US dockworkers' strike threatens to close ports

Anyone who has seen On the Waterfront knows that America's East Coast longshoremen can be a tough bunch.

The dockworkers are flexing their muscles again, threatening a strike from Sunday that would shut seaports from Massachusetts to Texas. It would be the first such coastwide strike since a two-month walkout in 1977 paralysed the flow of tens of billions of dollars of imports - and the nation's retailers and other businesses fear a painful replay if the 14,500 dockworkers make good on their threats.

via Business feed http://www.scmp.com/business/economy/article/1113830/us-dockworkers-strike-threatens-close-ports