Oakland Truckers Warn of Stoppage Over Air Rules

[obiabrown]

June 20, 2011

Oakland Truckers Warn of Stoppage Over Air Rules

A trade group representing motor carriers at the Port of Oakland has submitted a petition to Governor Jerry Brown warning of a general work stoppage at the port if state air regulators do not reconsider extending deadlines for impending truck emission regulations.

Members of the West State Alliance (WSA), which include about 60 trucking and trucking-related firms, propose a shutdown of all cargo movements at the Oakland port if the California Air Resources Board does not extend the deadline for the next phase of CARB emissions controls for drayage trucks by an additional six years.

On May 16 motor carriers at the Port of Oakland under the WSA banner sent a petition to CARB condemning a December, 2010 decision not to adopt proposed amendments to the drayage truck rule. The groups cited concerns over CARB's Phase II regulation mandating compliance with standards for NOx reduction in diesel exhaust starting in 2014. This measure affects some 4,400 drayage trucks, or approximately 75 percent of the total Oakland port fleet.

According to WSA, Oakland port truckers say they are prepared to assume the cost burden of purchasing PM filters for 2004-2006 engine model trucks required under Phase I of the drayage rule, but only if they are assured these trucks will remain legal until 2020. A proposal to extend the NOx emissions deadline an additional six years, from 2014 until 2020, was rejected by CARB.

This now leaves Oakland port truckers, WSA said, with a short window of emissions compliance before having to incur the expense of NOx equipment upgrades.

Furthermore, according to WSA, there are no after-market NOx emissions reduction filters readily available for diesel trucks to meet ARB emissions standards.

“Come 2014, owners of 1994-2006 engine model year trucks are left with no other option than to dispose of their tractors outside the Port and replace them with 2007 or newer models,” WSA said in a statement. “Current prices range upward of $65,000 for a used truck, and a scarce supply is rapidly depleting the market of available equipment.”

WSA said that one reason cited by Oakland port truckers for a delay in the NOx reduction schedule is a 2010 Bay Area Air Quality District (BAAQMD) study that found an unanticipated 40 percent reduction in NOx emissions at the port due to CARB's Phase I-mandated replacement of older polluting trucks. The WSA claims these reductions put the Oakland trucking fleet well on its way to significant reductions in NOx emissions without the need of imposing the Phase II regulations set to be implemented in 2014.

“Furthermore, Phase I of the drayage truck rule already placed a heavy financial burden on Port truckers,” the WSA said. “Many went out of business, many incurred high-interest loans and large amounts of debt, and state grants were grossly insufficient in number and size to help the majority of truck owners. The seventeen signatories to the petition to the ARB say that in meeting Phase I requirements of the drayage truck rule they have done their fair share and more to shoulder the burden of state clean air regulations. Now, they say, the City of Oakland “can ill afford the certain loss of jobs on the local economy and the devastating social and health impacts that will result from the mandated obsolescence of 4,400 trucks.”

Signatories to the petition include: AB Trucking, Bay Area Container, Fargo Trucking, GSC Logistics, Horizon Freight System, Impact Transportation, Kamal Trucking, Lengner & Sons Express, Mason Dixon Intermodal, Mutual Express, PCC Logistics, Quintero Trucking, Rodgers Trucking, Stockmyer Trucking, VA Transportation, Viper Transportation and Yardell Truckaway.

[yanis]

I WORK AT OAKLAND PORT AS AN O'O I KNOW ALL THESE COMPANIES . THEY ARE VERY SCARED BECAUSE THEY KNOW THEY WILL BE LOOSING ALL THEIR O'O OVER THIS CARB REGULATION . NO ONE WILL BE TEMPTED TO BUY A NEWER TRUCK AND MAKING A HEFTY MONTHLY PAYMENT WHEN THE RATES ARE RIDICULIOUSLY LOW . AS IT IS THERE ARE MORE TRUCKERS AT OAKLAND PORT RELYING ON WELFARE SYSTEM THAN FROM WHAT THEY GET FROM THEIR HARD WORK.

[fish]

you can thak the teamster union including there friends over at the coalition for clean & safe ports. these people lied to us about helping truckers at ports in california. they are master minds behind pushing the ports with this clean truck progran in the west. teamsters want to get us out of the hauling business. thay want make us employee driver not owner operator. this is all for there benifit not ours. now these same group want to make it happen in east so driver beware in eastcoast ports. your next on the list. they want no more owner operators working at ports.

