TEXAS  –  Tens of thousands of dockworkers have gone on strike across the US East Coast, shutting down key ocean shipping routes – and raising concerns about shortages and inflation – in the build-up to November’s presidential election.

The shutdown by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) stopped traffic at 36 ports from Maine to Texas starting at midnight on Tuesday.

It is the first port strike of its magnitude in five decades, threatening to inflict billions in losses to the US economy and hamper the flow of goods, such as food and clothing.

The US port workers launched the strike due to a labour dispute with employers’ group United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), after their six-year contract expired.

For their new contract, ILA wants USMX to increase wages by 77 percent over six years and bar any automation, which they believe threatens workers’ jobs.

While USMX offered to raise wages by 50 percent and keep current automation checks in place, ILA said that was not enough, especially in light of the industry’s massive profits during the COVID-19 pandemic, and inflation that has affected how far their previous paycheques went.

“We are prepared to fight as long as necessary, to stay out on strike for whatever period of time it takes, to get the wages and protections against automation our ILA members deserve,” ILA head Harold Daggett said in a statement Tuesday.

After shipping firms raked in billions during the pandemic, “we want them to pay back”, said local ILA president in Philadelphia Boise Butler. “They’re going to pay back”.

While analysts say US consumers are unlikely to feel the effects of the strike immediately, their wallets could take a hit if it stretches on for too long.

“The worry is that the longer this lasts, the more retail shortages will happen and the more price increases Americans will see,” said Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey from New Jersey, where, along with New York, some 100,000 unloaded shipping containers are piled up at ports. (Al Jazeera)

Photo: Dockworkers at the Maher Terminals in Port Newark, New Jersey strike. (AFP) …[+]