4:00pm | Clerical workers have returned to work at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles after an 11-day strike, the Associated Press reports.
Employees were left without a contract when they could not come to an agreement over the possibility that their jobs could be outsourced in the future, and the strike began. At first, only two shipping companies were being boycotted but the employee union added three more to the list in recent days.
No word yet on whether a new deal has been struck, but a report hints that the effort may have lost support.
Arbitrators have twice ruled the strike was “not bona fide” because the union was negotiating in bad faith. [Craig] Merrilees says that made it impossible for the more than 10,000 longshoremen at the ports to respect the picket lines.
The effect on shipping traffic at the ports had been minimal, experts say.