Pier Pressure

[peterbuilt500]

Unionization of Vancouver’s owner-operator port truckers is turning out to be a good deal for the truckers and for Metro Port Vancouver.

The July 2005 wildcat strike of the port by 1,200 independent truckers lasted more than a month, veered into violence and marred the port’s international reputation.

It took government intervention and an agreement drafted by mediator Vince Ready to restore peace, establish basic rates, and end constant under-cutting of prices.

Trucking companies had to be forced into the new regime kicking and screaming, while the drivers organized themselves into Local 2006 of the Canadian Autoworkers.

A recipe for continued strife?

Not at all. Ready’s agreement rolled over in 2006 and expired in August 2007, when it was replaced by a new CAW agreement. Truckers saw their take-home earnings rise significantly and dispatch processes became more orderly and predictable.

When three firms were unable to agree on new terms in April this year, 120 CAW drivers took a strike vote.

Back to war?

No again: on May 1, the CAW ratified a new agreement with those employers, confirming the value of union representation for drivers and the port itself.

Even if the members of CAW Local 2006 had gone on strike, says CAW representative Stu Shields, their job action would have affected their employers, not port operations. Under the new arrangement “the port won’t even know there’s a dispute” unless affected companies attempt to use replacement workers.

Although some port trucking firms fought tooth and nail against the new regime, none are campaigning for a return to the pre-2005 instability.

When the Ready agreement neared expiry in 2007, hundreds of truckers mounted a massive cavalcade over the Alex Fraser Bridge and down to Canada Place to underline their unity and determination to port authorities.

Claiming both the port and trucking companies were seeking to roll back the clock, the truckers clogged the downtown core for several hours.

This triggered direct intervention a few weeks later from the Harper Conservatives, who introduced regulations entrenching the Ready agreement as the minimum standard for remuneration of owner-operators who weren’t working under the Vancouver Container Truckers Association agreement with the CAW.

The goal of the regulations was clear: an end to competitive under-cutting among owner operators. In the absence of the award, the regulations noted, renewed undercutting “could lead to the same conditions that prevailed during the disruption of 2005 and, in turn, could impact on the national transportation system in its entirety.”

In effect, says Sheilds, the CAW agreement is the minimum standard. Even if truckers are not members of the union, their firm cannot work the port unless it upholds those conditions.

The latest agreement included no rate increases, given economic conditions, but did improve seniority provisions and benefits, paid for by the truckers but now deducted at source.

Since 2005, drivers have seen incomes improve, the port has secured labor stability and the new bargaining regime ensures that disputes, when they do occur, is limited in impact to the parties directly involved.

Given the importance of the port to the BC’s economy – and Canada’s – that’s good news.



What will it take to unite the truckers in the port of NY/NJ. As most of the drivers look like they have this undying spirit, but what kind of spirit. Example: Friday while checking out of the Maher terminals in Elizabeth NJ, a driver ahead of me sat at the speaker for 47 minutes to be cleared. This idiot didn't know he was being screwed with by the clerks because he didn't respond fast enough. My point is he was determined to get the load out (great) but can't that determination be used in a better way. Presently the drivers determination only hurts the other determined driver. Above is an example of the kind of determination we need in NY/NJ. Our piers have a lot of exclusivity because here the powers that be seem to write most of the industry crippling policies. Wall street has direct influence over these shipping cronies. Most port drivers are Hispanic not to any disadvantage of any kind but their unity seems to be racially bias, I don't care what color you are or what spices you cook with, if you're a trucker we have the same problems. Most of these guys practice this sneaky sneak affiliation on all sides method of trucking, with no understanding of the real disadvantages we have built up against us.
Studies show independents fair worse than company drivers annually
and the raising of the Bayonne bridge stands to threaten all our communities. We are all suffering serious stress and emasculation from being underpaid and disrespected while working so hard. If we think of the next work day and what we stand to face at the hands of the ILA's logistical genius, it is so much easier to UNITE. Let's take home the same money with the securities they have. Is this harder than 5,6,7,8 hours in one line. Harder than stretching this fast-food money we earn. We all earn within a small scale which is pre-capped so whether you earn massively in the beginning or progressively throughout the year its preset. The long lines and lack of chassis make it look more authentic, while they earning is so stabilized that couldn't possibility maintain the level of commitment we do in a days work! Our families deserve this victory and they deserve to have their asses handed to them legislatively. TAKE A STAND PULL NO CANS!!!!PIER PRESSURE "ALL OR NOTHING"!

