. Also, Bush stepped in on the same day that a poll reported two-thirds of Americans wanted him to focus more on the economy. "Though the administration promised an unbiased examination of the lockout, Bush appeared to have made up his mind that it was hurting national security and the economy, andmerited federal intervention," said the AP.
As for Taft-Hartley, it's not exactly famous for solving labor disputes. Often the 80-day cooling-off period ends, and workers simply walk out again (or get locked out again, in this case). One gets the sense, however, that fixing the dockworkers' contract isn't the point of this particular 80 days. It's 78 days until Christmas. The race is on. - Jen Muehlbauer
President Acts To Halt Port Lockout for 80 Days (Seattle Times)
http://tinyurl.com/1usn
Bush Expected To Act on Ports Crisis
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/business/1002/08ports.html
President Moves Toward Forcing the Reopening of West Coast Ports
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ports8oct08001439,0,1021983.story
Bush Takes Step Toward Halting Lockout After West Coast Port Talks Break Off (AP)
http://tinyurl.com/1usk
White House Intervenes on Docks Dispute (Financial Times)
http://tinyurl.com/1usm
Cooling-off Period Likely in Port Fight (SF Chronicle)
http://tinyurl.com/1usp
Bush Moves Toward Halting Port Shutdown
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/08/national/08PORT.html
Trouble On The Docks
http://online.wsj.com/page/0,,2_0864,00.html
(Paid subscription required.)
Charges of Politics Have Dogged Taft-Hartley Act
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/90243_hartley08.shtml
Taft-Hartley Act No Quick-Fix For Port Dispute (Reuters)
http://www.forbes.com/work/newswire/2002/10/02/rtr739458.html