[yanis]

the teamsters don't have anything to do with carb regulation . that' s for the health of the people living around the port. pollution hurt everybody. As for being an employee vs owner operator. it still your choice. if you can make money putting your truck , your insurance , your fuel , your maintenance , your repair , your toll and still make a decent salary good luck keep on doing it and please pay your taxes . your healthcare , your retirement and mostly don't be a burden on the society to help you. all the surveys being done on port truckers show that they make less than a minimum wage. BE GOOD TO YOUR BOSS HE MIGHT GIVE YOU 10 DOLLARS MORE FOR YOUR TRIP TO SACRAMENTO.

[fish]

the teamster are out to hurt the owner trucker. thay push port polution law. it start six year ago. this choice of be employe or owner trucker will soon not be are to make if teamster get there way. my truck polute no more then new one.it is in good codition. this is just more bs by the clean truck group. teamster have lied to us to much. they are behind this push to push us out port trucking or be company driver. don't be fooled by there slick talk. i do not want to be company driver. we need better haul rate not more teamster bs.

[ilovdieselsmoke]

Jul 3, 2011 14:29:44 GMT -5 @fish said:

the teamster are out to hurt the owner trucker. thay push port polution law. it start six year ago. this choice of be employe or owner trucker will soon not be are to make if teamster get there way. my truck polute no more then new one.it is in good codition. this is just more bs by the clean truck group. teamster have lied to us to much. they are behind this push to push us out port trucking or be company driver. don't be fooled by there slick talk. i do not want to be company driver. we need better haul rate not more teamster bs.

Sounds like you may have attended one of those past senseless so-called driver meetings produced by the labor backed Green Coalition. These fine folk would love to see every lease/operator trucker vanish off planet earth. Their Clean truck Campaign has been just what you say, a SCAM from the beginning carefully crafted to win public sympathy in order to rid seaports of individual truck owners making way for only company drivers who they feel their Teamster partners can easier unionize. What better way to carry this evil plan out than by making the cost of truck ownership impossible for the average Joe trucker to ever achieve. They claim the sky is falling due to diesel smut choking the air but if that were so we would all been dead years ago. We don't need new trucks. We need rules in place to move the freight in & out of the harbor without long delays or senseless idling time plus stable rates which reflect today's expenses of operating equipment to move their cargo...

[yanis]

we hear a lot talking about the teamsters. I am not with them but frankly i support what they are doing . they are as we speak launching a big fight to protect our jobs . they are speaking up against the invasion of the mexican truckers . of course the company owners , brokers etc... are all for them because this make them even greater profits. historically unions have made big improuvments in people lives wether here is the us , or in santiago chili, or in toumbuctu mali, to that little remote village in tibet. if you don't know that then read some books.
As it is the average joe the trucker you apparently deffending is making 28000 a year working an average of 12 hours a day . lining up at the terminal at 6 am and finishing at 6 pm with his own truck that might cost him 50000 dollars. now you start making divisions you will find that poor owner operator is a burden of the society because he is not even making 9 dollars per hour. the numbers that I giving you are easily verifiable, we all get a 1099 . the irs knows joe the trucker .the census bureau knows him, the hospital knows , all the public services for the poor know him...the good thing about joe trucker is that after his truck gets eleminated by the carb regulation in the near future I am positive joe will never buy another truck and that's why the company owners are pushing for the extension of the deadlines. the company owners SHOULD understand that their biggest ennemy was themselves with their stupid rates. to me that's not smart stealing from owners operators. we know how much they charge the custumer and we know how much they pay us . that's why they will fail. Having said that I am seeing a brighter future for joe the trucker because it cannot be worse than what he has been going through.

[pkd5757]

Hey Yanis, The Teamsters are part of the funding for the "green coalition". They have bullied their way into a corner now and can't find a way out. The O/O will go away in California and still you'll make 9.00/hr, minimal benefits and no union job. The Teamsters your listening to are liars and don't give a crap about you. MONEY is the only thing that will make a difference for the O/O. If the rates go up and you make more money, then you can afford to upgrade your truck. The thing is the rates may go up and the companies will make the money not you. Because you'll be making the 9.00/hr in a company truck, the Teamsters will still be protesting and people will still be getting sick from all the pollution out there.

