Dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas began walking picket lines early Tuesday in a strike over wages and automation that could reignite inflation and cause shortages of goods if it goes on more than a few weeks.
The contract between the ports and about 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association expired at midnight, and even though progress was reported in talks on Monday, the workers went on strike. The strike affecting 36 ports is the first by the union since 1977.
Workers began picketing at the Port of Philadelphia shortly after midnight, walking in a circle at a rail crossing outside the port and chanting “No work without a fair contract.”
The union had message boards on the side of a truck reading: “Automation Hurts Families: ILA Stands For Job Protection.”
At Port Houston, which is in the Central time zone an hour behind the East Coast, at least 50 workers gathered outside the port with signs saying “No Work Without a Fair Contract.” They appeared poised to begin picketing. Workers showed a statement from the ILA on the strike saying that employers have refused to compensate workers fairly.
