LA-Long Beach port strike delayed to Nov 4

The News

Security guards in ILWU Local 26 are expected to push their strike deadline at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach from Nov 1 to Nov 4. The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents their employers, expects the short extension to be announced Friday.

The guards are about 250 watchmen. The eight terminals they work at handle about 85% of Long Beach’s cargo and a third of Los Angeles’.
“None of the employers’ proposals have been resolved, and significant differences remain,” the PMA said before the delay.

The details

Talks get three more days. The watchmen’s contract expired in July 2025, and they have worked under extensions since.

Local 26 members have voted to authorize a strike. Federal mediators have joined the talks.
The PMA says its offer includes wage and pension increases, and that full-time watchmen average more than $170,000 a year.
“Nothing of value has resulted from the union’s commitment to bargaining in good faith with our employers and PMA,” Local 26 President Luisa Gratz wrote to other maritime unions last week.

Other ILWU members are not expected to cross Local 26 picket lines. That could halt vessel, yard and gate work at the listed terminals.

The strike notice names six container terminals: APM Terminals Pier 400, Long Beach Container Terminal, Total Terminals International, SSA Marine’s C60 and A90 berths, and Pacific Container Terminal. Two SSA non-container terminals are also listed.
That is six of the complex’s 13 container terminals.
Long Beach’s Harbor Patrol and police keep guarding the port. The Port of Long Beach is not part of the talks.

Rail-bound boxes are sitting longer. About 35,000 import boxes were waiting for trains at the two ports as of Oct 28. More than 13,000 of them had sat nine days or more, up from 10,562 two days earlier.

At Los Angeles, 47% of boxes waiting for rail had sat nine days or more on Oct 27, up from 41% a day earlier. At Long Beach, the share rose to 22% from 15%.
Rail-bound imports sat an average 7.19 days in September, up from 6.75 in August.

The railroads are rationing cars. Union Pacific and BNSF have put customers on strict railcar allocations until the Southern California backlog eases.

“Strong international volumes have tightened rail car supply,” a Union Pacific spokesperson said.
The Port of Long Beach says its average rail time is still under five days. Smaller inland rail hubs are waiting longer.

Worth noting

A clerks’ strike stopped these ports in 2012. Several hundred ILWU clerks walked out at Los Angeles and Long Beach. More than 10,000 dockworkers refused to cross their picket lines. The strike lasted about a week before a deal.