What to Know
- Union port workers argue automation plan could cost port workers their jobs.
- Mayor Eric Garcetti said he is working to negotiate a deal between the ILW Union and APM.
After hundreds of members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 13 rallied Tuesday at the Port of Los Angeles against an automation plan they argue could cost thousands of jobs, the Board of Harbor Commissioners postponed a vote on the proposal.
The union said its concerns about worker displacement that could come as a result of the proposal to allow driverless trucks and other automated technology at a Port of Los Angeles pier operated by APM Terminals "have not been adequately considered."
The commission postponed the vote at the request of Mayor Eric Garcetti, who said in a letter to the Harbor Commission that he is working to negotiate a deal between the ILWU and APM.
"Throughout the discussions I led at City Hall, I was encouraged by the leadership shown by both parties. Confronted by a complex set of negotiations which would benefit from more time, I ask that the board recess today and reconvene within 30 days to vote on the coastal development permit," Garcetti wrote.
The meeting had been moved from the board's regular location to the Cruise Terminal Baggage Handling Facility in anticipation of a large crowd, and the announcement from the board that the vote was being postponed was met with some boos and jeers.
