U.S. East Coast Port Strike Looms Tuesday With No Talks Scheduled

East and Gulf Coast port workers in the US are set to strike at midnight on Monday, with no talks currently planned to prevent a work stoppage that could halt container traffic from Maine to Texas and cost the economy as much as $5 billion per day, Lisa Baertlein, Timothy Aeppel, and David Shepardson reported for Reuters.

If the strike proceeds, it will be the first coast-wide ILA strike since 1977, impacting ports that handle about half of the nation’s ocean shipping. I Photo: Port of Virginia

The labor contract between the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), representing 45,000 port workers, and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) employer group expires late Monday, with negotiations deadlocked over pay.

A strike will commence at 12:01 a.m. ET on Tuesday, according to the ILA. The union claims that the USMX "refuses to address a half-century of wage subjugation."

If the strike proceeds, it will be the first coast-wide ILA strike since 1977, impacting ports that handle about half of the nation’s ocean shipping. While the union has stated that military cargo shipments and cruise ship traffic will be unaffected, no further negotiations are scheduled before the Monday deadline.