Longshore workers in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will head for the polls this week to weigh in on the tentative six-year labor contract their union and employers agreed to in June.
The pact followed a laborious negotiation process that lasted 13 months.
The tentative contract would apply to dockworkers at ports all along the U.S. West Coast and reportedly would provide a 32% pay increase through 2028, along with a one-time “hero bonus” for working through the pandemic.
Locally, in-person voting is scheduled to take place from 6 am. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 15-17, at the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Memorial Hall, 231 W. C St., in WIlmington.
The ILWU’s port-wide caucus delegates — with representatives from 29 local chapters — met this summer in Long Beach to weigh in with an initial assessment before calling for the membership-wide vote.
Those early sessions consisted of delegates who reviewed the tentative agreement to make a recommendation to the rank and file membership.
Full details of the contract have not been made public, pending completion of the process.
The Pacific Maritime Association, representing employers worldwide, also must approve the deal.
A final approval and announcement is expected in the fall.
It all comes when cargo flow is slowing at the twin ports credited with bringing 40% of the nation’s imports to every congressional district in the country.
With economic uncertainty growing in China, imports from that nation — where America gets many of its low-cost goods — are dropping. Some cargo also left the LA-Long Beach hub during the long union talks as shippers worried that the stalemate could impact the efficiency of bringing goods in and getting them to their intended destinations. Ports on the Gulf and East coasts, likewise, benefited from the diverted flow.
All of that has meant a slowed demand for longshore labor in recent months.
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