Full Coverage: West Coast port labor dispute

More than 4,400 ships bring nearly $400 billion worth of goods through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach every year, a crucial link in the global supply chain of factories, warehouses, docks, highways and rail lines.

Shipping companies and dockworkers have reached a tentative deal on a new five-year contract, staving off a shutdown of 29 ports that would have crippled trade along the West Coast.

An end to labor strife at West Coast ports should speed up cargo operations, but it may be too late to help California’s drought-weary nut and citrus farmers.

Southern California port officials say it could take up to three months to clear cargo that piled up during a labor dispute that threatened to cripple West Coast commerce.

West Coast ports are emerging from the most contentious labor dispute in more than a decade, but lingering resentment and structural problems may complicate a return to normality.

After a long-running labor dispute that at times all but closed West Coast ports, the trade gateways--including the nation’s busiest in Los Angeles and Long Beach---are getting back to work.

Shipping companies and dockworkers reached a tentative deal late Friday on a new labor contract, avoiding a shutdown of 29 ports that would have choked off trade through the West Coast.

To the editor: Though I am in favor of seeing working people protected, I believe the port worker union’s power in this case is disproportionate and potentially devastating to the U.S. economy.

Well before the sun rose over Los Angeles International Airport, a dozen workers at the Able Freight Services Inc. warehouse hustled bunches of asparagus through metal detectors and scooted stacks of Brussels sprouts around on electric pallet jacks.

The dock official whose future has been a sticking point in a labor dispute clogging West Coast ports said he is “bewildered” by union leaders’ demand that he be fired as part of a contract agreement.

California political leaders voiced growing exasperation Thursday with a labor standoff that has clogged West Coast ports, as word spread that the main sticking point in negotiations has been the fate of a single, low-level official who rules on disputes involving Los Angeles and Long Beach dockworkers.

The labor dispute that has stalled dozens of massive ships off the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach isn’t limited to the nation’s busiest cargo complex.

The dispute that has snarled West Coast shipping revolves around a rarity in American business — a small but mighty union.

With idled cargo ships piling up along the coastline, President Obama ordered his labor secretary to California to try to head off a costly shutdown of 29 West Coast ports.

On any given day, up to a dozen ships handle more than $1 billion worth of goods in the mammoth ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation’s busiest seaport.

A bipartisan group of House members on Thursday called for a “swift resolution” of the labor dispute at West Coast ports, warning that the cargo buildup and partial shutdowns were hurting businesses and posed a major risk to the U.S. economy.

Elbowing their way into malls this weekend for dolls, televisions and reindeer sweaters, shoppers probably will give little thought to how the future holiday presents got to retail shelves.