Port of Long Beach Per Diem — What the Harbor Expansion Job Really Pays (2026)

The short version for a brother deciding tonight: the Port of Long Beach is announcing $115 a day per diem, the work runs under a port-wide union PLA that the Harbor Commission just extended for 10 more years, and it's expansion work at the third-busiest container port in the country. Steady, dispatched, union. Here's the real read before you pack the truck. Is it really union? The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners voted unanimously to extend the port-wide PLA for another 10 years — that's the union footing, locked through the next decade. The agreement is with the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council, plus the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, covering the port's capital construction. Named reps are on the record praising it — Tommy Faavae out of IBEW Local 11, Tyler Byrd out of Iron Workers Local 416. One thing to keep straight: the terminal-operations workers are ILWU (longshore); the CONSTRUCTION work is the building-trades PLA — that's the scope for traveling tradesmen. What it pays The announced per diem is $115/day — "announced," not confirmed from the ground. Get your rate in writing from the hall before you roll. Wages run the PLA scale plus fringe through your local. Worked it? Drop the real number in the dryshack below. What you should know going in — the local-hire flag The Long Beach PLAs target local residents — Long Beach, the Gateway Cities, LA, and Orange County — for a big share of the hours. Good for the local membership, but a traveling brother should call the LA/OC Building Trades Council (the numbers are on the project page) to confirm there's room for out-of-town dispatch before driving in. Ask first. Where to stay Long Beach / San Pedro Bay, Southern California — coastal CA, so rooms and rentals run high. This is the spot to do real math on what your $115 actually covers after lodging. Look inland a bit for cheaper extended-stay and weigh the commute. Options are linked on the project page. Best eats nearby Long Beach and the harbor area have great cheap eats — taquerias, Cambodian food in the city, and dock-worker diners. Brothers who've worked it tell the crew where to eat near the gate in the comments. Is the contractor fair? How's safety? Only brothers on the ground know this straight. We don't print a contractor's reputation off a press release. So, brothers who've worked the port drop it in the dryshack. Is the GC straight with the per diem? Pushing safety or pushing schedule? How's the steward situation? Your word carries because you've been on it. Protect the work — the free Print Shop UnionBoomer.com has a free Print Shop built into the Dry Shack. Any union member can fire off pro-union letters — to elected officials, non-union shops, or brothers on open-shop jobs nearby — letter campaigns at scale to protect and grow union membership. Costs you nothing. A 10-year PLA didn't happen by accident — the trades showed up and made the case. The letters keep that going. Finding the union job is step one; keeping the work union is the long game. Make America Union Again — one letter, one brother at a time. The long-haul read A 10-year port-wide PLA on the third-busiest container port in America is about as steady as union construction gets. Pier B alone is growing from 82 to 171 acres. For a SoCal brother — or one who can clear the local-hire question — it's a long, dependable runway. Brothers on the Port of Long Beach job — what's the real per diem, is there room for travelers, and is the GC straight? Drop your intel in the dryshack below. And fire off a letter from the free Print Shop to a brother on a non-union job nearby. Boots on the ground.