A strike that all but closed the Port of Los Angeles when ILWU workers honored the picket lines of clerical workers is over. Jesse Russell reports
The nation’s busiest port was humming once again after clerical workers reached a tentative agreement with the port. Dockworkers refused to cross the picket line and the port was left mostly at a standstill for eight days. The strike action led to 10 out of 14 of the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach creaking to a halt. A handful of ships were stuck in dock and others anchored at sea. Many of those that hadn’t arrived yet were diverted to other ports along the coast. As of Wednesday no details had been released publicly, but one of the primary sticking points was a concern that clerical jobs would be outsourced. The shippers have denied that was a goal in recent contract negotiations. While federal mediators had been sent to the port the two sides reached their agreement less than two hours after they arrived. The clerks have been without a contract for more than two years. An estimated $1 billion in trade was impacted by the historic strike.