Truck Drivers Picket Against Alleged Management Violations

Dozens of truck drivers from two short-haul firms serving the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex walked picket lines today to protest what they call management violations of a cooling-off period brokered by Mayor Eric Garcetti.

The drivers in the job action are affiliated with two drayage firms: Total Transportation Services Inc., and Pacific 9 Transportation, according to Barbara Maynard of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. She said the workers would picket at company offices and marine terminals

Phillip Sanfield, spokesman for the Port of Los Angeles, as of noon, 10 to 20 picketers were at four of the port’s nine cargo terminals and all of the terminals remained open.

Port of Long Beach spokesman Art Wong told the Los Angeles Times picketers were at two of that port’s terminals, but there was no impact on the flow of cargo.

Garcetti issued a statement this afternoon saying he will meet with one of the companies, Total Transportation Services, which has “agreed to sit down with our office and the Teamsters to find a way to get its operation back to work,” and he is calling on Pacific 9 Transportation “to come to the table as well.”

“It is in everyone’s best interests for these operations to continue,” said the mayor, who is leading a trade mission to Asia starting Saturday.

Harbor officials are expected to join Garcetti, who will be visiting China, South Korea and Japan over the 12 day trip ending Nov. 26.

“Port truck drivers are a critical link in our global economy and they deserve quality working conditions,” Garcetti said. “I appreciate those trucking companies who are having an honest dialogue about the issues that have led to the job action this week.”

Maynard said six marine terminals at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are currently not doing business with the two drayage companies.

Maynard said the drivers “in July, the drivers went on an indefinite strike to protest severe and continuing labor law violations -- the drivers’ fourth such strike in a year.”

“After five days of picketing that dramatically impacted port operations ... Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti brokered a ‘cooling off’ period, which included a critical agreement by companies to accept all drivers back to work without retaliation.

“Despite commitments to Mayor Garcetti, the companies have dramatically escalated retaliatory activity, clearly violating the terms of the cooling off period,” Maynard said.

The alleged retaliations include the firing of 35 drivers by Total Transportation Services Inc. because the drivers refused to withdraw their claims for “wage theft”; and “a dramatic increase in illegal deductions” from driver paychecks by Pac 9 Transportation, Maynard said.

Drivers have long complained that trucking companies classify them as independent contractors instead of employees, leaving them with lower pay and benefits.

Some drivers said they expected the backing of longshoremen at the port, which likely would give the truckers’ job action teeth, but the longshoremen did not immediately say if they, too, would walk off the job.

Longshoremen joined truckers on picket lines in July, but an arbitrator ordered them back to work, saying the walk-out was a violation of their labor contract.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents thousands of West Coast dockworkers, is in the midst of contract negotiations with terminal operators and shipping lines, which have accused the union of slowing down cargo operations at ports. The union has denied the accusation.

Garcetti also commented on the labor dispute, saying he is “in close contact” with the dockworkers union and Pacific Maritime Association, which represents management, “as they negotiate their West Coast contract.”

“I am pleased they are continuing their negotiations in a way that allows work to continue and cargo to move at our ports,” he said.

Sanfield, with the Los Angeles Harbor Department, said 13 cargo ships were anchored off the Southern California coast this morning, unable to get into the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports due to a slowdown in operations.

He explained this is “highly unusual as normally there are no ships waiting for berths,” and that it now takes “a few days” before ships can get into the ports. The harbor department is “working round the clock” on solutions.

---City News Service

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