YAKIMA, Wash. — A day after the retail industry expressed concern about the possible impact of a strike at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, there has been a resolution.
The strike ended late last night after leaders of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 agreed to a tentative deal with the Harbor Employers Association, the employer of the striking clerical workers at the two ports, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Clerical workers returned to work this morning after the agreement was reached. The agreement, however, still needs to be ratified.
As expected, the National Retail Federation, a trade association for the retail industry, expressed relief when the strike ended.
“The retail community is pleased to see a settlement of the strike,” said National Retail Federation president Matthew Shay. “...The nation’s largest port facility is now re-opened and operating and will hopefully be able to quickly recover from the shutdown.
However, it’s unclear what impact was seen during the week-long strike.
National Public Radio’s Kirk Siegler noted that while there was a “huge backlog” of goods caused by the strike, retailers received shipments for toys and other goods for the holiday season several weeks or months ago.