By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor
After four months of intransigent hostility, and continuing labor law violations, truckers working for three port drayage companies—TTSI, Pac9 and Green Fleet Systems—announced they were going back out on strike, starting Nov. 13. However, there have been rumors that one company might settle in advance, because all three have come under increased legal pressure related to their illegal practices.
What’s more, truckers from seven different companies—the three already mentioned, plus QTS, Laca,Win Win and Pacer cartage—approved a set of demands the previous Saturday in a meeting at the Teamsters headquarters in Long Beach. The set of demands included an end to misclassification, wage theft and paycheck deductions for business expenses, removal of obstacles to labor law protections (health and safety, disability, workers compensation and unemployment insurance) and of obstacle to unionization (misclassification, retaliation, harassment and union busters), and payment of a fair wage for every hour worked, including all wait times.
Drivers at the first three companies went out on strike in July, but agreed to a cooling off period brokered by Mayor Eric Garcetti, the terms of which the companies have repeatedly violated.
“If these companies keep violating the rights I risked my life to protect, I am ready to go back on the picket line,” said Paul Quinto, an Army veteran and port truck driver for Green Fleet Systems in a Veterans Day statement Justice for Port Drivers released.
Similar sentiments were expressed by a parade of truckers and supporters at a special Harbor Commission meeting on Nov. 7.
“You gotta do what you gotta do,” responded Commissioner Dave Arian.
“We’re thinking about going back on strike because nothing has been done about this issue,” said Jaqueline Aguilera. “Companies keep violating the law and we can’t take this anymore.”
“If other government agencies have declared that they’re violating the law, then they are violating the law,” said Green Fleet driver Augustine Cuevas. “We’re ready to go strike again.”
“All the courts are ruling we are employees and the law is on our side,” said port trucker Julio Cervantes. “If you keep not doing anything, you are helping the companies to exploit us. Please help us.”
“Their stories of wage theft, as a previous speaker said, borders on indentured servitude,” said John Moorehouse, senior pastor of the Pacific Unitarian Church. “This is not what the greatest port in America, America’s port should be doing.”
“Inaction on your part will no longer be tolerated,” said Robert Brandon, president of the San Pedro Democratic Club, which has a long history of supporting the truckers. “If you want more disruption at the port you will have it.”
“I don’t know why it’s taking so long to prove that they are evading labor employment and tax laws,” Cervantes also said. “Since everyone—the IRS in the U.S. Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, the California labor commissioner, the California economic development department, and even now the federal judges—has figured out [what] everybody else has figured out, what’s taking you so long to help us?”
“This continues to be an outrage,” said Commissioner Patricia Castellanos in response to the comments. “I cannot in good conscience continue to ask these drivers to be patient… I think it is very clear that the actions their employers are taking is what’s causing them to take even further action.”
“If I could snap my fingers and change this condition I would,” Arian said. “But we’re limited legally and practically in how far we can go. Individually, I’m always out there… but there’s limits on how far we can go as commissioners and it hurts. It hurts. Because this is not right. But I, again, appreciate you guys coming out and you gotta do what you gotta do.”
Even Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka spoke up in support.
“My grandfather was a Teamster; he drove a truck for American Can Co. in New York and New Jersey for 40 years,” he said, addressing the truckers directly. “He was able to put food on the table and raise a family. His daughter, my mother, who passed away this April, was a union organizer for American Airlines and she helped create the first-ever flight attendants union at American Airlines. I was the first in my family to go to college and it’s because of that work ethic I had the chance to do that. I understand exactly what you’re commenting on and we will find ways to help.”
But despite the professed good intentions, the port’s actions—and the mayor’s—do not appear to be having any noticeable impact, which is why the strike has been resumed.
The strike comes on the heels of at least two major blows against the companies. First, on Oct. 10, a federal district court found that two Green Fleet Drivers— Amicar Cardona and Mateo Mares—were employees under the law, and ordered Green Fleet to “reinstate Cardona and Mares to the same positions they held at the time they were discharged” under what’s known as a 10(j) injunction—the first time in history such an injunction has been used for this purpose. On Oct. 31, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Green Fleets’ motion to stay the injunction, and on Nov. 7, Cardona and Mares triumphantly returned to work.
“The ruling sends a message loud and clear to the trucking industry and to all employers who try to pass off workers as independent contractors,” said Teamsters’ attorney Julie Gutman Dickenson at teleconference that morning just prior to their return to work. “It sends a message loud and clear that misclassified independent contractors are in fact employees.
“Very soon we may go on strike,” Cardona told the commissioners later that same day. “I’m just asking you please do something because the court has already decided that I am an employee.”
Second, on Oct. 31, the Los Angeles city attorney sent letters to seven port trucking companies giving them 30 days to answer questions concerning missing documentation in violation of the agreement under which they had received liquified natural gas clean truck subsidies. In addition, a related letter to TTSI from from Christopher Cannon, POLA’s director of environmental management, went significantly farther, citing numerous violations and demanding that TTSI “repay the entire amount of the granted funds totaling $1,472,000 within thirty (30) days of receipt of this letter.”
This action follows Random Lengths’ inquiries and stories about such violations both with POLA and the Air Quality Management District. Four of the companies involved—JBA, Cascade Sierra Solutions, Calko Transport Co. Inc. and California Cartage Express—were cited for non-compliance with a provision governing subleasing of trucks, which appears to have been violated by forcing so-called “independent owner-operators” to sublease the port-subsidized trucks. Other potential violations were cited in letters to Green Fleet, Pac9 and Southern Counties Express.
