UPDATE 1:10PM EST: There has been a 30 day extension to the ILA contract postponing the strike.

At 12:01 am on December 30th 14 ports from Boston to Houston will close as members of the International Longshoremen Association (ILA) covering the the East and Gulf coasts go on strike. At issue is whether Longshoremen will continue to get the per-container royalty payments previously agreed to by management.

The Northern California council of the ILWU, otherwise known as the Longshoremen, announced its support for Prop 19, California’s marijuana legalization initiative. The 25,000-member council cited the extraordinary “waste” of money and lives in the war on marijuana, including marijuana prohibition’s disproportionate impact “on the backs of workers, poor people, and people of color.”