Tentative Agreement Reached Between Dockworkers and Ports

West Coast port workers and their employers reached a tentative agreement on Friday to end a months-long labor slowdown. U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez helped finalize negotiations in San Francisco after the White House threatened to bring the dispute to Washington if it could not be resolved. 

Leaders from the International Longshore and Labor Union and the Pacific Maritime Association spoke alongside Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia aboard the USS Iowa in the Port of Los Angeles. Mayor Garcetti called the event a "celebration," as port employees had resumed work late Saturday.

"Los Angeles and Long Beach are back to work," the mayor said.

The two ports share a complex that handles 70 percent of all cargo that arrives on the West Coast. Since the slowdowns began in the fall, shipping companies from Asia and elsewhere have been using other ports.

"Ports on the East and Gulf Coasts have picked up additional cargo. More vessels have run through the Suez Canal to those locations ... and we have seen a drop in the cargo coming to the port of Los Angeles," said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka.

The slowdown has stranded dozens of ships waiting for a port in which to dock. Seroka said the backlog of ships waiting in the Pacific could take months to clear.

Those backups have affected companies across the country, particularly in the logistics sector. 

"We've seen major vessel delays," said Sonia Zepeda of CDS Global Logistics. She added that some shipments are entering the port more than a month overdue.

Zepeda said that CDS will survive the port slowdown, but some smaller companies may struggle.

"There's simply no product on their sheves," said Zepeda.

The agreement between the union and employers still needs to be ratified. Both sides are expected to vote on it sometime this spring.