LA and Long Beach port watchmen face a 5 p.m. Pacific strike deadline today

A contract deadline for about 250 port security workers at Los Angeles and Long Beach lands at 5 p.m. Pacific today. If talks fail, a picket line could slow gate, yard and vessel work at the busiest container complex in the country, and that would show up quickly in drayage and rail ramp schedules.

What is at stake

The workers are watchmen represented by ILWU Local 26. According to gCaptain, their previous contract expired in July 2025, and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the union agreed on Oct. 30 to extend it from a Nov. 1 deadline to 5 p.m. Pacific on Wednesday, Nov. 4. Federal mediators are helping with the talks.

The group is small, but its reach is not. The PMA says Local 26 members work at terminals that handle about 85% of cargo at the Port of Long Beach and about 33% at the Port of Los Angeles. American Rails reported on Nov. 1 that the watchmen make up roughly 2% of the ILWU workforce at the two ports and cover six container terminals. gCaptain reported that the two ports handled a record 2.04 million TEUs in September.

The risk is less about the watchmen themselves than about who might stay out with them. The PMA has said other ILWU members are unlikely to cross a Local 26 picket line. Those workers fall under a separate coastwide contract, so a stoppage could happen even though that agreement is not in dispute.

Neither side has laid out the open issues in public. The PMA says significant differences remain after more than a year of bargaining and says every tentative agreement so far has been on a union proposal. The union says employers have not made meaningful progress, according to gCaptain.

What it means for carriers

Drayage fleets at the affected terminals would feel any shutdown first, through longer gate waits or closed gates. Carriers with appointments there should check with their terminals and customers today and avoid stacking late-day pickups.

Union Pacific and BNSF both serve the ports, which together handle 31% of U.S. seaport container traffic, American Rails reported. A halt would hold boxes that were headed for intermodal ramps and truck pickups inland.

What shippers and brokers should watch

Check whether your containers sit at terminals that use Local 26 watchmen, and ask your drayage partners for their contingency plans. If a strike starts, expect pickup dates to slip and some freight to be moved to other gateways, which would pull trucks away from Southern California.

The deadline can still be extended again, as it was on Oct. 30. Watch for a statement from the PMA or ILWU after 5 p.m. Pacific, and keep a plan ready for both outcomes.