President Joe Biden ratcheted up pressure on U.S. port employers and shipping lines to restart talks with striking dockworkers, warning that the unfolding strike could turn into a “man-made disaster.”

According to the Congressional Research Service, about half the time that presidents have invoked Section 206 of Taft-Hartley, the parties worked out their differences.

As day one of the dockworkers strike unfolded, economists were trying to quantify the damage from the supply chain disruption caused by the closure of 36 ports.

PHILADELPHIA — Dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas began walking picket lines early Oct. 1 in a strike over wages and automation.

U.S. dockworkers at ports along the East and Gulf Coasts began their first major strike in decades Oct. 1 in a move that threatens to have downstream impacts on trucking.

Key industry and government officials are urging U.S. dockworkers and their employers to avoid a strike at East and Gulf Coast ports, though many facilities are bracing for a shutdown.

DETROIT — With a strike deadline looming, the group representing East and Gulf Coast ports is asking a federal agency to make the longshoremen’s union come to the bargaining table.