Negotiators reached a tentative deal late Tuesday to end the strike that has hobbled the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for more than a week.
The deal would not become final unless it is authorized in a vote of the 800-member International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit.
Both union and harbor employers spent most of Tuesday huddled inside a community center near the port. Two federal mediators joined Villaraigosa there at about 8:30 p.m. as negotiators for the union were voting behind closed doors.
Word of the deal came shortly after federal mediators arrived to try to break the impasse between port employers and the union.