United States | Bush Takes First Steps To End Dock Workers Dispute | Presiden...

United States

Bush Takes First Steps To End Dock Workers Dispute

President Bush today 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, taking the first step in the process to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act, which could order longshoreman back to work and implement an 80-day cooling-off period. The government first sought mediation as an alternative solution to this dispute. The mediation process has not succeeded, however, and the President decided to take action to protect America's national health and safety.

"We see the president’s action as a vital first step,” said U.S. Meat Export Federation President and CEO Phil Seng. “This walkout costs the country directly in lost sales and wages, but it also damages the reputation the U.S. has established as a reliable supplier of red meat. When you’re working with perishable products, as we are, every hour we delay in finding a resolution means revenue lost, high-quality food wasted.

"The country already faces slow economic recovery and this only serves to prolong the agony. We need a quick resolution to a situation which each day threatens our relationships in primary export markets – relationships our competitors are more than willing to take over,” Seng noted.

Dominican Republic                                                                                                                         

U.S. Beef And Pork Exports To Dominican Republic Up In 2002

The United States exported 944 metric tons (mt) of beef and beef variety meats to the Dominican Republic in the first seven months of 2002, 56 percent higher than the same period in 2001. Trade contacts in the Dominican Republic tell USMEF Caribbean Manager Elizabeth Wunderlich that Dominican import permits for beef have recently been easier to obtain, but the Caribbean nation’s procedures for getting import licenses for pork remain as tortuous as ever. Nevertheless, U.S. pork imports to the Dominican Republic (including variety meats) were up 38 percent over January-July, 2001 and totaled 1,557 mt.

Middle-class Dominicans now buy almost all their meat at supermarkets, and the French supermarket giant, Carrefour, is setting up shop in the Dominican Republic. Wunderlich reports a domestic retailer is now offering four grades of U.S. beef (no-roll, choice, high choice and prime). 

The Dominican Republic is the third largest general export market for U.S. products in the Western Hemisphere according to U.S. government statistics. The country has a population of eight million people and one million Dominicans live in the United States, which enhances the Dominican preference for American products. The economy grew at a rate of 7 percent or higher from 1995–2000, thanks to money from Dominican expatriates in American, industry in free trade zones, and tourism. Growth fell to 2.7 percent in 2001 but rebounded to 6 percent in the first half of 2002, despite a downturn in the tourism sector.