[yellowtruck]

Jul 7, 2011 23:38:45 GMT -5 yanis said:

we hear a lot talking about the teamsters. I am not with them but frankly i support what they are doing . they are as we speak launching a big fight to protect our jobs . they are speaking up against the invasion of the mexican truckers . of course the company owners , brokers etc... are all for them because this make them even greater profits. historically unions have made big improuvments in people lives wether here is the us , or in santiago chili, or in toumbuctu mali, to that little remote village in tibet. if you don't know that then read some books.
As it is the average joe the trucker you apparently deffending is making 28000 a year working an average of 12 hours a day . lining up at the terminal at 6 am and finishing at 6 pm with his own truck that might cost him 50000 dollars. now you start making divisions you will find that poor owner operator is a burden of the society because he is not even making 9 dollars per hour. the numbers that I giving you are easily verifiable, we all get a 1099 . the irs knows joe the trucker .the census bureau knows him, the hospital knows , all the public services for the poor know him...the good thing about joe trucker is that after his truck gets eleminated by the carb regulation in the near future I am positive joe will never buy another truck and that's why the company owners are pushing for the extension of the deadlines. the company owners SHOULD understand that their biggest ennemy was themselves with their stupid rates. to me that's not smart stealing from owners operators. we know how much they charge the custumer and we know how much they pay us . that's why they will fail. Having said that I am seeing a brighter future for joe the trucker because it cannot be worse than what he has been going through.

hey yanis you don't really know what the teamsters are doing unless they have stuck it to you like they did many of us here in the east. that's what they did alright. i was one of hundreds they abandoned after they stood up claiming they were here to watch our back. yeah sure just as soon as they decided to go a different route they walked out not even bothering to look back. what they succeeded in doing was causing a bad situation to get worse for all of us. many of drivers lost jobs for associating with them but they could care less. no they are disgusting losers in my book. the only interest they have in the small truck owner is to make sure we're not in this business much longer standing in their way. these teamsters don't want anything to prevent them from organizing an all company driver work force. ever heard the term one shoe doesn't fit all? well that doesn't work here in trucking either. i like owning a truck and driving it. i have no desire to be a company driver again. been there done that. until the day america turns into a socialist communist society we should have our freedom of choice whether we want to own a truck or not own a truck. that's not for the teamsters or any of their phony environmental groups to decide. for now that is our choice to make but you had better watch out because that is exactly what they want to change with their trumped up clean truck program. they should name it operation relieve you from your truck. i'm not anti union but i won't be signing anymore union pledge cards with the teamsters printed on them because they don't honor their own words.

[yanis]

thank you guys for your inputs. very interesting subject. I wanna start by saying that carb emission are real . it is not something created by special interest otherwise how can we explain the highest ratio per capita in the nation for asthma patients in west oakland where the port is located. so please stop blaming the teamsters ,you may not like their breath but they have nothing to do with pollution.
As to be an employee at 9 dollars an hour , I rather take that than the headach of owning a truck. If the rates go up we all know who is gonna get them. I am certain it will not go for the O/O. As it is now we know the custumer is charged appropriately , we just don't get our fair share of the rate . they are even playing us for our fuel surcharge.
Yellowtruck I am sorry for what happened with the teamsters in the east cost . we live in a strange world , people are more and more interest oriented losing a lot of their values along the way. problably that's why in this country people dropping out the unions. actually it went from 42% some years back to a level of 10% today. but at least let's give them credits for a lot of accomplishments. There are some longshormen here at oakland port that will fit more in a zoo yet they are getting 30 dollars an hour for 10 minutes work followed by 10 minutes break so to speak just because they pay 50 dollars dues for their union. They are having a nicer life than all the port truckers and certainly will live longer. . I know that's how they broke the auto industry and a lot of factories. There is a lot of abuse. IN my approach it should be some BALANCE between the employer and the employee. To me teamsters are the best alternative . they don't give us a job but they give us a voice. as it is we don't have a job nor a voice..for now let me smoke some tea and stay awake ,the nightmare continues...

[leftcoaster]

this is no driver. .he is pulling your leg cowboys. bet his funding comes from the dream team or is it green team ;D ;D ;D

[yanis]

l am still smoking some tea and stay awake, the nightmare continues.

