Post by tommy on Jun 6, 2013 11:57:51 GMT -5
Savannah forum airs grievances of independent port trucke
June 3, 2013 - 10:24pm
By SEAN HORGAN
At times, it was like a revival meeting. At others, it was like a political rally.
In the end, the Stand Up for Savannah forum Saturday at the Coastal Georgia Center was an emotional venting by local independent truckers on inequities and injustices they say define their role within the operation of the Port of Savannah.
Nearly 300 of those truckers attended the forum sponsored by Georgia Local 728 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and their stories proved to be an extended revelation for many of the political, governmental, faith and civic leaders on the forum’s panel.
“This has really been a great learning experience,” said Savannah Alderwoman Carolyn Bell.
Bell and the other panelists listened to repeated testimony about the financial and occupational hardships endured by the independent truckers responsible for hauling away about 80 percent of the freight and materials that make their way through the Port of Savannah.
The key complaint, in almost every story, was the current system that allows the trucking companies servicing the port to “mis-classify” the truckers as independent contractors — with no health or pension benefits — rather than employees.
No representatives of the trucking companies were invited to the meeting, according to Teamsters organizer Ben Speight, but ports executive director Curtis Foltz declined his invitation.
The truckers said mis-classification relegates them to the bottom rung of the economic ladder at the Port of Savannah, which produces almost $16 billion a year in income, and other ports throughout the country when it comes to wages and working conditions.
“These independent truckers are under-paid and under-valued,” Fred Potter, a New Jersey-based international vice president of the Teamsters, told the panel and the audience of truckers. “They call you employees when it suits them and then call you independent contractors when it suits them.
“The port drivers are the new sharecroppers on wheels. Ports have replaced the cotton fields.”
Then came the truckers. One after another told stories of having to choose between maintaining and repairing their trucks or spending their money on basic life necessities.
“I can’t afford to go to a doctor,” said Carol Cauley, her voice catching as she tried to choke back tears during her testimony. “I can’t afford the stuff I transport daily.”
Cauley, who drives for C&K Trucking, said her status as an independent contractor leaves her feeling anything but independent.
“I need to give the company 24 hours advance notice if I want to take a day off,” she said, as if speaking to the trucking companies. “If we’re so independent, why do I have to ask you that?”
Mike Alleyne, an independent trucker who drives for C&K, talked about how operating costs, including fuel, tires and repairs, have skyrocketed.
“We can also see our bank accounts are not growing as fast,” Alleyne said, which prompted one trucker in the audience to yell out, “What bank account?” and another to ask with feigned incredulity, “You’ve got a bank account, Mike?”
Other truckers decried the fact they make about 25 percent less than truckers considered employees, despite having to buy and maintain their own vehicles at their own expense.
Others talked about the working conditions, which they described as overtly stressful and dangerous.
Jim Myrick, an independent trucker since 1993 who drives for BP Express, said the truckers often have to wait in line for hours to pick up or drop off containers, their diesel engines spewing noxious and nauseating fumes the entire time.
“I get serious migraines and I can’t afford to go to a doctor, either,” Myrick said.
He also said the truckers are forced to drive through radiation portals — used to X-ray their loads — multiple times a day.
“We are just as important as the military to our country,” Myrick said. “If it wasn’t for us, America would stop.”
The panelists clearly were moved by what they heard.
State Sen. Lester Jackson, D-Savannah, said the next step toward alleviating these inequities might be for the state General Assembly to make a clearer distinction of what makes someone an employee rather than a independent contractor.
Jackson also said he would like for a contingent of truckers to meet with the Chatham County legislative delegation and said he would be willing to bring a small contingent of truckers to Atlanta to meet with Gov. Nathan Deal.
Larry Benjamin, assistant director of the federal Department of Labor’s labor wage and hour division in Savannah, said he would like to meet with truckers to develop some test cases that might more clearly allow the truckers to challenge their treatment and classification by the trucking companies.
