Vice President Kamala Harris has thrown her support behind the striking port workers, but the approval may not be reciprocated when it comes to her bid for the White House.
During the third day of strikes at a port in Newark, New Jersey, FOX Business’ Jeff Flock was met with silence when he asked the group of longshoremen if they supported Harris.
“I have no hands,” Flock told “Mornings with Maria” on Thursday as he panned through the crowd.
One man said it was “nobody’s business,” yet the lack of enthusiasm for the Democratic presidential candidate was on full display among the striking union members.
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In a statement on Wednesday, Harris said, “This strike is about fairness. Foreign-owned shipping companies have made record profits and executive compensation has grown.”
International Longshoreman Association President Harold J. Daggett, who’s spearheading the strike at the East and Gulf coast ports, recently garnered criticism after it was revealed that he took home more than $900,000 last year.
Despite the negative spotlight, union members are still backing their union chief.
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“He’s for us. He’s fighting for us. He’s fighting for our rights. He’s fighting to stop automation,” Longshorewoman Maria Flechas told FOX Business.
The crane operator of 25 years continued, arguing that her fellow co-workers “do not want automation.”
“We worked our whole lives here. We want our children to work here. It’s a great job. We work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We are the heartbeat of America,” Flechas pressed.
Flechas went on to dispel claims that Longshoremen make too much money.
“You know we’re lacking just the way you guys at home are lacking. We don’t have cups, we don’t have paper, we don’t have this. We don’t have the other. But we’re here. We’re fighting for what you need,” she stressed.
FOX Business’ Taylor Penley and Breck Dumas contributed to this report.
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