[bayside]

local truckers have little to do with any air pollution. that's being blown out of proportion by a one sided political agenda here in california.

[pkd5757]

Good Luck Yanis! This site will never be for the Teamsters. Jim Hoffa is a lieing sack of $hit.

[ilovdieselsmoke]

Jul 9, 2011 23:24:56 GMT -5 yanis said:

l am still smoking some tea and stay awake, the nightmare continues.

Interesting....... but,
I believe theTeamsters,DBA / CHANGE-TO-WIN,DBA / COALITIONforCLEAN&SAFEPORTS is smoking something too. Their supreme leadership marvels can't possibly be serious if they think truckers at every port willingly are going to give up perfectly good operating tractors (no matter what the year model) or their freedom of ownership without a fight because of a bunch of labor backed tree hugging geeks

The only dirty air we see threatening the harbor is belching out of the mouths of the special interest groups trying to take away an Americans individual right to ownership of a class eight truck engaged in intermodal transportation. These well funded green thugs will stoop to any level with their lies over how much pollution actually comes from truckers verses the amount from every other source on the water front. Amazingly the clever scripted Green Coalition spokespersons mysteriously over look the fact (especially while communicating to the media) that if the ports would move the cargo expeditiously at the harbor in the first place there would be no long lines of trucks idling inside or out of their seaport facilities.

If there is any amount of so-called diesel smut generated truckers being delayed is the root cause so what's the huge difficulty in resolving this seemingly simple matter of increasing productivity instead of replacing the entire fleet of perfectly good FMCSA inspected trucks owned by mostly owner/drivers?

Imagine having to hire more labor to move the cargo? WOW, now that is what the labor backed coalition should be concentrating on instead of forcing us out of rolling stock we have sweat & blood equity invested in. Oh, that makes to much sense or as we already know they clearly have another agenda besides this fictitious public health goal of clean air to breath........

[yanis]

OK , LET'S FORGET EVERYTHING ABOUT THE TEAMSTERS , THEY ARE BAD PEOPLE . I LIKE THE FREEDON OF OWNERSHIP. THERE IS MY STORY . I OWN A TRUCK , MY MONTHLY PAYMENTS ARE 1100 DOLLARS. INSURANCE 450 . PARKING 120. REPAIRS AND MAINTENANCE 400, ,,OF COURSE I HAVE TO PUT AT LEAST 500 DOLLARS JUST TO COVERS MY MONTHLY EXPENSES. I MEAN IS THERE ANYTHING LEFT FROM THOSE HORRIBLE RATES TO PAY FOR MY 1 BEDROOM APARTMENT WITH MY WIFE AND 2 SCHOOLED KIDS. I REPEAT 1 BEDROOM APARTMENT. I GUESS YOU GOT THE PICTURE . I AM VERY BITTER. THE COMPANY I LEASE TO IS GETTING MORE RICHER WHILE I AM GOING DOWNHILL. I JUST WANT A 2 BEDROOM TO GET SOME SLEEP BEFORE I GET UP AGAIN TOMORROW AT 4 AM TO MAKE EVEN MORE MONEY TO MY BOSS. FORGET ABOUT THE UNION . LET ME SMOKE SOME TEA AND STAY AWAKE , THE NIGHTMARE CONTINUES.

[whitelinefever]

