Over the weekend and continuing today, dockworkers disrupted cargo activity due to labor issues at several key West Coast ports, causing labor slowdowns, shift closures, and some terminals completely shutting down. The disruptions continue to interrupt the flow of cargo as labor contract negotiations that have been ongoing for over a year between the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) have stalled.
According to the PMA Association, “Union leaders are implementing many familiar disruption tactics from their job action playbook, including refusing to dispatch workers to marine terminals, slowing operations, and making unfounded health and safety claims.”
While the ILWU declined to comment on PMA’s statement, ILWU’s Local 13 chapter representing Southern California dockworkers, said in a statement on Friday that cargo operations at LA and Long Beach ports continued, but that its members have “taken it upon themselves to voice their displeasure with the ocean carriers’ and terminal operators’ position.”
On Friday, the ports that were affected by the disruption included:
- Port of Los Angeles
- Port of Long Beach
- Port of Hueneme
- Port of Oakland
- Port of Seattle
- Port of Tacoma
On Monday, at least one terminal at the Port of Los Angeles canceled cargo operations. The largest terminal in Long Beach, Total Terminals International (TTI), and the Pacific Container Terminal at Long Beach were also closed as of Monday afternoon.
While intermittent disruptions at several West Coast ports are expected to stretch into today, it’s unclear which terminals will continue to be affected. Many terminals report that they will resume normal operations, but that could change depending on additional labor actions taken.
