Strike vote by security workers threatens to halt most cargo at Port of Long Beach – Long Beach Post

Strike vote by security workers threatens to halt most cargo at Port of Long Beach  Long Beach Post

Cargo has flowed through the Long Beach and LA ports at a record-breaking pace this year. This could derail that. The busiest year on record so far for the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach could run aground if bargaining between a small security workers union and shipping companies isn’t resolved. International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s Local 26, which represents about 250 watchmen who provide security at individual shipping terminals, has authorized a strike that could start at 5 p.m. Sunday. The union represents about 2% of ILWU’s workforce, but their work is spread across six terminals — split between Long Beach and Los Angeles — that handle more than half of the complex’s cargo, including 85% at the Long Beach seaport.

If the strike is carried out, officials say thousands of other unionized dockworkers — the longshoremen, marine clerks and foremen — could honor the picket lines and not go to work. That would halt much of the work at the ports — which handle more than 31% of the nation’s containerized cargo — just as the heavy shipping season for holiday merchandise begins to gather steam. Negotiations have carried on since July 2025, after the contract expired between the union and Pacific Maritime Association, which represents the operators of all 12 terminals at the port complex. PMA