Virginia truckers Need a Business Plan

[ironman]

I thought we had problems at the ports of South Carolina before reading these Virginia post. Those guys are in desperate need of help from someone. It appears the light they see at the end of the tunnel is really a train headed straight toward them!

[petedabroker]

Actually I was a little surprised to read about the problems in Hampton Roads also. I knew we all are in the same boat, but it does seem worse in Virginia Ports.
Virginia has expanded because of the loss of container vessels calling Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Jersey ports. Meaning many lines concentrated in Virginia, and left the other ports off of their itineraries. As a result, Virginia's increase in inter-modal business has been significant over the last 10 years. I guess the problems also increased and manifested themselves. So just hold on Virginia , we are coming. 2009 will be your year. We work hard now to fight the California CTW group, but when the next shoe drops, it will be right in the face of the Teamsters and their S/S Line buddies. All will get better real fast. S/S Line routed containers will be a thing of the past. That business will open back up to the shippers/importers/Freight Forwarders and Custom House Brokers. Lines will handle Ocean Freight, period , end of story. The trucking companies will get back those profits and the lines will be forced to make money on ocean freight. Give me a delivery order from the line, and it will go right into the trash. That business will be ours again, and all the middle men S/S lines will be gone. Our profits will be our profits. Remember guys and gals and all the trucking firms reading here. Your money is now in the hands of the S/S Lines, they call the shots, they name the prices, they make the profits. Well not after we get done will they. Your trucking firm will make those profits again. That is the very reason for cheap inland freight now. The shippers and importers are paying higher rates, its just the S/S Lines are creaming your profits. Your trucking firm will not only make larger profits, the percentage to you will increase, after all 75% of $200 is much better than 75% of $135. There will be no increase in cost to the industry as a whole, we just will extract the B.A.S.T.A.R.D.S. creaming the profits. They will be forced to make their money on ocean freight, something they have not done in years. They make their money by stealing it from the trucking community. Something they have done for years. Just hang on Virginia drivers and their companies, IODA is a coming. We concentrate now on the most important battle facing the OO's and their firms, which is the CTW group holding hands with the California Ports/California Greens, and Brennan at the FMC. You all been waiting for 20 years for a change, well its just on the horizon, so wait a little longer.

[insidescoop]

Actually most steamship lines don't care if port truckers go union. They'll make just as much money anyway. It would add the stability in moving customers freight to and from the docks. If this were to materialize though they would truly rather see you truckers do it with the International Longshoremen Association. The big-box retail customers such as Target,WalMart,Dollar Store,Best Buy,Lowe's,Home Depot,etc. are the real port slumlords who want to stop any talk of organizing a constructive type rate structure within the industry. They much prefer the runaway free-wheeling market structure they have now that got you into this big fat transportation mess. Good Luck guys_

[seaboardtrkagnt]

The last thing any VA. O/O needs is a union deciding our future. You will lose your independence as a driver. Support your local driver group the "Owner Operator Coalition" who are willing to meet with area business leaders as well as port officials for your benefit. We understand one major issue continues to be turn time at the Virginia port terminals. This is a critical matter that cost each one of us. Sadly this partly is due to the many unproductive labor contracts this port is forced into signing with port workers. You can help the port by reporting delay problems you witness while working the Virginia terminals. We can each work together to improve our current system without costly interruptions from any outside labor group. I suggest you first bring these problems with port operations to the attention of your local trucking company. You are the eyes of our motor carriers. Many problems can be resolved with a phone call to the correct person in charge before they become serious. We are always glad to represent driver issues before the Hampton Roads Maritime authority.

[triaxle]

i'm not anybodys fu@king rat *seaboardtrkagnt* u think this is good for the truckes? goobye ooc if the dockworkers find this out

[smokeyclyde]

I think these OOC driver club members may have just given the fox the keys to the chicken house.

[vamagicman]

Some interesting history about this Marty Schlosser character featured in the OOCVA association newsletter on line. I don't think Mr. Schlosser has our best interest in mind drivers. We are being played like a violin here in Tidewater.


Aug. 8, 2005
Contact: Joe Harris, Media Relations Manager
Tel: [phone]
Cell: [phone]
[e-mail]

Martin Schlosser Recipient of
Port’s Highest Honor
Norfolk, VA – Martin Schlosser, intermodal coordinator for the Virginia Port Authority (VPA), is the recipient of VPA’s W. Wright Harrison Award, an annual in-house accolade given to the VPA employee who has had a significant contribution to the port’s progress.

During his nine-and-a-half years at the port, Schlosser has worked to develop a rapport with motor carriers serving the port and in the process helped VPA and Virginia International Terminals better inform, educate and partner with that segment of the transportation industry.

In addition to his daily duties, Schlosser plans and leads events for the Tidewater Motor Truck Association, HRMA Inland Transportation Committee, VDOT, and the American Trucking Association;

He a member of the board of directors of the Tidewater Motor Carrier Association.

The award in named for W. Wright Harrison, a former vice chairman of the VPA board of commissioners.

