SoCal Ports Reach Labor Pact

Union workers at the Southern California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach reached a tentative agreement with shipping lines and terminal operators, averting the threat of a strike at the biggest U.S. port complex, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

The office clerical unit of Local 63 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union reached agreement with management Thursday. The unit’s 930 members will vote on the contract early next week and are expected to ratify it overwhelmingly, the Times reported.

A strike by Local 63 members alone would not have set large picket lines, but the 15,000-member ILWU had indicated its 7,000 members who work at the two ports would honor the clerks’ picket lines, the paper said.

Much U.S. truck and rail traffic comes from Asian freight that lands in the twin port complex.