[jerry king]

those northwestern drivers went on strike years before 2005 to start the ball rolling with the auto workers. there are also different laws in canada concerning the way owner-operators are viewed by the government. i dont know these facts but there is a moderator on port trucker who knows about this in bc.maybe he will respond.

[Paul Johal]

Hello my name is paul johal I am the president of a local union in Vancouver bc please email me your query and I will respond.

Thanks

Paul Johal
President
unifor local(VCTA)
[e-mail]
1 604 518 5008

[juice3]

we will have someone contact you. my friends are thinking of starting a trucker group here in virginia. we need some help from everyone here on this web board. thanks

[jack land]

hey fellows-it looks like the port truckers around here in the northeast ports are getting heated up again. maybe we should join up together?

[tickedoff]

it looks like that is going on in more then one place. maybe drivers are pissed at all the bs from the port companys. thsy dish it out everyday and we take it. how stupid is that?

[jsc]

drivers wait until eveyne in angry then go shutdown. two weeks later back to work . no change. what is answer? we need advice on what to do. no not teamers. they are no good. i mean truckers who have back ground.

[peterbuilt500]

Hello truckers been away from the cans started pulling the mail its so much more stable. That being said I still have a commitment to beat their asses for the ten years I spent on line. I am the origin of PIER PRESSURE and it is self explanatory. We are seeking order in the midst of industrialized chaos and corruption. We have no security and no value to our lives no protections for our future. Drivers you have nothing to lose because so long ago we lost it and have be swimming in Denial (da Nile).This is the 2014 dose of poison that has been sickening of for decades. Are we sick enough, because its contagious and our families are now getting sick. Saying all of that to say if you apply PIER PRESSURE and show the frustration and unite. Cripple operations as you have been crippled. We need leadership yes but we want money and they have let's start there. Unless they can raise a duplicate workforce instantly.

[carl beasley]

yeah this business sucks. stick with the mail. who knows how this story will end?

[bjones]

port truckers are angry in Virginia. we have many problems here with these port terminals. the meeting last week some time turned into a shouting match. not good.we need a plan. help. suggestions?

[Sixtysix]

Pier pressure should be the code name for several planed actions this fall. This should be at three ,four ports at one time. maybe a day or two at a time. It doesn't take a week or two if done right with 90% involved. Sometimes you have to get their attention for them to understand what our issues are. They understand one thing. When they get hit in their pocket book they realize real quick we mean business. Many don't care for the longshoremen but the ILA didn't get where they are today by walking around with their hands in their pockets complaining. They had guts forty years ago and didn't take no for an answer.

[FUSION]

Mar 4, 2014 22:41:35 GMT -5 Sixtysix said:

Pier pressure should be the code name for several planed actions this fall. This should be at three ,four ports at one time. maybe a day or two at a time. It doesn't take a week or two if done right with 90% involved. Sometimes you have to get their attention for them to understand what our issues are. They understand one thing. When they get hit in their pocket book they realize real quick we mean business. Many don't care for the longshoremen but the ILA didn't get where they are today by walking around with their hands in their pockets complaining. They had guts forty years ago and didn't take no for an answer.

Don't follow exactly your intent Sixtysix, but I agree we should get their attention. Can the current group(s) get there, even if its 50% or 25% of drivers w/ bravehearts. I'll hold my breath & bite my tongue (a la Katy Perry) for now.

[FUSION]

Mar 1, 2014 7:08:25 GMT -5 bjones said:

port truckers are angry in Virginia. we have many problems here with these port terminals. the meeting last week some time turned into a shouting match. not good.we need a plan. help. suggestions?

Follow The O/O Initiative: more to come...

But for now have your fellow truck drivers come on the forum. Sign-up drivers. Join the discussion. Be counted. Strength in numbers, voiced as one. Unity!

[oboy@ivorva]

I hope this new group here in Norfolk doesn't go the way of the OOCVA. That fizzled out in a hurry. In the beginning I attended every meeting. It really sounded great at first. I liked the relationship with OOIDA. After several more meetings it seemed we were headed in the wrong direction. I decided it was time to move on. It wasn't long before the rest of the driver support disappeared. We need representation from somewhere but I think at this time I will be more cautious before jumping in with both feet. This forum is a good place for a fresh start. There are a lot of local readers on here so maybe they will participate as this builds.

