U.S. port strike will cause some issues for Manitoba, local experts say – Winnipeg [Video]

A strike in the United States that has seen 45,000 workers take to the picket lines could have wide-ranging impacts, even beyond that country’s borders.

Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association at 36 ports in the U.S., from Maine on the East Coast to Texas on the Gulf Coast, began striking over wages and automation Tuesday.

Barry Prentice, a professor of supply chain management at the University of Manitoba, told 680 CJOB’s The Jim Toth Show that the longer it takes to resolve the situation, the longer it will take to get the supply chain back on track.

“It’s just the diversity of things. The (idea) that it’ll take six days or a week for each day out is absolutely correct,” Prentice said.

“That’s because you’ve got this backlog of product which is also on its way, so we’d better hope it cleans up fairly quickly.”

Prentice said holiday shopping this winter could be …