Shoppers are ‘panic buying’ items, including toilet paper, after 45,000 East Coast port workers launched a strike on Tuesday.
A woman named Shayna Turbovsky in Fort Worth, Texas, went to the store to get meat, rice, beans, bananas, and toilet paper when a coworker warned her about shortages and rising prices, USA Today reported on Wednesday.
“I don’t know how bad it’s going to get, but the south east just got smacked by a hurricane and now the supply chain is going to be impacted through this strike…I would rather be overprepared than scared,” she said in a social media post.
Shelves are being emptied in stores across the nation and people are waiting in long lines to buy the items, News Nation reported on Thursday:
Approximately 45,000 workers with the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) began their strike on Tuesday after failing to reach an agreement with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), according to AFP.
“The ILA is pressing for protections against automation-related job loss and for hefty wage hikes after dockworkers kept providing essential services throughout the Covid-19 pandemic,” the article said, adding that “USMX said late Wednesday that it hoped to return soon to the bargaining table.”
In addition, container ships are piling up outside major U.S. ports as the strike entered its third day, Breitbart News reported on Thursday.
“The choke points are threatening shortages of everything from bananas to auto parts and are anticipated to grow in coming days if no resolution is forthcoming,” Breitbart noted.
Although no one knows how long the strike might last, it could end up hurting the economy, per Fox 10, and Americans are already struggling under President Joe Biden’s (D) economy.
The strike has closed 36 ports in the east and gulf coast, Inside Edition reported on Thursday. However, the outlet claimed that no one should panic over toilet paper because America makes it.
Per the Today article, economists estimate that “each day of the strike could cost the economy up to $5 billion a day as imports and exports are blocked.”