[FUSION]

I'm w/u oboy@ivorva. I also was disappointed w/ OOCVA & OOIDA. But I think this is the time to support the movement of concern drivers. God bless their effort and hope for success.

[FUSION]

Look at: The Virginian-Pilot, March 9, 2014

Shipping exec: Port struggling in Hampton Roads, By Robert McCabe

In a packed ballroom in Long Beach, Calif., last week, the president of a major ocean carrier singled out Hampton Roads as a port that was not quite ready for prime time when congestion plaguing ports nationwide hit.

Part of a panel of shipping-line executives who spoke at The Journal of Commerce’s TransPacific Maritime Conference, Bill Payne, president of NYK Line (North America) Inc., told roughly 2,000 maritime executives that when congestion became severe last year at the port of New York/New Jersey, a lot of containers were shifted to Hampton Roads.

“There have been some surprising examples of ports that you would have thought would have been more prepared – already had deep water, already had on-dock rail,” Payne said. “I think we had a right to believe Norfolk was prepared – let me just say that. And it’s proven a struggle for them. So, I think they’re attempting to respond, but again, when you start chasing the curve and dealing with volume and you’re behind that power curve, it gets very difficult to clear it out.”

Payne told The Pilot after his talk that Hampton Roads port officials recognized “that this hasn’t been their best hour; they’re working on it.”

He said his company still stands solidly behind the port and backs its new leadership.

“We think that’s a good change,” he said.
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Comments:
Change is good. But if the new leadership cannot do it starting with the port delays, then look back when there was an offer on the table. The delays have cause alot of disruption and concern from the motor carriers, customers and now a drivers movement. Obviously, change is happening...

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[FUSION]

Must read for everyone! In order to look toward the future you must remember the past. Fundamental thinking à la old school.
www.cb39.org/trucking-history/truck-driver-strikes-1979.html; www.cb39.org/trucking-history/strikes-1979-page-2.html

[FUSION]

If unable to link:

Truck Driver Strikes of 1979

The 1970s was unquestionably a time of turmoil in the United States and when it came to labor disputes, the trucking industry was at the heart of it all on more than one occasion. There is little wonder that the intersection of rising fuel prices and the trucking industry was a volatile one: over 75 percent of the nation's goods were transported by truckers. As the saying goes, "If you got it, a trucker brought it.

However, bringing those goods to Americans became increasingly expensive for truckers in the 1970s due to turmoil in another part of the world - the Middle East. In October 1973, in the midst of the Arab-Israeli War, Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) were not pleased with the United States government's decision to send more supplies to the Israeli Army. To show their displeasure, OPEC implemented an oil embargo against any country that supported Israel. The result was skyrocketing prices of oil, first doubling then quadrupling the price per barrel. The timing could not have been worse for a country that was becoming increasingly dependent on foreign oil. The implications were far-reaching, impacting not only the trucking industry, but the entire economy.

As the U.S. began to ration oil in response to the crisis, President Richard Nixon also led the push for a national 55 mph speed limit. This combination of events pushed many truckers to the brink of financial ruin. In December 1973, independent truckers initiated a strike with former trucker, Mike Parkhurst, leading the movement. The citizen's band (CB) radio, which became a symbol of the iconic 1970s trucker, was a useful tool in spreading the word to other independent truckers and organizing traffic jams to clog major transportation arteries. In 1976, the primary union for truck drivers, the Teamsters, called for a nationwide strike over disputes about wages. It ended after just three days when a new contract was ratified, allowing for a cost-of-living increase and a 30 percent wage hike that would be spread over the next three years. This was, of course, still the era when trucking and the airlines were under government regulation, similar to public utilities. Routes that existed and who could drive them (or in the case of airlines, fly them) were controlled by the government. By the end of the decade, both airline and trucking deregulation would become federal law.