*Comment
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trucker4hire
________________________________________________
Well that's all great but now who's fault is it that we have allowed a few of these motor carriers in Savannah to become so powerful? Those of us who own trucks and drive them for the companies are lease contractors for the motor carriers. I don't understand why any O/O trucker can't just tell the company "NO." It's our choice, no one can force us to drive our truck, pull overweight, dangerous cargo, pull cheap freight, or be exposed to gamma rays. The ILA workers don't go near the radiation scanners and neither should we. In fact they have been told not to do this by their leadership in New York. Several of us had this discussion a few years back with the port police and the US Coast Guard authorities. There are two systems, a stationary drive by passive radiation detection device which operates like a police radar detector in your truck "if you have one" and then there is the portable "gamma Xray back scatter system" that scans inside the box or cab of your truck, that is if you allow them to do that. Don't allow them to do that, ever! Even small doses of Gamma radiation are dangerous. You have a right to op out of the back scatter machine no matter what they say. They can scan the box without you in the truck cab. No trucker should agree to be scanned by this system. Don't place your health in jeopardy. I also communicate with the company I lease to so we have a clear professional business understanding, I am a lease-operator not a company driver. If I don't want to move a load or I want to take off a day I'm gone. I'm in business to make money not do free work, favors or give discount rates. A favor is helping the agent getting her car cranked, bringing her something back from lunch when I go, "NOT" pulling a cheap load because she gave a bad rate or sitting for free at a customer loading dock for three hours without detention pay. If any trucking company operated like some expect their lease-operators to work they would be bankrupt within a few weeks. If a company wants you to work like a stinking Zombie with your mouth shut than move on. You certainly don't need to be working for any company that has no respect for their owner/operator truckers. Maybe we should start naming all the bottom feeding companies that play this employee crap. We're not employees of these trucking companies and they know this but a few also know just how to intimidate drivers into thinking that somehow you're not an owner/operator but perhaps their private gardener. There are a few good trucking companies working out of the Savannah area that don't break the law. Let's start preparing a list of companies to share as well as that of the bad ones to stay away from. We should start seeking them out and leasing our trucks on. Customers will go to whomever has the trucks capable to move their freight. Maybe it's time to form our own O/O Association right here in Savannah and support these companies who are serious about doing business here the right way. Honest motor carriers along with their agents don't steal your FSC, don't have a problem showing you what was billed to the customer so you can legally collect your rightful % of the gross, don't deduct bogus expenses from your settlement check each week, don't break federal leasing laws, and don't try keeping your escrow when you terminate your lease. We have allowed many of these low life motor carriers to come from around the country to open shop here. We also have allowed a small group of corrupt agents to remain in operation by not pointing them out to new operators just starting out. It's time to take responsibility our self and stop this madness that has plagued the Savannah port area for years. As truckers we have the power among ourselves to stop this next week if we really wanted to. Yes, maybe it's time we started to clean up our own house for once!
June 3, 2013 - 10:24pm
By SEAN HORGAN
At times, it was like a revival meeting. At others, it was like a political rally.
In the end, the Stand Up for Savannah forum Saturday at the Coastal Georgia Center was an emotional venting by local independent truckers on inequities and injustices they say define their role within the operation of the Port of Savannah.
Nearly 300 of those truckers attended the forum sponsored by Georgia Local 728 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and their stories proved to be an extended revelation for many of the political, governmental, faith and civic leaders on the forum’s panel.
“This has really been a great learning experience,” said Savannah Alderwoman Carolyn Bell.
Bell and the other panelists listened to repeated testimony about the financial and occupational hardships endured by the independent truckers responsible for hauling away about 80 percent of the freight and materials that make their way through the Port of Savannah.
The key complaint, in almost every story, was the current system that allows the trucking companies servicing the port to “mis-classify” the truckers as independent contractors — with no health or pension benefits — rather than employees.
No representatives of the trucking companies were invited to the meeting, according to Teamsters organizer Ben Speight, but ports executive director Curtis Foltz declined his invitation.
The truckers said mis-classification relegates them to the bottom rung of the economic ladder at the Port of Savannah, which produces almost $16 billion a year in income, and other ports throughout the country when it comes to wages and working conditions.
“These independent truckers are under-paid and under-valued,” Fred Potter, a New Jersey-based international vice president of the Teamsters, told the panel and the audience of truckers. “They call you employees when it suits them and then call you independent contractors when it suits them.
“The port drivers are the new sharecroppers on wheels. Ports have replaced the cotton fields.”
Then came the truckers. One after another told stories of having to choose between maintaining and repairing their trucks or spending their money on basic life necessities.
“I can’t afford to go to a doctor,” said Carol Cauley, her voice catching as she tried to choke back tears during her testimony. “I can’t afford the stuff I transport daily.”
Cauley, who drives for C&K Trucking, said her status as an independent contractor leaves her feeling anything but independent.
“I need to give the company 24 hours advance notice if I want to take a day off,” she said, as if speaking to the trucking companies. “If we’re so independent, why do I have to ask you that?”
Mike Alleyne, an independent trucker who drives for C&K, talked about how operating costs, including fuel, tires and repairs, have skyrocketed.
