US longshoremen strike, threatening economic disruption ahead of presidential election

Tens of thousands of longshoremen on the U.S. East and Gulf coasts went on strike after failing to agree on a new contract agreement with port owners – a major industrial action that threatens to disrupt shipping and cost billions to the U.S. economy weeks before the presidential election cost dollars.

A six-year contract between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the US Maritime Alliance (USMX) expired at midnight on Monday.

Workers began picketing the Port of Philadelphia shortly after midnight, walking in circles at a railroad crossing outside the port and chanting “No work without a fair contract.”

A strike affecting 36 ports would be the ILA’s first since 1977. The association, which represents 45,000 port workers, threatened to close some of the country’s key trade gates to secure a larger share of higher freight rates – caused in part by the Houthi rebels attacks in the Red Sea.

Hours before the deadline, the US Chamber of Commerce called on US President Joe Biden to intervene.