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LA-LB dockers legally free to support harbour truckers strike
LOS ANGELES and Long Beach truck drivers from three leading habour trucking companies, went in strike this week protesting being treated as independent freelance drivers rather than regular employees.
On Monday, 120 drivers went on strike against Green Fleet Systems, Total Transportation Services and Pacific 9 Transportation, according to Barb Maynard, a spokeswoman for a campaign to organise truckers.
The impact on the movement of cargo around the sprawling port complex, the main gateway for hundreds of billions of dollars of trade with Asia, was limited, reported the Associated Press.
But the threat of a broader disruption loomed if the truckers take their pickets to the dockside terminals where cranes load and unload containers during a time of tense longshoremen's contract negotiations.
During past trucker strikes, dockers stopped working in solidarity but returned when an arbitrator ruled the walkout illegal under the contract. But with no contract in place, the dockers are free to strike.
Striking truckers say companies prevent them from unionising by classifying them as contractors to minimise costs, resulting in paycheques below minimum wage once truck costs are added.
Truckers have filed lawsuits and complaints with state and federal labour agencies for a change of status while companies claim pay is good and strikers do not represent most drivers.
The three trucking companies have 400 trucks registered at the Port of Los Angeles' about 10 per cent of those that operate on a regular day, port spokesman Phillip Sanfield said.
Mr Sanfield and Long Beach port spokesman Lee Peterson said cargo was moving normally, though several terminals were closed to honour a holiday that commemorates the killing of several dockers in the 1930s.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the employers group, Pacific Maritime Association are negotiating to renew and expired a contract. There have been no formal contract talks this week.
Both the union and the Pacific Maritime Association have said they do not want a disruption in the flow of goods.
On Monday, 120 drivers went on strike against Green Fleet Systems, Total Transportation Services and Pacific 9 Transportation, according to Barb Maynard, a spokeswoman for a campaign to organise truckers.
The impact on the movement of cargo around the sprawling port complex, the main gateway for hundreds of billions of dollars of trade with Asia, was limited, reported the Associated Press.
But the threat of a broader disruption loomed if the truckers take their pickets to the dockside terminals where cranes load and unload containers during a time of tense longshoremen's contract negotiations.
During past trucker strikes, dockers stopped working in solidarity but returned when an arbitrator ruled the walkout illegal under the contract. But with no contract in place, the dockers are free to strike.
Striking truckers say companies prevent them from unionising by classifying them as contractors to minimise costs, resulting in paycheques below minimum wage once truck costs are added.
Truckers have filed lawsuits and complaints with state and federal labour agencies for a change of status while companies claim pay is good and strikers do not represent most drivers.
The three trucking companies have 400 trucks registered at the Port of Los Angeles' about 10 per cent of those that operate on a regular day, port spokesman Phillip Sanfield said.
Mr Sanfield and Long Beach port spokesman Lee Peterson said cargo was moving normally, though several terminals were closed to honour a holiday that commemorates the killing of several dockers in the 1930s.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the employers group, Pacific Maritime Association are negotiating to renew and expired a contract. There have been no formal contract talks this week.
Both the union and the Pacific Maritime Association have said they do not want a disruption in the flow of goods.
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