In December, after an eight-day strike at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, tentative agreements were made that seemingly ended the strike. But, according to recent reports, the employees, who are members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union's Local 63 Office Clerical Unit, failed to ratify those tentative agreements.

According to an article by the Long Beach Press-Telegram, all 16 of the Office Clerical Units failed to ratify the tentative agreements.

In November, when the strike first began, it was backed by many other union members who were not willing to cross the picket line, which resulted in the temporary closure of 10 of the 14 terminals in the L.A. and Long Beach ports.

Now that the tentative agreements have failed to be ratified, the workers could go back on strike. Or, the employees could continue to work under the terms of their expired contracts while negotiations continue.

The National Retail Federation issued the following statement from Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold:



“We are extremely disappointed by this vote and strongly urge the parties to work through their differences without any kind of disruption. Ratification of a contract is needed to give retailers and other industries that rely on these ports the predictability they need to make long-term plans and get back to growing their businesses and creating jobs....

"As labor and management work to resolve this situation, uninterrupted operation of the ports should be their top priority. Too many jobs across the country depend on these ports to let any interference with operations be considered an acceptable way of doing business.”