i like owning a truck too. i live outside norfolk virginia. my truck is paid for so thankfully i don't have any monthly payments. it's the tenth truck i have owned & my last but i'll be around many more years proudly driving her. my truck is a 1990 kenworth which i have spent a lot of time in rebuilding the way i want it from front to back. i don't have to worry about breakdowns or anything else that goes along with owning an older truck other than this dumb talk i hear about the narrow minded idiots who want to ban us from running out of the ports. we will see how far that goes with today's economy on the brink of collasp. they are talking some of the same trash here in norfolk offering a volunteer program trying to get us to buy brand new trucks. i already have a brand new truck as far as i am concerned. why do i want to go deep in dept buying something that offers me less than what i have now. my truck burns as clean as the brand new junk i see coming into the piers. the problem here is ignorant people interfering in a business they don't know anything about but that's what we pay big government for isn't it? back to trucking. i haul only loads that make me the standard of money i feel i deserve. in other words i have a floor that i don't haul under. that includes short haul or local. i believe in making a profit not just pocket change. maybe i make a little more than the norm but everyone could do same if they made it clear what they are going to move the boxes for. sometimes i don't work but that doesn't last more than a day. i can make the same amount of money in three days that takes most of these drivers seven so i see no advantage of running my truck foolishly 24/7. after being with this same outfit now for three years they know better than even bother me with a new run or customer that pays some discounted low ball figure. yeah they have a few newbies here that will haul junk loads but my truck will remain parked at the house before that box gets picked up by me. i'm in business to make money not hand out customer discounts. that was the agreement from start with these people. as long as they respect me i respect them. i don't pull cheap freight for anyone. in the past i worked for fourteen different companies before hanging with this one. i pull nothing unless i know up front what it pays down to the penny. we have a professional attitude about our relationship so as long as that continues to last i'll hang their sign on the door but the moment that ends i move on. it's getting harder for trucking companies to find drivers that have a decent record but at the same time it's easy to find companies so i feel no threat by these people for something i have been doing for twenty nine years years. have a nice day.

[yanis]

thank you whitelinefever for your feedback . I got the impression for the first time that I am talking to a real o/o who understand my concerns and not representing the company owners. the problem with hauling cans is always going to be at the bottom of the barrel. and we do not want to be that way because we know the custumer is paying right , the problem is those guys setting up shops in a trailer with only one phone line and a fax machine as total expenses and paying us 50% of the linehaul. please don't tell me not to haul cheap because I need to cover my expenses and they know that and they are taking advantage of it. that's why I see teamsters as part of the solution. I know a lot of o/o selling their truck and becoming company drivers and happy with their 17 dollars an hour , or simply getting paid by the load or percentage. to me it is worth it owning a truck. does anybody know how can we make it better... until then I am still smoking my tea.

[whitelinefever]

i agree we need some representation but not teamsters. they had their chance. we worked with them when they were in norfolk. we attended every meeting called. we answered the call to rally when they needed us. what did we get? nothing! they walked out just like they did at other ports here in the east. we called their main office in washington many times only to find they didn't represent the o/o any longer but would talk to us when we became company drivers. next thing we know they are in the trucking news pushing for a ban on the o/o trucker at ports. yes i think we need a union but not teamsters. we don't want them here in virginia. if you are hauling loads only to make your expensives your not part of the solution but part of the problem. like i said i don't move unless the truck & me make money. there are to many out here hauling for go broke rates. i grossed over $100,000 last year moving boxes pulling smart. that's far from any 24/7 so i have plenty time for my family & other things. i do short haul & local only no long distance. i do the company a good job, keep the customers happy i deal with but maintain my ground when it comes to what i will pull for. i'm not interested in what they make only what i make. if the company you pull for is one of these low ball haulers move to another until you find the one that has decent moves. they are out here but you have to seek them out

[canhauler]

Jul 11, 2011 5:24:27 GMT -5 @whitelinefever said:

i agree we need some representation but not teamsters. they had their chance. we worked with them when they were in norfolk. we attended every meeting called. we answered the call to rally when they needed us. what did we get? nothing! they walked out just like they did at other ports here in the east. we called their main office in washington many times only to find they didn't represent the o/o any longer but would talk to us when we became company drivers. next thing we know they are in the trucking news pushing for a ban on the o/o trucker at ports. yes i think we need a union but not teamsters. we don't want them here in virginia. if you are hauling loads only to make your expensives your not part of the solution but part of the problem. like i said i don't move unless the truck & me make money. there are to many out here hauling for go broke rates. i grossed over $100,000 last year moving boxes pulling smart. that's far from any 24/7 so i have plenty time for my family & other things. i do short haul & local only no long distance. i do the company a good job, keep the customers happy i deal with but maintain my ground when it comes to what i will pull for. i'm not interested in what they make only what i make. if the company you pull for is one of these low ball haulers move to another until you find the one that has decent moves. they are out here but you have to seek them out

It's the same everywhere hand. Some loads pay several different prices to get them moved depending on how bad they need to move them. At the company I'm leased to I have three steady customers I run their cans to every week. The rate in place is more than fair but these folk demand service which they receive. Twice they tried other carriers who promised discounted prices plus service but we're back pulling their boxes for over a year now. The companies know which drivers are not going to put up with the foolishness so they adjust the rates to individual needs. More like on need to know basis ;D

BTW: Another union I'll consider,NO Teamsters for me either. Three strikes they're out.

