Nearly 50,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) are on strike Tuesday against the nation’s East and Gulf Coast ports, according to the Associated Press, choking off the flow of many of the nation’s imports and exports in what could become America’s most disruptive work stoppage in decades.

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."

Dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas began walking picket lines early Tuesday in a strike over wages and automation that could reignite inflation and cause shortages of goods if it goes on more than a few weeks.

Tens of thousands of dockworkers ports from Maine to Texas walked off the job early Tuesday as they go strike in demand for better wages and protections against automation.

Dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas have started walking picket lines in a strike over wages and automation that could reignite inflation and cause shortages of goods if it goes on more than a few weeks.