As the decade drew to a close, in the early months of 1979, fuel prices again began to climb and the contract negotiated by Teamsters President Frank Fitzsimmons in 1976 was due to expire. In the background of the negotiations, progress toward deregulation - which had started in 1975 under President Gerald Ford - was gaining steam. This only served to complicate matters for Fitzsimmons as he tried to negotiate a new national contract for union drivers. He attempted to put pressure on some of the larger trucking companies with whipsaw strikes, or strikes targeted at select companies, and over 300,000 of the nation's truckers and warehouse employees stopped working. On April 2, many of the 500 companies targeted by Fitzsimmons responded to the strike with a lockout.

Some Teamster insiders blamed Alfred Kahn for throwing a wrench into the negotiations. Kahn, an economics professor at Cornell University, was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to oversee deregulation of the airlines the previous year. Now, with Kahn's attention on the trucking industry, reports were that he liked neither the Teamsters nor the trucking industry and was determined to, in a time of double-digit inflation, limit the wage increases that the truckers sought. Whether reports about Kahn were true or not, Americans quickly felt the effects of a work stoppage in the trucking industry.

The Chrysler Corporation temporarily closed nine of its 10 North American auto assembly plants. General Motors laid off 12,400 workers. Fresh food spoiled as it sat, waiting to be shipped to grocery stores, while retailers' shelves began to empty. People lined up for hours in some locations, waiting to fill up their gas tanks, assuming that the gas station had any gas to sell. Gas shortages and food shortages in a country where people were used to getting what they want, when they wanted it, raised tempers and concern for how they would cope if contract issues were not resolved. Ultimately, it was the layoffs in the auto industry that put the pressure on Fitzsimmons to lower his demands and the strike/lockout ended on April 11, 1979.

Page 2
However, it wasn't long before the U.S. had another truckers strike on its hands. This time, it was the independent truckers, again with Parkhurst taking the lead, along with Bill Hall of the Fraternal Association of Steel Haulers. Over 100,000 independent long-haul truckers stopped driving in the summer of 1979. The issue at the core of the protest was the soaring price of diesel fuel, which independent drivers said was depriving them of the chance to earn a living, although Parkhurst was also a strong advocate for deregulation. His view was that independent truckers were "slaves" to the system that controlled the trucking industry and he believed it was in the best interest of the industry and the truckers themselves to get an opportunity compete with the big companies.

The independent truckers strike that summer was far more disruptive than the Teamsters work stoppage. Some of the more disgruntled in the group parked their rigs in front of refineries and distribution centers, disrupting the shipment of gasoline. Some pulled their trucks right up to the pumps at gas stations to block the motorists. The state of Florida lost millions of dollars as the strike came in the heart of watermelon season and the governor was forced to call in National Guard troops to transport gas from Port Everglades, a major fuel depot. If you had the misfortune to plan a long-distance move during the strike, you may have found your furniture still in another state, waiting to join you in your new home.

As the strike wore on, the ramifications became more serious than rotting watermelon, lost furniture, and gas shortages. The CBs that were used to organize strikers in 1973 were now used to issue death threats to those who refused to honor the strike. Tempers flared and violence broke out in over 20 states. In Ohio, the National Guard patrolled highway overpasses to protect the truckers who were still on the road and their windshields became targets for flying rocks. Alabama Governor Fob James suggested that truckers arm themselves for protection after Robert Tate, a non-striking trucker from Birmingham, was murdered on June 20. Two striking truckers shot at Tate from an overpass on U.S. 72 near Tuscumbia, Alabama. A bullet severed his femoral artery in his left leg and he bled to death in the cab of his truck before help arrived. .

In some cities, as angry motorists waited for hours in gas lines for gas that was now up to 80 cents a gallon, double what it had been a year before, strikers egged them on and urged them to join their cause. The cause of the independent truckers was not just fuel costs. They were battling a system that, at times, had seemingly petty regulations, such as permitting any driver to haul raisins but only specific companies were authorized to transport raisins covered with chocolate. Time magazine reported in July 1979, "The independent truckers are trying to blow apart a time-honored system, and that drives the Teamsters, the trucking industry and various politicians and lobbyists right up the wall..." Many independent truckers believed that deregulation was at least part of the solution to their financial crisis.

Support for the strike ultimately faded as President Carter instituted measures in June to hold down the costs of diesel fuel and many strikers could no longer afford not to work. Major changes came to the trucking industry in the 1980s with deregulation. Neither the Teamsters nor independent drivers were major players in the trucking industry anymore, but they are both still part of an important – and volatile – era in trucking history.

By Amy Lively