understand that there is a problem but it doesn t feel like there is a sense of urgency and should there be? well, there should be a sense of urgency because it is slowing down the economy and it is causing an increase in a variety of prices, not just for rich people. ordinary prices. it is hard to buy a car. they can t unload the semi conductor. car sales have slipped down. two points on this. we learn now with some research it was the long shoreman s union that pressured the local authorities, local government authorities in los angeles and long beach not to go to 24/7 work period. they closed down at 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon. that s point number one. point number two is also the long shoreman s union that did not want to put in automation. you know, new equipment and new technology that would have more
inflation at a 13-year high prices for beef and bacon, used cars, gas, even furniture all up double digits. the social security administration announcing its largest cost of living adjustment in nearly 40 years have you ever seen a backlog like this? never. we have never seen anything like this reporter: to help bust the bottleneck, the white house says the long shoreman s union has agreed to work around the clock. walmart, fedex and ups also committing to work off peak hours with other major national retailers to follow suit everything we re seeing today was induced by the pandemic right now we re on track to handle 20 million container units in southern california we have never handled anything close to that. reporter: to help ensure shelves are stocked and deliveries do arrive, freight and trucking commitments to move parcels from ports across rails and highways must also be secured. fast tracking the tangled web of
he didn t want to answer whether christmas presents will be delivered on time but the press secretary can t guarantee that. steve: peter i know have you to go because i hear your car alarm going off in the background but how important was it and how hard was it for the president to get the union, the international union on board because they re the ones who have to work overnight to offload all of the stuff. reporter: i was actually looking at this. it wasn t the only long shoreman s union, it was also the rail union, the teamsters and the trained dispatchers union, also with the sheet metal air and rail union they call smart for short, and so this was entirely between the white house and labor, and again, this is just a first step. nobody is saying that the problem is solved. they are saying the supply chain , this is the first part of it. this is what we got so far ainsley: peter we keep hearing there s a shortage in truck drivers, shortage in workers