US East Coast dockworkers strike

On Oct. 1, dockworkers on the US East Coast and Gulf Coast went on strike, stopping almost half of the country's ocean transportation after salary discussions broke down during talks for a new labor contract.

The strike blocks everything from food to automobile shipments across dozens of ports from Maine to Texas, in a disruption analysts warned will cost the economy billions of dollars a day, threaten jobs, and stoke inflation.

The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) union representing 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 Sept 30 deadline.

The ILA said in statements on Sept 29 and 30 that a port strike would proceed, starting on Oct. 2 at 12.01 am.

The strike, the ILA's first since 1977, worries businesses across the economy that rely on ocean shipping to export their wares or secure crucial imports. The strike affects 36 ports that handle a range of containerized goods from bananas to clothing to cars.

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