Truckers protest high diesel prices
May 8 2008 04:53
I'm going to try and get some "on the ground" reports on this. But, it looks like the truckers are still holding strong despite the police presence.
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=6127558
OAKLAND, CA (KGO) -- Police officers will be out in force at the Port of Oakland following a rowdy trucker protest Tuesday.
Diesel prices are going up faster than gas prices. The truckers said they're not getting reimbursed and it cost upwards of $600 to fill up their trucks. Diesel is going up faster than gas by 30 cents a gallon and has gone up more than $1 this year over last. Gas prices in comparison have risen 70 cents this year over last.
Protesters say the companies which hire them to do the hauling are not honoring an agreement to pay them back. Motor carriers are being fair and are paying them back. One trucker says the protesters haven't scared her away.
"I really haven't seen it where it's got real bad, where I could go ahead and tell my boss - 'I'm not coming in because I'm afraid.' But no, so far they have been calming everything down. There have been cops here, so that helps," said Dolores Rodriguez, trucker.
Rodriguez works for a carrier and she's not an independent trucker. It's the independents who are hurt most by the cost of the diesel fuel prices.
Testimony yesterday before a Congressional committee by a small trucking company representative said about 1,000 small trucking companies have gone out of business in the past year. A lot of that is due to the increase in diesel prices.
May 8 2008 14:05
#2
Ha, diesel in the UK is roughly $2.80 in some places, and there is no sign of protest or discontent.. yet..
May 8 2008 16:54
#3
yeah but the UK is tiny in comparison. the distances hauled in the US are massive.
May 8 2008 18:06
#4
I'd like to hear more about this - ABC's article has hardly convinced me that it's unbiased, and I'd like to hear more about what exactly "rowdy trucker protest" means.
May 8 2008 20:22
#5
Does "small trucking companies" mean owner-operators? I'm not going to rush to solidarity with a twenty rig owner who got put out of business by Overnite, but the owner-operators at the ports and in the logging industry are basically waged workers.
May 8 2008 21:13
#6
David in Atlanta wrote:
Does "small trucking companies" mean owner-operators?
If they're referring to the 16,000 short-haul troqueros in California (10,500 of those at LA/LB), the answer is NO.
And at various times when it gets challenged, the IRS says they are basically waged workers. The brokers set the time, place, & manner that they perform the work, making them clearly NOT independent contractors.
Here's a thorough article about their conditions at the massive combined Los Angeles/Long Beach Port complex, one of the world's largest for containers:
May 14 2008 18:24
#7
On the ground report- Are any of the commenters directly involved? Are you an owner/operator in this area? Do you even live in California? The Central Valley? The cost of living here is well above the prevailing wages. I am closely associated with a non-striking Owner/operator, his group is striking. Some of the demands are legitimate, some are not. Yes, according to the IRS he is an owner/operator contract labor. He does not work for a company, he pays for all expenses, repairs, etc. He is given a settlement, he pays for everything else. There has been violence. Trucks with bricks thrown at them, drivers pulled out of the truck and beaten, persons followed home. Many of the persons targeted were not involved in the "Demands" , some are ridiculous, they are not going to happen, they are not going to get double per each load, get real! The independants from certain Companies are targeted the most, the hourly non owners are mostly left alone.
May 26 2008 17:51
#8
Monday May 26 report from troqueros at the LA/Long Beach port complex:
Quote:
NBL: Drivers still 100% Strike in its fifth day. Only about a few LCT and Fast Lane drivers scabbing. Tomorrow is the big day as NBL drivers will be asking for mutual aid from all other workers, including longshoremen, working at the terminal.Calko: Only a handful working. Hyundai using Innercity Trucking to try to break them. If this continues Calko drivers will have to go to both APL and Trapac and ask for solidarity from ALL other terminal workers, including longshoremen.
Picketers at CUT were telling troqueros to complete their run and not to come back. Many chose to make a U-Turn and not cross. The rest all honked in solidarity pledging not to return.
Below is an excerpt from a proposed flyer for tomorrow. Any help on relaying the safety concerns to the Los Angeles locals of the ILWU would be appreciated.
Quote:
Respect our Picket Line
Truck drivers working for hours everyday inside the CUT terminal under the control and direction of CUT administration are on strike for better hours and working conditions at the terminal and for better wages against the alter-ego of Hyundai, New Bridge Logistics. As workers at the terminal we have the right to strike and ask for our fellow workers to respect our picket lines. Also, our economic employer, NBL/Hyundai has hired scabs to do our work and we have the right to follow our work and picket.The SCABS!
Hyundai/CUT has hired replacement workers through a renown alter-ego LCT. According to the DOT website, www.safersys.org the company only lists 2 trucks in its fleet yet it is operating dozens of units. This is a safety issue as the trucks are not inspected and possibly not insured. Using such a fly-by-night operation to break a strike is unethical and dangerous for the longshoremen working around such unsafe units.
WE ask all fellow workers, truck drivers from all other companies and longshoremen to respect our strike line.Solidarity!
