Longshoremen are on strike, shutting down East, Gulf ports. Economic losses of $5 billion per day can mean shortages, inflation and layoffs.

Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association walked out for the first time since 1977 in a standoff over wages, benefits and job security.

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.