The physical background to the strike is an unprecedented breakdown in the functioning of the local ports due to massive congestion. Alongside ongoing contract talks with the ILWU, the PMA has sought to blame the longshore union for the congestion—a charge that the union vehemently denies. In a Nov. 10 press release, the ILWU said:
The ILWU is not responsible for the current congestion crisis at West Coast ports. The documented causes of congestion at the ports include:
- Chassis shortage and dislocation;
- Rail service delays, including a shortage of rail cars nationwide;
- The exodus of truck drivers who cannot make a living wage;
- Long truck turn times;
- Record retail import volumes (increases of 5.3 percent over 2013);
- Larger vessels discharging massive amounts of cargo;
- Container terminals pushed to storage capacities; and
- The peak shipping season (i.e., the August through October pre-holiday surge)
Trucking companies have responded to the congestion in two ways, both of which demonstrate a further unwillingness to deal comprehensively with the problems involved.
First, on Oct. 30, the Journal Of Commerce reported that port congestion has gotten so bad that trucking companies were charging their customers “surcharges of $50 to as much as $100 an hour,” explaining that the companies “say they have no choice but to charge customers for long waits caused by port congestion…. Drivers who normally would make four trips per day are averaging fewer than two because of the widespread congestion, trucking company executives said.” But the picture on the ground appears to be one of increased exploitation, divisiveness and favoritism, with trucking companies pocketing most of the money, and paying the drivers peanuts.
Daniel Linares, who drives for Pac9, explained that these surcharges do little good for the truckers themselves, as it leaves their core complaints untouched, while only some of the drivers are paid extra for just some of the delays they experience.
“The companies are still making deductions weekly from the drivers’ check,” he said. “But there are some companies that are paying the drivers hourly,” which offers a real long-term solution for the drivers.
On Oct. 24, Pac 9 issued a memo promising to “pay $20 per hour terminal wait time after the 2nd hour” from Oct. 25 through Nov. 28, but only for “door deliveries,” which Linares doesn’t make, even though his work has been slowed by the portwide congestion as well. At these rates, a driver forced to endure two 4-hour waits in one day would receive just $80, while still racking up operating costs which the companies illegally deduct from their pay. This would surely amount to even more time spent making less than the minimum wage.
What’s more, the way that Pac9 instituted this practice undermines its claims that the drivers are independent contractors, a commonsense observation that was confirmed by Teamster lawyer Mike Manley.
“Both the courts and the NLRB frequently cite unilateral changes in working conditions, particularly unilateral changes in wages or other compensation, as evidence of employee status,” Manly said. “The fact that trucking companies change conditions and wages whenever they feel like highlights the complete control that companies exercise over driver’s working lives.”
The trucking companies’ second “solution” has been to seek deregulation of work-rules, reducing the amount of rest time drivers have—a dangerous practice, according to safety advocates.
On Nov. 6, the Press-Telegram reported that the Harbor Trucking Association had announced it would seek an exemption from a federal work rule, requiring a 34-hour rest period for truckers. The provision, enforced by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, allows drivers to work 70 hours within an eight-day period, with two 1 to 5 a.m. off-duty periods during 34 consecutive hours of rest.
Although framed in terms of port-wide congestion, the Press-Telegram story actually suggests that the proposal is meant primarily to benefit a single terminal, Long Beach Container Terminal, which is apparently eager to open its gates on Sundays.
Before considering the merits and demerits of the idea, it’s worth noting that the petition process takes anywhere from 60 to 90 days, meaning that even at best it would not be granted until sometime in January, well after the pre-holiday shipping peak, so it hardly qualifies as a serious proposal. But it is worth considering for what it shows about the problem-generating mentality of the trucking industry.
Random Lengths spoke with John Lannen, executive director with the Truck Safety Coalition, who first explained the problems with the proposal and then pointed to other approaches that would do far more to address the underlying situation..
“The approach to put more work on the backs of drivers doesn’t make sense, because fatigue is highly correlated to crash risk,” Lannen said. “These drivers have already worked 70 hours, and now they’re asking them to shorten their rest period after that, so they’re going to be working more and more hours, over 80 hours a week.”
While some argue that the work rules are really just intended for long-haul drivers, Lannen strongly disagreed.
“These are drivers that are interacting with the public in highly congested areas, so they need to be even more alert, not less,” Lannen said. “They need to be looking for solutions that don’t endanger the public, whether it’s lack of trailers or congestion or other things that we can look at from an operational standpoint that can address the needs. But requiring or asking drivers to work that many more hours in a difficult job just does not make sense for safety and it’s not the right approach.”
It’s not as if there weren’t other options, he went on to note.
“Instead of looking at making drivers who are already working long hours for even longer, even more, they should be looking at hiring more drivers, or staggering shifts if they want to address driving on Sunday,” he said. “But the answer can’t be to increase the burden and make drivers who are already worked long weeks to actually work more, especially given the importance of the job.”
Meanwhile the truckers have continued to organize. At the meeting at Teamsters’ headquarters on the night of Nov. 8, truckers from seven companies came together with WalMart workers.
“Although we may work for different companies with different names, we are brothers in the same cause,” said Ramon Guadamuz, a Green Fleet driver. “So that’s what we’re fighting for: for respect on the job.”