The Port of L.A.’s Board of Harbor Commissioners has approved a 10-year extension on a labor agreement that seeks to continue hiring workers from the harbor area and from high-unemployment communities in the city.

The port-wide Project Labor Agreement, first signed in 2011, was extended Thursday with the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council, a union representing more than a 100,000 trade and craft workers.

“This Project Labor Agreement will create new career opportunities that Angelenos deserve, and bring stability to operations as we invest billions in infrastructure that will define the future of the Port,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement.

The agreement requires that almost a third of the well-paying jobs and apprenticeships born out of major port construction projects go to local residents, port officials said. The labor agreement establishes that laborers working on port-related projects earn wages set forth in the agreement.

Under the prior agreement, the port invested $848 million on 20 completed major construction projects and six remaining ones.

The new agreement covers 38 planned and proposed infrastructure projects totaling about $780 million. Projects include wharf improvements, rail enhancements, shore power upgrades and marine terminal modernization.

The deal is pending approval by the Los Angeles City Council.

Manufacturing and trade reporter Shwanika Narayan can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @shwanika.