Dockworkers have launched a widespread strike at ports across the eastern US from Texas to Maine, with wages and automation topping their list of labor concerns. The stoppage, the first in decades, could cause price hikes and supply shortages, depending on how long it lasts, the AP reports. At midnight on Monday, roughly 45,000 workers, including longshoremen and women, walked off the job at ports up and down the Eastern seaboard, halting an enormous amount of shipping in the US. Ayesha Tariq, co-founder of consulting firm MacroVisor, said on LinkedIn that the “biggest disruption as a result o…