Labor talks for L.A., Long Beach ports run late; strike continues

Source: LA Times

Skeletal picket teams of just one or two union members per cargo terminal are maintaining a strike vigil amid sporadic rain showers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach on Friday morning.

Seven of eight container terminals at the Port of Los Angeles remain closed. Three of six container terminals at the Port of Long Beach are also closed.

This is mainly a fight pitting the small, roughly 800-member International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit against some of the world's largest shipping lines and terminal operators.

The union accuses management of trying to outsource jobs. The employers accuse the union of featherbedding, and say they are rejecting a pact that would offer an average salary of up to $195,000 a year.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-ports-strike-continues-20121130,0,5152204.story