A strike by about 800 maritime clerks at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports shut down most movement on Wednesday. The two ports handle about 40% of imports to the United States. Other employees at the ports, many members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, refused to cross the clerks' picket lines, effectively shutting down the port. The strike began Tuesday, and has continued, despite an arbitrator's ruling that the union was not bargaining in good faith, and that workers should return to work. The workers have been without a contract since June 2010.
See "Union walkout cripples ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach", Ronald D. White, Los Angeles Times, November 28, 2012