Administration Takes Action To Protect America’s Economy, Jobs

Washington, D.C. (October 7, 2002) – Ranchers and farmers across the nation can breath a brief sigh of relief after President Bush announced the formation of a Board of Inquiry to determine the impact of the West Coast dock workers’ labor dispute. 

Faced with a growing threat to the American economy and American jobs, Bush signed the executive order today, taking the first step in the process to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act, which could order longshoremen back to work and implement an 80-day cooling-off period. 

The Taft-Hartley process is the government’s principal legal means of addressing a labor dispute that could have a devastating national impact.  The government first sought mediation as an alternative solution to this dispute.  However, the mediation process has not been successful, and the President has decided to take action in order to protect America’s national health and safety.

“We applaud the President’s action.  NCBA has been actively urging policymakers to focus on the damaging impact this work stoppage is having on our nation’s economy, and to intervene in this port closure,” says Wythe Willey, Iowa cattle producer and president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).  “This is not just a beef issue, or even an agriculture issue.  This is a threat to our overall national economy.”

As West Coast ports continue to sit idle, draining up to $2 billion a day from the U.S. economy, news reports from across the country paint pictures of rotting produce and frozen beef sitting neglected in cargo holds. 

“The country is already suffering from a slow economic recovery, and our nation’s cattle producers and farmers have already endured years of drought and low market conditions,” says Willey.  “Each day these ports remain closed threatens our supplier relationships with our primary export markets.  NCBA will continue to work with bipartisan Congressional leadership to urge the principal parties to negotiate a final resolution to this ongoing dispute.”