President Biden and Vice President Harris are standing behind the International Longshoremen’s Association’s strike as thousands of port employees head to the picket line. The ILA has called for drastic salary increases and a complete ban on automation at East and Gulf Coast ports, which the industry group says will lead to higher prices on nearly everything. 

Just hours after the strike began, Mr. Biden, in a statement released on Tuesday, urged the industry group representing the shipping conglomerates, USMX, to agree to a better deal for the employees. 

“Ocean carriers have made record profits since the pandemic and in some cases profits grew in excess of 800 percent compared to their profits prior to the pandemic. Executive compensation has grown in line with those profits and profits have been returned to shareholders at record rates. It’s only fair that workers, who put themselves at risk during the pandemic to keep ports open, see a meaningful increase in their wages as well,” Mr. Biden wrote of the ILA’s demand for a 77 percent salary increase over the next few years. 

On Monday, USMX said they had offered a “nearly 50 percent wage increase,” to the ILA, which was later rejected. 

Mr. Biden made no mention in his statement of the union’s demand for a complete ban on automation and the use of robots at any ports along the East and Gulf coasts. The ILA first won that prohibition on automation back in 2018, but has pushed for stronger guarantees this time around after it was disclosed that shipping companies were using robots to process trucks at the Mobile, Alabama port. 

Ms. Harris on Tuesday announced her own support for the ILA, risking being blamed for the inevitable supply chain issues and price hikes that will come should the strike go on for a number of weeks. “The Longshoremen, who play a vital role transporting essential goods across America, deserve a fair share of these record profits,” the vice president said in a statement. She, like the president, made no mention of the union’s demand for a complete ban on the use of automated systems. 

Ms. Harris also took the time to knock her opponent, President Trump, for his past comments about union members and his appointments to the National Labor Relations Board when he was president. 

The acting secretary of labor, Julie Su, also chimed in, taking the side of the union. She called on the shipping companies to make sure that their employees are “sharing” in the success. 

“This country’s port workers put their health and safety on the line to keep working through the pandemic so we could get the goods we needed as COVID raged and these workers will help communities recover from the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene,” Ms. Su said in a statement. “As these companies make billions and their CEOs bring in millions of dollars in compensation per year, they have refused to put an offer on the table that reflects workers’ sacrifice and contributions to their employer’s profits.”

Trump similarly came out with a pro-ILA statement, but also failed to mention the automation prohibition demands. “American workers should be able to negotiate for better wages, especially since the shipping companies are mostly foreign flag vessels,” Trump said on Tuesday. 

The president of the ILA, Harold Daggett, praised Ms. Su when he walked the picket line on Tuesday. “Secretary of Labor Julie Su has been terrific,” he told Fox News. “She’s knocking down doors, she’s trying to stop this, she’s trying to get us to a [place] where we can have fair negotiations. It’s the companies that don’t want it. They don’t want to sit here and be fair.”

Mr. Daggett has been criticized in recent days after a video from early September began recirculating online of him promising to “cripple” America’s ports — all while wearing Cartier glasses, a Rolex watch, and a gold chain. He painted a dark picture for America’s economy should his ILA strike stretch into just a few weeks. 

“These people today don’t know what a strike is,” Mr. Daggett said ominously. “You know what’s gonna happen?” he asked. “First week: it’ll be all over the news every night … Second week: guys who sell cars can’t sell cars ‘cause the cars ain’t coming in off the ships. They get laid off. Third week: malls start closing down. They can’t get the goods from China, they can’t sell clothes.”

Mr. Daggett’s salary has faced some scrutiny in recent days given the sheer enormity of it. According to the nonprofit Union Facts, as of 2021, Mr. Daggett was making more than $700,000 while the current ILA–industry contract — which was negotiated in 2018 — mandates $39 an hour pay for union laborers who have at least six years of experience. One report from New York’s waterfront commission, however, found that between 2020 and 2021, some union laborers were making much more with overtime pay. That study found that a third of union laborers were making more than $200,000 annually. 

Also resurfaced in the wake of the strike was the story of Mr. Daggett’s past criminal issues, including two criminal charges nearly 20 years ago that involved the New Jersey mob and a corpse rotting in the trunk of a car. 

In 2005, he went to trial for alleged racketeering with New Jersey mobsters, though he said on the stand that he had been the victim — not a perpetrator — of the scheme. One of his co-defendants, Lawrence Ricci, would later disappear before his body was found in the trunk of a car weeks later, according to the Telegraph. Ricci’s killing is still unsolved.