Tens of thousands of dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas are now on strike. Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, says there shouldn’t be any immediate impacts on the west coast.
The strike does not involve dockworkers on the west coast but the impacts could be felt locally in terms of shipment volume and economic losses, especially if it is a prolonged strike. The east coast and gulf coast dockworkers want higher wages and protections against increasing automation. Experts say a prolonged strike could cost the U.S. economy up to four-and-a-half-billion-dollars per day.