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» Troqueros Wildcat California Ports
Troqueros Wildcat California Ports
By Jon Bekken - Industrial Worker, June 2004 - Based on reports by Brendan
Crill and Ernesto Nevarez, as well as various indymedia sites.
Thousands of waterfront and other truckers joined a wave of wildcat strikes
that reached as far north as Tacoma, Washington, and across the country to
Virginia, but were strongest in California, where the truckers are commonly
known as "troqueros."
The strikes began in ate April and were ending as the Industrial Worker goes
to press, although 100 truckers in Concord, California, struck May 14,
demanding that trucking companies increase rates and improve working
conditions: Given the widespread grievances, a new round of strikes remains
quite possible.
Only about 15 percent of California's 12,000 port truckers were working at
the height of the strike, tying up cargo at ports in Los Angeles, Long Beach
and Oakland.
The port truckers haul cargo from the waterfront to nearby rail and trucking
terminals. They are paid by the load, out of which they must pay fuel costs
and other expenses. Some own their (often heavily mortgaged) rigs, others
lease trucks from the freight companies. The California Trucking
Association, an employers group, said fuel prices are so high that many
owner-operators lose money every day they are on the road. Shipping
companies insist the truckers are "independent contractors" even though they
have no say over their rates or working conditions.
The strikes were called by a loosely organized network of troqueros, with
supporters in nearly every trucking company. However, the companies are
unevenly organized one company is solidly organized but others only have a
handful of militants. The most militant have worked the ports for many
years, waging a difficult struggle against deteriorating conditions.
Hundreds of workers struck the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports in April
1996 to demand union recognition and dispatch from a union hiring hall, but
the strike was undercut by union scabbing and legal maneuvers. At that time,
truckers complained that they were working under a motorized shape-up in
which they waited for hours at the ports. Since then, waits have only grown
longer.
Two unionization drives and efforts by Los Angeles truckers to organize a
co-op to get around employers' efforts to use anti-trust laws against the
troqueros also failed.
Without a stable organization, workers have been unable to develop an
effective strategy to get past the bosses' refusal to recognize them as
workers. Several militants are trying to pierce the elaborate veil of
contractors and subcontractors, insisting that they actually work for the
Pacific Maritime Association -- an association of shipping and dock
companies that control West Coast ports. But to date, their network has been
able to mobilize thousands of workers for short-term actions and to win
substantial concessions on a firm-by-firm basis, but has been unable to
develop an agreed-upon strategy or the power to force the port bosses to
abandon the "independent contractor" fiction and address the troqueros'
needs.
The strike centers were in the Los Angeles and, San Francisco Bay area
ports, each of which saw 2,000 or more truckers join rallies and picket
lines, and thousands more stay away from work in support.
Other areas were also affected. In the inland city of Stockton, hundreds of
truckers struck the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Sante Fe freight
terminals April 26, cutting off 95 percent of truck traffic in and out of
the terminals. In an article characterizing the strikers as "independent
truckers;" the Sacramento Bee reassured readers that the "truckers aren't
unionized employees going on strike," but rather "independent contractors"
seeking higher shipping rates.
But the strike took off April 30, when troqueros in Los Angeles and Oakland,
California, joined in. In Los Angeles, police said truckers parked three
rigs on Interstate 5, south of town, tying up rush hour traffic for an hour
before they could be removed. An informant had tipped off police, who had
tow trucks ready; otherwise the blockage could have taken hours to clear.
Several other trucks carrying containers slowed and blocked traffic moving
northbound and southbound on the Interstate 110, (Harbor) Freeway, which
links downtown with the Port of Los Angeles.
Troqueros also struck the Port of Oakland April 30, demanding substantial
pay hikes to compensate for 10 years of wage stagnation and skyrocketing
fuel prices. Diesel prices average nearly $2.27 per gallon in the state, up
dramatically from previous levels. Because the truckers must buy their own
fuel, the increases pose a major hardship. Workers also sought agreements to
reduce the hours-long waits that have become routine at maritime terminals
in recent years.