May 26 2008 18:42
#9
2existis2resist wrote:
Ha, diesel in the UK is roughly $2.80 in some places, and there is no sign of protest or discontent.. yet..
You mean per litre, right? In the US, pricing is by the gallon.
You can't just take the exchange rates and understand the cost within the country affected. Petroleum costs in the US are very low compared to the EU, but entire structure of the US post WW1 was built around artificially low - basically subsidized - energy costs. The rail system was more or less dismanteled in favor of trucking, argriculture centralized into a handful of states, etc. With gas/petrol/diesel prices going up quickly, the price of everything is skyrocketing because of the highway centered structure of the economy. They are now talking about $7.00 gallon gasoline, last year it was $2. It's a massive decreasein working class income.
May 29 2008 06:34
#10
CORRECTION: "Diesel costs about 130 pence, or $2.57, a liter in Britain, more than double the U.S. price."
The following gleaned from today's (Wednesday, May 28, 2008) International Herald Tribune:
*Truck drivers protesting increases in the price of diesel fuel paralyzed parts of London by driving slowly in convoys and halting their rigs on a busy highway leading into the west of the capital.
*Other truckers took similar action in Wales.
*Protests mirrored action by French fishermen, who blockaded ports on the English Channel.
*300 farmers in southern France near Toulouse blocked entry to a Total fuel depot.
*Spanish truckers have joined fishing boat crews in protesting the cost of fuel and demanding that the EU relax its rules to permit higher subsidies from their governments.
*Fishermen in Italy, Greece and Portugal are considering broadening the action later this week.
*150 truck drivers and dozens of bus drivers from across Bulgaria converged in a convoy on the outskirts of the capital, Sofia, saying high fuel prices had them operating at a loss. Protests took place in the Black Sea port city of Varna, the Danube port city of Russe and other towns.
*Italian fishermen in the Adriatic are expected to strike beginning Friday, and
*Dutch truckers plan a national day of action Thursday.
*In Spain, the Fishermen's Confederation has called a protest in Madrid for Friday, and the main truckers' association has called a strike for June 8.
Truck drivers strike over pay
"We're not making enough money to bring food to our tables" -- Jon Dulay, Stockton truck driver
By Mike Martinez
Staff Writer
LATHROP — Hundreds of truck drivers from throughout the area gathered at one of the busiest intersections for big rigs in San Joaquin County, among other places, and they all had the same message: "Stop working for free.''
And they said it in English, Spanish, Laotian, Chinese and Punjabi.
The drivers have been striking since Monday to protest what they claim is a wage rate below $5 an hour, brought on by a lack of pay increases over the past decade and compounded by the recent spike in fuel prices.
Jon Dulay, 53, of Stockton, who's been a truck driver since 1984, said whatever money drivers do get paid ends up paying the fuel bill and they have nothing left to take home.
He said the companies they haul for — there are about 41 in the area — are pocketing money that should be going to the drivers.
"We're not making enough money to bring food to our tables,'' Dulay said. "We need a raise.''
Albel Chahil, 48, of Tracy, has owned his big rig for the past 18 years and is striking in an effort to raise the base price independent truck owner/operators get.
"It's the same this year as it was 10 years ago and all of our expenses have tripled,'' Chahil said. "DMV has tripled. Parts have tripled. The price of gas has more than tripled, it used to be $1.25 a gallon.''
John Bernadicou is the general manager of the Pape-Kenworth dealership, which has been an unofficial headquarters for the strike crew and provided a barbecue lunch for the striking drivers. He supports their efforts and said his business is directly tied to their fortunes.
"They buy their fuel from us. They buy their parts from us. They get their trucks serviced by us,'' Bernadicou said. "What they're going after is a higher wage rate for themselves. If they are not making any money, they're not going to spend any money with us and they need to make a living, just like anybody else.''
Zoe Richmond, a spokeswoman for Union Pacific, said the strike has impacted the railroad yard in Lathrop, which is located just west of the Sharpe Army Depot. She said they are seeing a slight decrease in the truck traffic coming through, as some of the drivers who normally haul containers from the yard are now out front picketing.
"We can appreciate their concerns,'' Richmond said. "Especially with the high cost of diesel fuel, something which we're dealing with as well. It's not our fight, but it does make for an awkward situation for us.''
Julie Sauls, a spokeswoman for the California Trucking Association, said the organization — which represents about 2,500 trucking companies and industry support services — is not affiliated with the striking drivers and doesn't condone the strike action.
"Our members are dealing with the same fuel prices those folks are,'' Sauls said. "It shows people are struggling with the cost of fuel and it's not one of those expenses truckers can just set aside. No matter what, we're forced to pay for fuel and we don't see any relief in the future.''
The cost of diesel has jumped about 50 percent in the past year, she said, and drivers pay upward of $1,200 to fill up the two 150-gallon tanks a rig can carry.
Sauls said there isn't much the drivers can do to get around the gas prices, and the few things they can do — checking tire pressure, reducing speeds — are things they've been doing for years.
"When you consider people are concerned with the price of fuel, goods-movers are paying more than the average consumer,'' Saul said. "It's pretty crazy when you think about it.''