“We can also see our bank accounts are not growing as fast,” Alleyne said, which prompted one trucker in the audience to yell out, “What bank account?” and another to ask with feigned incredulity, “You’ve got a bank account, Mike?”
Other truckers decried the fact they make about 25 percent less than truckers considered employees, despite having to buy and maintain their own vehicles at their own expense.
Others talked about the working conditions, which they described as overtly stressful and dangerous.
Jim Myrick, an independent trucker since 1993 who drives for BP Express, said the truckers often have to wait in line for hours to pick up or drop off containers, their diesel engines spewing noxious and nauseating fumes the entire time.
“I get serious migraines and I can’t afford to go to a doctor, either,” Myrick said.
He also said the truckers are forced to drive through radiation portals — used to X-ray their loads — multiple times a day.
“We are just as important as the military to our country,” Myrick said. “If it wasn’t for us, America would stop.”
The panelists clearly were moved by what they heard.
State Sen. Lester Jackson, D-Savannah, said the next step toward alleviating these inequities might be for the state General Assembly to make a clearer distinction of what makes someone an employee rather than a independent contractor.
Jackson also said he would like for a contingent of truckers to meet with the Chatham County legislative delegation and said he would be willing to bring a small contingent of truckers to Atlanta to meet with Gov. Nathan Deal.
Larry Benjamin, assistant director of the federal Department of Labor’s labor wage and hour division in Savannah, said he would like to meet with truckers to develop some test cases that might more clearly allow the truckers to challenge their treatment and classification by the trucking companies.
*Comment
ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules of civility. Posts and comments do not reflect the views of this site. Posts and comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Flag as offensive" link below the comment.
trucker4hire
________________________________________________
Well that's all great but now who's fault is it that we have allowed a few of these motor carriers in Savannah to become so powerful? Those of us who own trucks and drive them for the companies are lease contractors for the motor carriers. I don't understand why any O/O trucker can't just tell the company "NO." It's our choice, no one can force us to drive our truck, pull overweight, dangerous cargo, pull cheap freight, or be exposed to gamma rays. The ILA workers don't go near the radiation scanners and neither should we. In fact they have been told not to do this by their leadership in New York. Several of us had this discussion a few years back with the port police and the US Coast Guard authorities. There are two systems, a stationary drive by passive radiation detection device which operates like a police radar detector in your truck "if you have one" and then there is the portable "gamma Xray back scatter system" that scans inside the box or cab of your truck, that is if you allow them to do that. Don't allow them to do that, ever! Even small doses of Gamma radiation are dangerous. You have a right to op out of the back scatter machine no matter what they say. They can scan the box without you in the truck cab. No trucker should agree to be scanned by this system. Don't place your health in jeopardy. I also communicate with the company I lease to so we have a clear professional business understanding, I am a lease-operator not a company driver. If I don't want to move a load or I want to take off a day I'm gone. I'm in business to make money not do free work, favors or give discount rates. A favor is helping the agent getting her car cranked, bringing her something back from lunch when I go, "NOT" pulling a cheap load because she gave a bad rate or sitting for free at a customer loading dock for three hours without detention pay. If any trucking company operated like some expect their lease-operators to work they would be bankrupt within a few weeks. If a company wants you to work like a stinking Zombie with your mouth shut than move on. You certainly don't need to be working for any company that has no respect for their owner/operator truckers. Maybe we should start naming all the bottom feeding companies that play this employee crap. We're not employees of these trucking companies and they know this but a few also know just how to intimidate drivers into thinking that somehow you're not an owner/operator but perhaps their private gardener. There are a few good trucking companies working out of the Savannah area that don't break the law. Let's start preparing a list of companies to share as well as that of the bad ones to stay away from. We should start seeking them out and leasing our trucks on. Customers will go to whomever has the trucks capable to move their freight. Maybe it's time to form our own O/O Association right here in Savannah and support these companies who are serious about doing business here the right way. Honest motor carriers along with their agents don't steal your FSC, don't have a problem showing you what was billed to the customer so you can legally collect your rightful % of the gross, don't deduct bogus expenses from your settlement check each week, don't break federal leasing laws, and don't try keeping your escrow when you terminate your lease. We have allowed many of these low life motor carriers to come from around the country to open shop here. We also have allowed a small group of corrupt agents to remain in operation by not pointing them out to new operators just starting out. It's time to take responsibility our self and stop this madness that has plagued the Savannah port area for years. As truckers we have the power among ourselves to stop this next week if we really wanted to. Yes, maybe it's time we started to clean up our own house for once!