[yanis]

last year i took home 31000 dollars on a 77000 gross. I am not seeing it a big accomplishment knowing drivers did more than me , again it is not worth it owning a truck. I run 200 miles radius of the oakland port but most of the time less. my truck is 06 volvo isx 450 that will be banned from the port as early as jan 2013. very good truck with less than 400 .000 miles on the engine . I bought her from Cedar Rapids back is 09. I guess I will have to take her out to some other new venture probably before the port deadline.NO REGRET AT ALL. it was just a waste of time hauling cans.there was no beef.

[gman]

that being banned from the port over the year model of a truck is pure discrimination. this never would have happened if not for the decision by the teamsters here in the west to eliminate the owner-driver from working the ports. i hope you guys in the east stop them dead in their tracks before they do the same to you. this is another step toward socialism which tramples the rights of citizens in this great country.

[rocketride]

i feel for you drivers out there in california. we have a difficult time enough here in south carolina with crooked dray companies. who needs those idiots from the union making life even worse. u can keep that clean truck garbage outa here to. we are happy with our rides the way they are. we just want to get the d**n rates up. we're watching what's going on in savannah right now hoping those truckers don't forget us when it comes time to do something in the southeast.

[largecar]

Jul 11, 2011 19:56:43 GMT -5 yanis said:

last year i took home 31000 dollars on a 77000 gross. I am not seeing it a big accomplishment knowing drivers did more than me , again it is not worth it owning a truck. I run 200 miles radius of the oakland port but most of the time less. my truck is 06 volvo isx 450 that will be banned from the port as early as jan 2013. very good truck with less than 400 .000 miles on the engine . I bought her from Cedar Rapids back is 09. I guess I will have to take her out to some other new venture probably before the port deadline.NO REGRET AT ALL. it was just a waste of time hauling cans.there was no beef.

Sorry to hear yanis you will be one those who is banned. I think it's got to be one of the most insane ideas to ban perfectly good trucks from operating at any US port. This pollution scare is being backed by special interest groups who defiantly have the backing of big labor. It's going to be the same problem with thousands of new trucks still idling in the ports. These diesel particulate chemicals used along the new exhaust systems are not even tested for what toxins they may be emitting after the same long idling conditions. I already know a few drivers who have dismantled the new systems after having unbelievable trouble with them so far. They're expensive , cumbersome, and high maintenance.
The second most stupid act has got to be for any union to insist that the ports get rid of the owner operator trucker. Handing over the right to make decisions which effect my freedom of choice to government officials in this country is pure communism. We fought and thousands of soldiers died to protect those freedoms this country was founded on. This makes me sick thinking about the jerks who have caused an all out assault on the owner operator trucker. I truly hope it blows up in their face before this is over. I'll do my part to voice my opinion to any news media that wants the truckers true point of view because these people have published all lies so far what truckers think on this issue.

[yanis]

hey guys. they call us independant contractors and sometimes something sweety as business partners. so if we really are business people let's think about making wise financial decisions. to me if the greeners want expensive newer trucks, Iam not seeing where the problem lies if you can bank for you money translated with better paying routes.you can ask any shop keeper he is gonna tell you the same. he buys expensive that's why his goods are not cheap.Company owners don't want that , they want to keep the existing trucks ,some are beaten up and also in over supply that's they give us low rates. they lost a lot of O/O due to the new regulation and the ones who stayed were subsidized by the port authority with 50.000 DOLLARS towards a new truck or 5 to 8000 to put a dpf... this year they are 700 trucks that are concerned by the carb, next year it will be 2000 and about the same number at the end of 2013. there are only about 15 to 20% maximum of the trucks here at oakland port that can make it to 2020. and they know drivers wont be out on the market shopping for newer trucks and they are scared . IT IS NOT ABOUT SOCIALISM OR FREEDOM . IT IS ABOUT TO BE OR NOT TO BE. .. I Know they are here in this forum , I can recognize their thread. they remind me of that guy who always beats his girlfriend, someday she is gonna leave him for the better. also I have one thing to tell them PAY ME FAIRLY , I PROMISE TO BUY A 2015 TRUCK. CHICHE