Union Pushes LA, Long Beach Port Strike Deadline to Midnight Nov. 6
About 250 port security workers at Los Angeles and Long Beach extended talks to Nov. 6. A strike would hit terminals moving over half the ports' cargo.
The union for roughly 250 security guards at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has agreed to keep its contract in force until midnight Pacific Time on Friday, Nov. 6, the Pacific Maritime Association said. Bargaining resumes that day with federal mediators in the room.
The extension buys time, but the strike threat has not gone away. If no deal is reached, a walkout by these workers would put operations at risk at terminals that handle more than half of the cargo moving through the two ports, according to the employers.
Who is negotiating
The workers are watchmen, the guards who handle security at marine terminals. They belong to International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 26. On the other side is the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), which represents the terminal operators and ocean carriers.
The PMA announced the extension in a statement on the evening of Nov. 4 and said the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the federal agency that helps settle labor disputes, will assist in Friday’s talks. The association said it wants an agreement at the bargaining table that avoids disruption at what it called the nation’s two busiest ports.
Local 26 President Luisa Gratz did not respond to a request for comment, Transport Topics reported.
A small union with a large reach
By headcount, the dispute is small. The PMA said the roughly 250 watchmen make up about 2% of the ILWU workforce at the two ports.
The terminals where they work are another matter. According to the PMA, those terminals handle roughly 85% of the cargo at Long Beach and 33% at Los Angeles. Taken together, that is more than half of the combined volume at the Southern California port complex.
There is also the question of other union members. On Oct. 27, the PMA warned that ILWU dockworkers and marine clerks are expected to stand with the watchmen if they strike. Those groups work under separate contracts and are not part of this dispute.
What it means for truckers
For drayage drivers, the truckers who haul containers between port terminals and nearby warehouses and rail yards, the terminals at risk are the ones that move most of the freight at the two ports. A stoppage there would also reach the carriers and brokers that book loads out of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and the shippers waiting on that freight.
The exposure is uneven between the two ports. At Long Beach, the terminals in question handle roughly 85% of cargo, so a walkout would touch most of that port’s container traffic. At Los Angeles the share is 33%, according to the PMA.
What to watch on Nov. 6
Talks resume Friday, Nov. 6, with the help of federal mediators. The current extension runs through midnight Pacific Time that night. If the two sides reach a deal, terminal operations continue as normal. If they do not, and no further extension is announced, the watchmen could walk out after the deadline passes.
Neither the PMA nor the union has disclosed the issues still separating them. The PMA said it remains committed to reaching what it described as a fair agreement.
Source: Transport Topics
