If East Coast and Gulf Coast port workers don't reach a labor deal this week, Americans could face high prices and shortages this holiday.

The International Longshoremen's Association union contract expires on September 30, and approximately 45,000 members are planning to halt work unless a deal in their favor can be reached. It increasingly appears that won't be the case, which means 36 East and Gulf Coast ports will close next Tuesday, disrupting nearly half of all U.S. imports.

More than 45,000 workers at ports in the South and Gulf Coast may go on strike, a move that could affect the country's supply chain. CBS News' Errol Barnett reports.

Thousands of East and Gulf Coast port workers are ready to walk off the job on October 1. Here's what's at stake.

U.S. companies that rely on East and Gulf Coast seaports have been importing early, shifting goods to the West Coast, and even putting cargo on pricey flights to hedge against a threatened Oct. 1 strike that could jam supply chains and reignite inflation ahead of the U.

The looming strike by about 45,000 ILA dockworkers at ports on the East and Gulf coasts would affect a variety of products imported and exported at the 36 seaports at risk of stoppages.