Strikes end at LA, Long Beach ports

Work should resume today at Los Angeles and Long Beach ports after employers and union workers announced an eight-day strike had ended.

At 11 p.m. Dec. 4, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit and the Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor Employers Association announced agreement on contract terms. Other ILWC workers had refused to cross the picket line of striking OUC members, resulting in only one container terminal remaining open at POLA and three at POLB.

The 450-member union had been working without a contract for 30 months while negotiations continued. U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein (both D-Calif.) and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had urged settlement of the dispute.

POLB spokesman Art Wong estimated the strike had resulted in a work stoppage for the 5,000 to 6,000 at the ports — two of the country’s busiest.