It is Day Three of the biggest port strike in nearly half a century.

Tens of thousands of members of the International Longshoremen's Association are on the picket lines at ports from Maine to Texas, including in Elizabeth and Newark.

Long lines of container ships are now queued up outside some of the major ports.

According to Reuters, at least 45 container vessels that have been unable to unload their cargo are anchoring and deciding to wait it out, in the hope that both sides will come to an agreement soon.

Now, no negotiating options are scheduled between the union and their employer, the U.S. Maritime Alliance.

But according to reports, the port owners are under pressure from the white House to boost their pay offer so they can strike a deal.

Workers are demanding higher wages and, importantly, a ban on the use of automation on the docks.

Out of fear it will eventually put an end to their jobs.

It's a common concern in labor fights that's led to other recent work stoppages and industries.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan takes a deeper look at what's driving this strike.

Longshoremen walked and ran the picket lines around Port Newark Spirits High this morning.

No contract, no work.

The strike sent panicked shoppers to clear shelves of toilet paper, fearing pandemic like shortages.

They're spooked after the union threatened to, quote, cripple the supply chain unless port operators not only raise wages but also promised job protection against wholesale automation.

We're going to accept technologies that allow the job to be safer and more efficient, but we're never, ever going to support automation that displays our workforce robotics over people.

Hell no.

We're never going to accept that union boss Dennis Daggett blamed foreign corporations that comprised the U.S. Maritime Alliance for pushing fully automated terminals for profit at American expense.

The Ila is backed by its west coast cousin, which isn't on strike but vowed not to process ships diverted to its ports.

Automation will not pay taxes.

It won't put food on your baby's table.

Automation is your enemy.

It won't approach is to fight to save the jobs that we have.

And then the other approach is, well, if jobs do need to be eliminated, how can we make sure that those workers that are displaced are made whole?

Rutgers labor expert Todd Sean says Port Liberty and Bayonne already uses partial automated cranes to handle shipping containers.

The Illinois current contract allows some semi automation with union permission, but it's stopped.

Negotiate a new contract in June after Maersk and Port Mobile installed automatic gate processing for trucks.

And it's been dead set against the new, fully automated cranes now operating worldwide.

But if you are a very big terminal and you have a lot of activity, ships are there all the time.

You want to operate 24 over seven.

Automation is, I will say, more reliable.

I would say strategy to implement.

Shipping expert John Paul Rodrigue explains the New York New Jersey import market is booming, but it's constrained by a tight footprint that limits expansion by adding terminals.

So how to stay competitive in a global marketplace where automation is common and ships keep getting bigger?

Something has to give.

You have to find ways to squeeze more productivity of what you have.

I have to densify it, improve the productivity of it, and therefore start to consider and implement automation plans.

It also creates pressure on the employers to be like, okay, well, if we want this technology, you know, do we have to actually pay the workers more to use it?

And that's what the Ila, you know, it's essentially doing protect our jobs and pay us what we're worth.

Rutgers historian Wil Brewster notes the move towards automation started with shipping containers, an idea launched by Sealand in Newark moving standardized container instead of individual packages increased efficiency, but cost longshoremen thousands of jobs.

The union struck in 1977 and settled only after shippers agreed to compensate workers for jobs lost to automation.

And even in the mid 1960s, the Ila had begun winning language around job protection.

Container fund.

That would, that would be paid to the union, then could go to the membership if they were facing our cuts and layoffs.

He says high tech innovations led to job actions and careers across the nation, including the Hollywood writers.

Strike over using AI technology brings change, but workers, if those changes are happening, all the benefits shouldn't go to the employer.

It should be shared with the workers.

And so that's always an underlying thing in these negotiations.

The U.S. Maritime Alliance yesterday stated it wants to ratify a new master contract that addresses all of the critical issues.

We cannot agree to preconditions to return to bargaining, but we remain committed to bargaining in good faith.

The ILA hasn't budged...

I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.