truckers block gates at port of oakland

[angelo mx]

strike ? yes! we are angry over delays & also the cost of having to replace trucks in Oakland,CA because of environmental green idiots. we have had enough of the bs here & want everyone to join with us n protest coast to coast. if drivers shut down every port now the shippers have no where to send the cargo. eastern drivers won't you join with us?

[angelo mx]

sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/08/19/independent-truckers-protest-at-port-of-oakland-some-terminals-closed/

[billyjoe]

there would have to be some organization to this in order to be successful rallying others to respond . are there contact numbers we could call ? drivers need to work together beforehand just for such a situation . 

[newbo]

update oakland //everyone has returned to work. our driver representatives spoke with port authority and other management about the issues. many longshoremen honored our picket line.

[KILLERBEE]

STRIKE-SHUTDOWN-WORK STOPPAGE-WALK OFF-TURN THE KEY OFF-PARK-EM!!!!!!!
YES THAT'S WHAT NEEDS BE DONE HERE IN SAVANNAH-CHARLESTON-NORFOLK. SHUT ALL THESE PORTS DOWN THIS FALL. NOTHING MOVES. NOT FOR FOUR WEEKS. AFTER THE FIST WEEK IT WILL SPREAD LIKE A WILD FIRE TO THE REST OF THE PORTS FROM MIAMI TO THE NORTHEAST IF DRIVERS STICK TO IT. ONLY WHEN ALL PARTIES AGREE TO A CONTRACT WITH TRUCKERS. A REAL CONTRACT WITH TEETH AT EACH PORT BUT WITH THE SAME LANGUAGE. WE CAN ELECT LOCAL LEADERS WHO CAN WORK WITH OTHERS TO REPRESENT US BEFORE THE BIG EVENT. THERE IS NOTHING THEY CAN DO TO STOP THIS. NOT IF WE ACT AS A TEAM. OTR LEASE/OPERATORS SHOULD BE MAKING $2.00 PER MILE. EVERY MILE. TO THE TRUCK NO EXCEPTIONS. NO MORE DRAYS!!!!!! DETENTION TIME PAID ANYTHING OVER ONE HOUR. OUR TIME IS VALUABLE. LET'S GET PAID FOR IT. FREE DOESN'T BUY GROCERIES, DIESEL FUEL, OR MAKE YOUR TRUCK PAYMENTS. DON'T FALL FOR POOR MOUTH EXCUSES. YES THE SHIPPERS HAVE THE MONEY TO PAY. ANYTHING ELSE THEY SAY IS BS. THEY PAY PROFESSIONALS TO SPEW BS. WE HAVE THE POWER. IT'S HIGH TIME TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO USE IT. AS ONE DRIVER SUGGESTED PIER PRESSURE IS THE BUZZZZZZZZ WORD!!  LET THAT PHRASE START TO CIRCULATE THROUGHOUT EVERY PORT IN THE EAST STARTING NEXT WEEK.

[peterbuilt500]

Yes, yes, yes this is the only way. I joined this site weeks ago and there has not been a real input from the amount of drivers who are utterly abused. It is time your balls on the dashboard. We have heard these dispatchers and company owners. Is this s#*t real, drivers we share alot of misery, deaths, debilitating injuries, and financial ruin. Let's share in many triumphs beginning now. Are you drivers aware that our port counterparts have enjoyed a great summer, the holidays are in the bag. They are swelling up the royalty bonuses just from the latest delays. YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND ALL THE TIME WE WASTE AND HEMMORAGE MONEY THEY SOAK IT UP! I know drivers are worried about the families and the bottom line. The bottom line is this we are looked at as non factors in trucking and it will get worse because we have done so much so long for so little. This cannot be reversed easily or quietly. If a driver cuts anyone off or jumps in front of you its death these f**ks are jumping ahead in life and stability. f**k EM, my commitment is real and so is my loathing for labor leaches. Coincidentally the AFL-CIO is supporting there new lobster union, ARE WE f**kING SERIOUS, I REPEAT I am company driver who's company can suck it any day. There is too much financial ruin and destroyed licenses, guys gone to prison and sick as dogs.

[peterbuilt500]

P.S PIER PRESSURE ALL OR NOTHING wake up and shut it down! !! I hope it doesn't take a week for your responses, YOU HAVE TO COOK BEEF.

