If all of the missed concrete deliveries queued up, the line of trucks would stretch nearly 32 miles, as union drivers in Seattle walk the picket lines for the fifth month, delaying key projects and costing the region millions.

Teamsters Local 174 is demanding wage hikes to buffer inflation — which hit another 40-year high in February, with no relief expected soon — as well as enhanced healthcare benefits for recently retired workers.

On the other side of the bargaining table, Stoneway Concrete, Gary Merlino Construction, Cadman Materials, CalPortland, Salmon Bay Sand and Gravel and Lehigh Cement want drivers to return to work as soon as possible, believing their wage offer of an 18% increase over three years is generous.

The employers are caught between a rock — as ready-mixed concrete shortages inflate prices — and a hard place — as local politicians raise concerns of potentially illegal bargaining strategies between employers.

Meanwhile, the collateral damage of the strike, now Day 138, mounts daily as projects are delayed: Repairs to the West Seattle Bridge, the expansion of the Washington State Convention Center, modernization to a Microsoft campus and affordable housing projects, to name a few.

"You look at the skyline, there's a lot of cranes," said John Gallagher, public information officer for Sound Transit. "Basically, name any major project, it's impacted."

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