Port clerks cut deal

It's a tentative agreement. No details so far. Negotiators for the port clerks and shippers began meeting again this morning after lots of union saber-rattling about walking off their jobs. That would have shut down the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach because longshoremen wouldn't cross picket lines (even though the full International Longshore and Warehouse Union isn't involved in the clerks contract). "The employers are pleased that the union recognized the substantial investment that (employers) have made and agreed to their last wage proposal," Steve Berry, a negotiator for the shippers, was quoted by AP.