[petedabroker]

Insidescoop," Actually the S/S Lines don't care if the truckers go union"

Yes, I believe they want Change to Win/Teamsters, controlling labor, no strike clauses, paid half of what they make now, and having Teamsters and Line Managers, sharing thingytails after a hard days work together at the local pub. Telling stories of how much they all screwed the drivers today, yesterday and tomorrow.
Plans are in the works, so if what you say, Lines love Unions, they shall get their every loving wish, just not with Teamsters. Hope your lines all love those arrangements then? No door to door deliveries controlled by the lines, no extra funds to support low ocean freight rates, and demands on treatments at terminals that are equal to others. It won't be pretty. Oh, by the way, let your guys know we won't be doing M&R runs, and container mounts for free anymore. Either the lines will pay the ILA or we will get money for doing that job. Let me know what the lines say about all of that. Thanks for viewing.

[petedabroker]

In above post, thingytails, should read c.o.c.k.tailes, man I hate being edited.

[phantom309]

Dec 7, 2008 12:12:21 GMT -5 @vamagicman said:

Some interesting history about this Marty Schlosser character featured in the OOCVA association newsletter on line. I don't think Mr. Schlosser has our best interest in mind drivers. We are being played like a violin here in Tidewater.


(In addition to his daily duties, Schlosser plans and leads events for the Tidewater Motor Truck Association, HRMA Inland Transportation Committee, VDOT, and the American Trucking Association;
He a member of the board of directors of the Tidewater Motor Carrier Association.)

It looks like you are right driver. My thinking is someone here may be playing footsie under the boardroom table?

[scooter]

The OOC is having a driver meeting here Saturday at the iron workers hall. I heard a driver talking on the CB this morning about it.

[bullislandergirl]

Hey Pete, have a c%$ktail on us . Those knucklehead's in Norfolk don't have a clue what to do. We have four trucks based right here on the peninsula hauling containers & seafood. My family has been dealing with the ports here for many a year.

BTW - love the site.
Poquoson, Virginia

[Whaleyvillemadcow]

is the seaboardtrkagnt going to attend the meeting as the ooc spiritual advisor

[ironman]

This seaboardtrkagnt is a true company jerk. Sounds like he wants to use the drivers there as a bunch of ratbasta^d informants on the longshoremen. This is the master plan, divide and conquer the labor force. Keep everyone fighting between them self at the pier to prevent any unity between the drivers and port workers. Works every time if you have folk that care more about promoting themselves in an organization.

[petedabroker]

Bullislandergirl,

I too have my family background in container hauling, ILA jobs, seafood business, waterman, plus home building.

What is happening is simple as could be here and in California.
Teamsters want to unionize, and will do anything , I mean anything for this goal. They plan to extract the OO, mold him/her into a company driver, unionize, pay scraps, collect dues, and live even higher on that hog of life.
S/S Lines love it because they get controlled labor, fixed rates, and gets them out from under having labor in the terminals not quite defined. It will close the huge liability they are now exposed, maybe result in a cost to dray to the M&R and to get mounts, but no where near as costly as having OO's join a union, and their companies start billing a fair rate of service. So S/S lines see they will be shortly paying for inner terminal drayage, but they will reduce those cost with Teamster Labor instead of costly OO's union labor. Example, Teamster driver makes say $20/hr (exaggerated of course) , and it takes 15 minutes to dray to M&R, so the Teamster company has a $5.00 direct labor cost. Say it takes 1/2 hr., he still only has a $10 direct labor cost. Add benefits and its $13.00. See what I mean. The lines get the next best thing from now having OO's do it for free. Plus with union , non-strike clauses, which the Teamsters are known to love, they get controlled labor for life. What a deal S/S Lines.
This whole Teamster thing changed over the years. If Sr. knew what Jr. was doing now, he would turn over in his grave, if it were not for the cement surrounding him. Jr's, union now gives big business controlled labor. That is the union selling point. Big business loves his labor. They got union bosses doing their dirty work.
Port officials love it with Teamsters. They too get controlled labor, no strikes, no slowdowns and best of all fixed pricing.
Peal that onion skin and you shall find the dirtiest of dirty hiding behind its layers. They could not do it all themselves , having all the front line exposures, so they joined up with the California Green Machine, as a means of giving their agenda false purpose. Deflecting their real agenda behind the walls of anti-pollution. Next they shall seek the same on the E.C. and Gulf, but for now , other than California they cannot identify a similar group to hide behind. So they shall form one on their own, financed and supported by union members dues. Boy they are ingenious little devils. Nothing dumb about the Teamsters. Slimy yes, but not dumb. Thieving B.a.s.t.a.r.d.s., yes, but not dumb.

