Here's how the port strike could affect the holidays
NEW YORK - This holiday season might be a little less merry —with Christmas trees and holiday goods stuck in transit.
On Tuesday, U.S. ports from Maine to Texas shut down Tuesday after nearly 45,000 dockworkers went on strike--the first time since 1977.
The strike could last weeks, or even months, and experts warn that more than a month could cause product shortages.
Christmas trees in a display room. (JOHANNES EISELE/AFP via Getty Images)
Shoppers could also see higher prices on a vast array of goods, from fruit and vegetables to cars if the strike drags on.
Chris Butler, CEO of National Tree Company in New Jersey, tells the AP that if a strike lasts only a few days, there would still be time to unload Christmas trees, transport them to warehouses, and prepare them for customers this season.
Ships carrying the trees are en route to New York but won’t arrive before Tuesday. If the strike continues, Butler warned that most trees would have to be stored until next Christmas season.
"Definitely not an ideal situation," Butler said.
Is there a way around the dockworkers strike?
He says his crew began preparing for a potential strike in July.
They sped up shipments for everything possible, but one major retail client requested Christmas trees early. Until recently, factories in China and elsewhere couldn’t fulfill the rest of National Tree's orders.
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If a strike keeps ports closed until November, about 150,000 Christmas trees could miss the peak shopping season, costing National Tree Company and others. In the worst case, these costs could drive inflation and strain the U.S. economy.
(Credit: Matt Lance - Lance Aerial Media)
According to the AP, National Tree has already stockpiled or delivered most of the roughly 2 million artificial trees it sells each year.
But it could lose revenue if 150,000 of the trees get stuck in the pipeline.
A prolonged strike would require companies to compensate shippers for delays, potentially causing goods to arrive late for the peak holiday shopping season.
Butler says it would be too costly to ship trees across the country by rail.
Why are dockworkers on strike?
The International Longshoremen's Association is pushing for much higher wages and a complete ban on the automation of cranes, gates, and trucks used to load and unload cargo at 36 U.S. ports, which handle about half of the nation's shipping.
The contract between the ILA and the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents the ports, expired on Tuesday. Although some progress was made in talks on Monday, the union still went on strike.
How could the strike end?
Under the Taft-Hartley Act, Biden could seek a court order to suspend the strike for an 80-day cooling-off period. Robyn Patterson, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement that the administration has never invoked the act and isn’t considering it now.
Biden and Congress did step in two years ago to block a looming freight rail strike and force those workers to accept a deal because of widespread fears that a rail strike would have damaged the economy.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.