Leading port hauler APL Inca reported that its movement of cargo was off 90
percent at the Port of Oakland, down from 1,100 moves daily to just 115 on
May 4.
Port of Oakland officials announced a settlement May 4 without allowing a
committee of truckers time to discuss the terms with their coworkers. Under
the agreement, roundly rejected, the next day, a committee would meet four
times a year to hear truckers' complaints and attempt to resolve them. That
committee would include truckers and representatives of shipping companies,
terminal operators and railroads.
The Teamsters quickly hailed the agreement as "a step in the right
direction." Said Chuck Mack; director of the International Brotherhood of
Teamsters' Port Division, "It would open up an avenue of communications for
a group that just doesn't have a voice."
But truckers rejected the agreement, insisting that they needed an immediate
response to their most pressing grievances. Negotiations continued into the
evening of May 7, but while several trucking companies offered 20 percent
pay hikes, some of the largest firms refused.
That same day, the port secured a temporary restraining order against the
truckers, and ordered them to stop picketing Workers refused to accept
copies of an injunction ordering them to leave Port Authority property, but
withdrew to nearby sidewalks under threat of mass arrests.
However, strikes continued at terminals across the state for a few more
days. Workers shut down the Yang Ming terminal in Los Angeles May 7,
demanding union recogni- tion. The company's 80 workers settled latex that
day, winning substantial pay increases and reinstatement of four fired
coworkers but leaving union recognition for another day.
Strike action spreads
Two hundred port truckers in Norfolk and Hampton Roads, Virginia, set up
picket lines at the ports May 6 and 7. Hundreds of other truckers honored
the lines,tying up one of the East Coast's busiest cargo ports.
One trucker told reporters that she earned $76,000 last year, but was left
with just $15,000 after paying for fuel, insurance, maintenance and taxes.
Trips that once took an hour now take three hours or more, as a result of
increased port security and truckers being required to mount their own
chassis (a job longshoremen did until recently).
Like their coworkers across the country, Virginia truckers also question
whether freight companies are passing along fuel surcharges assessed to
shippers, and are demanding an open registry to prevent chiseling. In
Houston, 100 port haulers walked off the job in a one-day action May 10.
Jim Stewart, port division representative for the Teamsters union, said port
haulers were fed up over many issues besides fuel, prices: chassis that are
not made ready or safe for the road before they're hooked up, the practice
of "bobtailing for free," where truckers are expected to haul empties back
and forth from off-port locations and not get paid for it; and long waits
necessitated by security precautions, among other things. Once the strikes
'began,' Teamsters officials distributed literature on the picket lines. But
in the days leading up to the strike, they, discouraged strike plans.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union was noticeably absent from
the lines. The ILWU agreed to meet with the troqueros to discuss ways to
reduce waits in the ports, but has shown little interest in organizing this
sector of maritime workers. During the strike, the troqueros picketed at
truck gates, allowing longshoremen to report to work without encountering
picket lines.
"It's quieter than usual, but it hasn't shut us down," Theresa Lopez, a
spokeswoman for the Los Angeles port, told the Bloomberg. business news
service. "The longshoremen continue to unload the cargo, and they have just
been waiting for the truckers to show up."
No money for food
"We are just asking for our fair share, nothing more than that, and we're
going to be out here as long as it takes," said Oakland driver Jatinder
Singh. "We're getting paid the same as 10 years ago, but everything else
keeps going up. Insurance goes up. Everything goes up. And now gas. We make
no money."
Truckers receive $50 to $200 per container hauled, depending on where they
are taking the load. While many make $70,000 a year, they spend $30,000 or
more a year for fuel, insurance, registration, repairs and maintenance. And
because of long waits at the ports and the high cost of maintaining their
rigs, many work 15 to 18 hours a day, resulting in hourly wages of $8 to $9.
"I have no money for food, for my family, for my house, for nothing," said
angry driver Raul Rivas.
Industrial Workers of the World
General Headquarters
PO Box 13476, Philadelphia, PA 19101, USA
tel: (215) 222-1905
Email - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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