Approximately 50,000 ILA union longshoremen were walking off the job at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports starting at 12:01 a.m. ET on October 1 after failing to reach an agreement with ports ownership on a new contract.

The last ILA strike on the East Coast, in 1977, ended after 44 days. In 2002, President George W. Bush invoked the Taft-Hartley Act to halt a management lockout of West Coast port workers. Port operator Enstructure wrote last week they'd "continue to provide support services for our customers until regular operations resume."