--- title: "250 Port Watchmen Could Stall LA and Long Beach as Soon as 5 p.m. Today" description: "About 250 ILWU Local 26 watchmen at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach could strike as early as 5 p.m. Pacific on November 4, 2026, when their contract extension expires." language: en canonical: https://www.flexport.com/blog/250-port-watchmen-could-stall-la-and-long-beach-as-soon-as-5-pm-today/ lifecycle: live author: - "Flexport Editorial" publishedAt: 2026-11-04T20:28:00.000Z dateModified: 2026-11-04T20:30:03Z readingTimeMinutes: 4 topics: - "Disruption Events" - "Operations & Supply Chain" - "Port Congestion" - "North America" --- # 250 Port Watchmen Could Stall LA and Long Beach as Soon as 5 p.m. Today About 250 workers could stop container moves at the busiest port complex in the United States as soon as 5 p.m. Pacific today. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 26 represents the watchmen who handle gate security and cargo watch at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Its members authorized a strike for Sunday, November 1. On October 30, the union and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), which represents the port employers, signed an extension that moved the deadline to 5 p.m. Pacific on Wednesday, November 4. As of Wednesday morning, neither side had announced a deal or another extension. If you have freight moving through either port, find out where it stands this afternoon. ## How 250 workers could impact critical operations Local 26 members make up about 2% of the ILWU workforce at the two ports. The PMA says they work at six of the complex's 13 container terminals, and those terminals handle about 85% of Long Beach cargo and 33% of Los Angeles cargo. The union's strike notice to other maritime unions lists eight terminal locations: - APM Terminals (APMT) - Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT) - Total Terminals International (TTI) - SSA at C-60 - A-90 - LB 206 - Pacific Container Terminal (PCT) - OH 55 The bigger risk is what the rest of the workforce does. Longshore workers and marine clerks aren't part of this dispute, but the PMA says it doesn't expect them to cross a Local 26 picket line. If they stay off the job, the affected terminals could stop working ships and moving boxes in the yard, and trucks could get turned away at the gates. ## Where the talks stand Local 26's contract expired in July 2025, and members have worked under extensions since then. The two sides have bargained for more than a year with help from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, and Local 26 President Luisa Gratz told other maritime unions on October 23 that those talks had gone nowhere. The PMA says significant differences remain, including on wages. It describes its offer as including wage increases and pension improvements, and it says full-time watchmen already average more than $170,000 a year with employer-paid health care and pensions. Local 26 hasn't published the terms it's seeking. This dispute is limited to Los Angeles and Long Beach. The coastwide contract that covers about 22,000 longshore workers and clerks at 29 West Coast ports runs through 2028, so Oakland, Seattle, Tacoma and the rest of the coast aren't part of it. ## Why the timing is not optimal The complex was already stretched before the strike threat. The Port of Los Angeles set an all-time monthly cargo record in September, and the two ports together handle roughly a third of U.S. seaborne container trade. Inland rail hasn't kept up: import containers headed for trains waited an average of 7.19 days on the terminals in September, up from 6.75 days in August, according to the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association. Local trucking gets harder on Saturday, when the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) closes the Vincent Thomas Bridge for 16 months starting November 7. Retailers are still landing their last holiday inventory, and a shutdown at the gates would hit on top of all of it. ## Questions to ask before 5 p.m. Pacific Start with where your containers are. Ask your Flexport team which terminal each shipment is booked through, and whether that terminal is one of the locations on the strike notice. A container at a terminal off the list is in a much better position than one on it. Next, look at timing. For containers that are already available, the question is whether pickup can finish before 5 p.m. Pacific today. For cargo still on the water, ask whether discharge and pickup will land before or after the deadline, and whether a booking that hasn't sailed can shift to a different terminal or another port. Trucks get scarce fast when everyone tries to move freight at once, so ask now. If a strike does start, plan on delays, and ask how your carrier will handle demurrage and detention (the daily fees for containers left at a terminal or kept past their free time) on boxes you can't reach. Even a short stoppage leaves a line of ships and trucks to clear afterward, and that cleanup can take longer than the strike itself. If it's holiday inventory, give your sales and merchandising teams a heads-up today. We're watching the talks and will update this post when the PMA or Local 26 announces a deal, another extension or a walkout. The deadline has already moved once, but plan as if this one holds. If you ship through Los Angeles or Long Beach, talk to your Flexport team before 5 p.m. Pacific today. --- *This is a markdown version of [https://www.flexport.com/blog/250-port-watchmen-could-stall-la-and-long-beach-as-soon-as-5-pm-today/](https://www.flexport.com/blog/250-port-watchmen-could-stall-la-and-long-beach-as-soon-as-5-pm-today/) for AI/LLM consumption.*