Contract discussions closed down the largest terminal at the Port of Long Beach on Monday.
The dispute between the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents the port operators and shipping companies, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents the workers, resulted in disruptions beginning on Friday for several West Coast ports, including Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Other locations include Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma, Washington, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Three days later, Long Beach’s Total Terminals International shut down operations, the Times added.
The Port of Los Angeles, meanwhile, is fully open, according to its Twitter account.
At issue are “wages, as well as safety, automation and pension benefits” in a new contract, CNBC reports.
The old contract expired July 1, 2022, and discussions have been going on for more than a year, according to the ILWU.
“Any reports that negotiations have broken down are false,” ILWU President Willie Adams said in a statement. “We are getting there but it’s important to understand that West Coast dockworkers kept the economy going during the pandemic and lost their lives doing so. We aren’t going to settle for an economic package that doesn’t recognize the heroic efforts and personal sacrifices of the ILWU workforce that lifted the shipping industry to record profits.”
The PMA argued Friday that “concerted and disruptive work actions” were impacted port operations.
