Dockworkers at Port Houston hit the picket lines early Tuesday morning, but Houston consumers won't see an immediate impact. unless the strike goes on for a prolonged period, experts say. The expiration of the six-year contract between the dockworkers' union the International Longshoremen's Association and the United States Maritime Alliance expired at 12:01 Tuesday morning,

Dockworkers along the Eastern Seaboard are poised to strike as soon as 12:01 a.m. Tuesday — a work stoppage that could pinch portions of the economy unless it’s averted today. The walkout would be the first of its kind since 1977 — and it comes roughly a month before Election Day.

Negotiations between longshoremen and port operators broke down in June and the two sides have barely been speaking. The current contract expires at midnight Monday.