http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/12/26/2565791/more-than-14500-dockworkers-could.html
More than 300 shipyard workers in North Carolina could stop
loading and unloading cargo ships as of midnight Saturday, the result of
stalled contract talks that threaten to idle more than 14,500 dockworkers at 15
of the nation’s major shipping ports.The strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association,
one of the nation’s most successful labor unions, threatens to disrupt the flow
of electronics, clothing and other products in and out of the country. If the
walkout drags on for weeks, it would force retailers in this part of the
country to bring in consumer goods by rail from the West Coast at extra
expense. The looming strike follows a breakdown in contract talks
last week and would be the first walkout by dockyard workers on the East Coast
and the Gulf of Mexico since 1977.
With potentially serious economic consequences looming,
retail lobbyists and the Republican governor of Florida, a state which has four
ports, have asked President Barack Obama to invoke federal powers to force the
striking longshoremen back to the waterfront and their lawyers back to the
negotiating table if the walkout takes place.
