Truck Driver Strike at Los Angeles Port Called Off for Cool Down Period

Diposkan oleh silent aja 11:13 AM Post a Comment

A five-day protest strike by 120 truck drivers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has been put on hold as both sides have agreed to a 'cooling-off period' requested by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. The cool-off period will give time for the harbor commission to look in to the accusations of workplace violations. The drivers agreed to go back to work beginning Monday after the companies promised to allow all of them to return without any form of retaliation.

The strike began last Monday when the drivers for three firms, Green Fleet Systems, Pacific 9 Transportation and Total Transportation Services, were targeted by the drivers working for them. Those firms only have 400 trucks which would handle a single digit percentage of the ports' traffic on any given day. Even so, the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports closed briefly on Tuesday morning when dockworkers decided to honor the truck worker's picket line. The ports reopened by noon, however, after an arbitrator made a ruling that the dock workers were required to return to work.

The trucker's main complaint is they believe they have been classified by the firms as independent contractors when in reality they are full-time employees, and the firms are doing this so they can pay them less and give them fewer workplace protections. The claim their wages are often less than minimum wage after the costs of renting and maintaining the truck is taken into account. The companies say they pay a good wage, and those picketing are in the minority. The in no way represent the majority of how their drivers feel about working conditions.

Any major disruption to the ports can cause a ripple effect which can cost millions of dollars a day to the economy. In fact, the strike came at a time dockworkers continue to try to hammer out a new contract with 29 ports on the West Coast. While the old contract has expired, both side are continuing to work in good faith to come to agreeable terms for both sides.

(Photo courtesy of Louie Baur)