LOS ANGELES - The organization for the truckers serving California harbors supports the Bush administration plan to check the backgrounds of port workers as long as it doesn’t interfere with their livelihood, the official said Tuesday. A long shore union official called the plan “harassment,” but said his organization would cooperate.

Stephanie Williams, vice president of the California Trucking Association, said she supported background checks if they are quick and don’t interfere with the work of the nearly 12,000 truckers at the state’s harbors.

“If it takes four months to get back the information and the driver can’t drive in the meantime, then we have a problem,” Williams said.

Steve Stallone, spokesman for the International Long shore and Warehouse Union, said the move “looks a lot like harassment of the workers.” The government should intensify its scrutiny of shipping containers, he said.

“It seems to us that the biggest security threat is coming from the outside, and not from the workers who live and work in those communities,” said Stallone, whose union represents about 14,000 West Coast, Alaskan and Hawaii longshoremen and clerks.

California is well known for home to the nation’s largest harbor complex, the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which handle more than 43 percent of America’s goods.

Williams and Stallone voiced concerns that the master terrorism watch lists could have flaws, sweeping up the wrong workers without giving them an avenue to appeal.

Williams noted that truckers already have to prove their work eligibility and undergo quite criminal background searches. While she didn’t think a large number of drivers were undocumented, she said the current checks couldn’t determine if someone was in the country illegally.

“We have no way to check for immigration status,” she said.