[OOmad]

I`ve always thought container royalties are based on the amount of containers handled. Isn`t that how it works? Port management determines how many people work each shift, not the ILA. Nothing will ever change for the drivers and O/O until we unite and organize-which will most likely require ILA and Teamster support. The very people a lot of you "b*t@h" about are the ones that we need to help change things. Over the years many have tried to facilitate a change but not much has happened. Its gonna take someone WAY smarter than us to make this happen. Ranting on here, or anywhere else for that matter, is only going to let you vent-nothing else. I doubt there was a lot of complaining from drivers back in the unions "heyday". We were the knights of the road,and pretty well paid,too.
I`ve always thought that container royalties were paid based on the volume of containers moved. Isn`t that how it works? Port management schedules labor(ila),so maybe its not these guys but the port owners you should really be b*t@hing about and quit focusing so much time and energy worrying about how much money they make. At least they were smart enough to recognize the road to their prosperity.
I encourage you all to search the ILA and Teamster websites.

[peterbuilt500]

P.S PIER PRESSURE ALL OR NOTHING wake up and shut it down! !! I hope it doesn't take a week for your responses, YOU HAVE TO COOK BEEF.

[peterbuilt500]

The point is they are now fiscally past their salaries, and now are earning in total excess while we try to make sense of our earnings thus far. I spent many years respecting and admiring ILA rank and file. I drove for a satellite container facility of theirs who chose not to unionize drivers only. I'm from the port of NY/NJ and here 3250 ILA live on our backs and share no prosperity. They just gave up the gang system of round the clock pay. NEPOTISM and corruption rule while backing up terminals during straight time and commencing during overtime. Their are dozens of tactics used to weary drivers, while port and terminal management and ILA reap the benefit of booming global growth. If you believe they do not benefit from the demise of truckers I respectfully disagree with you. They have had 30 years to stand with us sweat shop truckers who validate their lifestyle. We are apart of the same industry and deserve the same protections and opportunities for growth and stability. You must be one or clearly never dealt with them on any serious level. The reason we wear vest is to save their asses from liability, the reason we are underpaid is because they are overpaid, our daily moves are so hard so their lifestyle stays easy. The port of NY/NJ is the catalyst for many abuses within this industry so you continue to sell out I'm not buying. AND RANTING I WILL BE!

[tonycharlestonsc]

if you have been keeping up with what the teamsters have been up to then you will have noticed they don't give a s%$t about the owner-operator trucker anymore. they have attempted to outlaw older trucks at five ports so far and have made a total mess in the west coast with their clean truck fiasco. that is what many of the oakland drivers are telling the reporters. they were forced to buy all this epa bulls^&t equipment and now have to go with 2007 models. that help we do not need from the teamsters. there are a couple on here that used to be with the teamsters in an organizing role. i have not seen them post in a while but they will tell you what the teamsters did for us at my port. they screwed us royally after promising to help us if we stuck with them they abandoned us causing many lease operators to be blackballed. hell no i don't want the teamsters in my corner but i would entertain the idea of working with the longshoremen.
we need to unite not count on others to do that for us. if we cannot get our act together what will any union do for truckers who don't have balls to upset the applecart?

[peterbuilt500]

Teamsters did the same thing for the port of NY/NJ in 2008 and I fell
for the banana in the tail pipe as well. They are very buddy, buddy with ILA leadership and that is a whole story in it self, but their relationship is based on that big part of the shipping economy that we don't receive. Once independents don't receive fair rates there is always enough money to pay off the necessary protections to further the facilitate the robbery. This driver misery is contingent on our hopelessness and ability to think this problem is bigger than the US truck driver fraternity, which is absurd! Teamsters are not allies and neither is ILA, but they are in the ideal allied position. I can't understand their animosity toward the trucker but its rampant and virtually impossible to overcome while trying to earn. So the shutdown is symbolic and to be respected and later alliances can be sought.

[showtime]

it blows my mind that truckers cannot do anything for them self. why is this? are we stupid? are we lazy? is it because we don't have time? i think the attitude has changed. over the past fifteen years since i first started in this business i have seen the older drivers who did actually care about comrades leave. out of fifty independents at our company i would say three would be trust worthy to watch my back while the rest would eat s^^t if dispatch told them to do it. very sad. but what can be done? where is the unity? how can this be corrected if at all?

[john]

we have them by the balls but no one does anything except b&t#h about the conditions. all it would take is a week or two without trucks & they will change their attitude. however we do need a plan in place before taking action. i like the pier pressure idea. shut their @sses down. no christmas freight for three weeks. stop the ports dead. let the boxes stack up in the isles. make this an example of more to come unless they raise rates across the board. that means the money trickles down to the independent trucker and doesn't get stuck at the top of the food chain like happens every time any rates increase. that's what happens now . we see nothing of the increase because the greedy bast@rds with the trucking companies keep the money for themselves just like they do with the fuel surcharges.