The reform package builds on the City’s ongoing Charter reform efforts and represents a major step toward ensuring that Port approvals are evaluated not only on financial and operational factors but also on their direct and long-term impacts on workers, job quality, and other economic impacts, particularly as automation and emerging technologies continue to reshape goods movement.
At the core of the proposal is the creation of a Workforce Impact Report (WIR) framework, a policy tool that would require worker-centered analysis to be completed, disclosed, and considered before key Port decisions move forward, including leases, permits, and major operational changes.
“The Port of Los Angeles has been the busiest container port in the Western Hemisphere for over two decades because of the strength of our workforce,” said Councilmember Tim McOsker who represents the Harbor Area. “As we modernize and grow, we have a responsibility to make sure those workers are not an afterthought, they must be at the center of every decision we make. That means requiring clear, open, and public Workforce Impact Reports before approvals move forward, ensuring our leasing policies and Port decisions fully account for impacts on longshore jobs and the local economy, and bringing greater clarity and accountability to how projects are reviewed along our waterfront. If we are serious about the future of this Port, then we must be just as serious about protecting and strengthening the workforce that makes it run.”
“The men and women of the ILWU built the Port of Los Angeles into what it is today, through the sweat of our brow, the strain of our backs and the working know-how we have acquired over years of experience on the docks,” said Gary Herrera, President of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), Local 13. “Our members, and for that matter all workers in the City of Los Angeles, are integral pillars of our respective communities and we will not easily concede that privilege, that right, to billionaire corporations that want to further enrich themselves, and impoverish workers, through using automation and AI to replace us.”
The reform package includes four key components:
- Port-Specific Workforce Impact Framework Implementation:
Establishing a Port-focused Workforce Impact framework to ensure that no Port-related approval or public investment advances without a clear understanding of its impact on jobs and the workforce, including safeguards to prevent public funds from subsidizing automation that results in job loss or displacement. See motion here.
- Reforming Leasing Practices to Address Worker Impact:
Requiring tenants and applicants at marine terminals to prepare Workforce Impact Reports as a condition of lease approvals, amendments, and permits. These reports would evaluate current and projected job levels, the effects of automation and technology, and broader economic impacts, and would be publicly presented to the Board of Harbor Commissioners to inform decision-making. See motion here.
- Modernization of Coastal Development Permit Review:
Initiating updates to the Port’s Coastal Development Permit process to better distinguish between heavy industrial projects and community-serving or commercial waterfront developments, ensuring that project review is appropriately scaled to potential impacts on neighborhoods, public access, and coastal resources. See motion here.
- Citywide Workforce Impact Framework:
Directing the City to develop a standardized Workforce Impact Report model that can be applied across departments, ensuring that major City decisions, including contracts, infrastructure investments, and policy changes, consistently evaluate job creation, job loss, wages, working conditions, and workforce development needs, and incorporate worker input into the process. See motion here.
Together, these reforms aim to modernize how the City evaluates economic development by making workforce impacts a required and transparent part of the approval process, not an afterthought, while maintaining the Port’s global competitiveness.
Today’s introduction also comes as the City Council recognized the leadership of outgoing ILWU, Local 13 President Gary Herrera, marking his tenure with a renewed commitment to forward-looking, worker-centered Port policy.
“Gary Herrera has been a steady and respected leader for the women and men of ILWU, Local 13, fighting every day to protect good-paying jobs and the dignity of work on our waterfront,” said Councilmember McOsker. “He has stood up for his union sisters and brothers through times of change, especially as automation continues to try to reshape the industry, always making sure workers had a seat at the table. His leadership has helped set the standard for what it means to advocate for working people, and his impact on our Port and our community will be felt for years to come.”
The motions direct the City’s Chief Legislative Analyst, in coordination with the Port of Los Angeles and City Attorney, to report back within 90 days with detailed recommendations, including potential Charter and Municipal Code amendments to implement the proposed reforms.
Click here for all the motions introduced today.