THE leader of the union representing dockworkers in the United States who have closed down the major ports of the country’s eastern seaboard insisted on Tuesday that he was “not playing games” on the strike.

President of the International Longshoremen’s Association Harold Daggett told striking dockers on a picket line in New Jersey that the ports will stay closed until the union’s demands over pay and the introduction of artificial intelligence are met.

The strike of 45,000 workers on the country’s east and gulf coasts is expected to cost the US economy $5 billion a day (£4bn).