[petedabroker]

OOC, agenda is now clean and available to all for viewing. They hold ILA as the adversary. They want us to report on delays. What a joke. ILA members, not their bosses , so far at least , have been our friends and brothers. We shall never sell them down this river. Yes, there are some rotten apples in their group also, but most know who those apples are. Most will help no matter the problem. How many of you in this group , have been given a hand by an ILA guy, late in the afternoon , saying, I will get you out of here? How many of you have been clued as to where a good chassis might be hiding? How many of you , knowing how badly your firms interchange is screwed up, were given service by the ILA to solve that problem? So don't believe for one moment its a ILA -vs- OO problem. It never was. The ILA does what the owners of their firms tell them to do, and those Stevedoring Firms are told by the S/S Lines what to do or not to do. Its never the ILA guys/gals in the field screwing you. We are and will always be , brothers and sisters with the ILA.
Seaboardtrkagnt- you my friend are wrong as wrong could be. If your game is to divide and conquer, its not going to work here, maybe on the OOC site, but not here.

[bullydog]

Real good post Pete. No we won't be aligning ourself with any crap like this between the longshore and our work. We have a push and pull match sometimes with them but but I have enough respect for myself and the ILA not to become anybodys do boy. I can't speak for others but I am not happy with what I see going on here with this new driver assc.

[bullislandergirl]

Thanks guys,
we will be watching and waiting for word of a meeting here.

[red]

I started in this trucking business when Casey Chevrolet in Newport News was selling the GMC Astro. I'm not talking about the little soccer mom van for those who are still wet behind the ears. I purchased a brand new 1972 coe Astro with air ride and the most powerful diesel of that time which was a Cummings formula 290 to pull the U.S. Mail account. When that fell out we hauled containers mounted on wheels in Norfolk so I have seen many of these grass roots driver organizations fall by the wayside. This crowd over in Norfolk has a lot of big ideas but is lacking the experience to handle the job. My two sons and I have eleven trucks leased to various companies here. This family wouldn't have a problem supporting the right program. These boys don't have the right program. They may mean well but are on another path to failure. Don't worry about me, I've made mine but I want these boys along with my grandkids to have something left in this business. Trucking was a good living at one time but those days are history. We are long overdue for a complete overhaul. I will be looking at this from the sidelines for now but I think your group may finally be on to something working with the dock workers on this hiring hall idea. Your greatest job is going to be convincing the rest of this flock.

[landinggear]

My feelings exactly. We should be building on this type plan while the economy is on the downside preparing for when freight returns. Nothing moves from here at this port without us.

[petedabroker]

Look Virginia and all the other ports posting here. This is very important. We fight the fight at hand. The one we need to concentrate on now is the California problem. It will not go away by sitting and hoping the FMC will fight this battle on our behalf. All the board members here are totally concentrating on those efforts to stop their process. If we do not , its only a matter of time before that Change to Win group spreads like the cancer they are, and shows up on, BOSTON, NY,NJ,PHIL, BALTO, HR, SAV,Charl, MIAMI's, NOLA, HOUSTON/GALVESTON'S doorsteps, with their new greens groups, using them as cover for their real agenda. If we do not fight the very issue at hand, all we do for anything else is null and voided. Your problems will be addressed by this group here, with hammers, not olive branches. Time is what we need and its all on our side. Just wait a little longer. You will work for a union company, your employers will be happy campers and you will get the hourly wage, and benefit package you deserve. That I swear upon. So given the time to combat the idiots in California, pastures all over the nation will become green. We want clean air for the simple fact our drivers breath that stuff first hand. What do the California Greens believe, we love that stuff? They have chosen to associate themselves with the devil, having all their efforts for naught. We shall win there and here, given the time.

[shortcircut]

well , Happy Holidays every one. sorry I haven't been on in a while.
as far as a business plan, well, I know the OOC has alot of signatures, but, how many people are actually attending the meetings, 40 , 50 , maybe at most 60.
I also know that there has been absolutely nothing positive accomplished on these ports. as a matter of fact , now the ports are opening 1 hour later , cutting into the drivers time.
I am not bad mouthing the OOC, I am simply stating that the ports are not taking them seriously or this cr#p would NOT be happening.

[hamptonxpress]

They're only a trade group, which means they can't really represent drivers legal interest with the port or anyone else. Just a lapdog without teeth. I attended enough meetings to realize they are a waste of our time. If you just want to spend the money join the ones who are sponsoring them anyway(OOIDA).
Until we get the right people in place around here with a plan other than to collect money for another trucker club we'll continue to be exploited by the slim-balls who operate the Virginia Ports!

[shortcircut]

for those drivers who don't know , Jim Stewart is in the hospital and his condition is very bad. If you want more info, contact Paul Barham ( Shortcircut) at [phone]
I can be reached anytime during the day until around 6 pm daily and most anytime during the weekends.

[fifthwheel]

We hear he is doing a lot better and now out of the hospital. This guy has done a lot for everyone here in Tidewater. I hope others have used the U.S. postal service to show our appreciation. He never asked for anything from any of us. You can tell who is truly for the trucker and who just wants to use us such as those in this new organization formed last year. I'm sick of being exploited by the trucking companies and now a greedy group that claims to represent our interest to collect dues. If Jim gets well enough to hold another meeting here I'll help get it together. At least we'll learn the truth what we can do about our situation.