U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast dockworkers began their first large-scale strike in nearly 50 years on Tuesday, halting the flow of about half the country's ocean shipping, after negotiations for a new labor contract broke down over wages. The strike blocks everything from food to automobile shipments across dozens of ports from Maine to Texas, a disruption analysts warned will cost the economy billions of dollars a day, threaten jobs and potentially stoke inflation. President Joe Biden and his administration have repeatedly said they will not use federal powers to end the strike, and on Tuesday pressured dockworker employers to bump up their contract offer to land a deal.
The sides are talking to each other, but there was no active bargaining late on Tuesday and the strike appeared to be headed into a second day, a person briefed on the talks said. The International Longshoremen's Association union, which represents 45,000 port workers, had been negotiating with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) employer group for a new six-year contract ahead of a midnight Monday deadline.
Source: Reuters