NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. ports from Maine to Texas shut down Tuesday when the union representing about 45,000 dockworkers went on strike for the first time since 1977.
Workers began walking picket lines early Tuesday, picketing near ports all along the East Coast. Workers outside the Port of Philadelphia walked in a circle and chanted, “No work without a fair contract.”
A lengthy shutdown could raise prices on goods around the country and potentially cause shortages and price increases at big and small retailers alike as the holiday shopping season — along with a tight presidential election — approaches.
What are the issues in the dockworkers strike?
The International Longshoremen’s Association is demanding significantly higher wages and a total ban on the automation of cranes, gates and container-moving trucks that are used in the loading or unloading of freight at 36 U.S. ports. Those ports handle roughly half of the nation’s cargo from ships.
The contract between the ILA and the United States Maritime Alliance, which represents the ports, expired Tuesday. Some progress was reported in talks late Monday, but the union went on strike anyway.