Post by truckerusa on May 29, 2009 16:44:39 GMT -5
Teamsters’ Shifting Gears
New head of port division places priority on organizing harbor truckers
Frederick Potter is assuming his new position as director of the Teamsters’ port division with humility and a keen awareness of the magnitude of the task that lies ahead.
“This is a different world. It’s a global economy with multinational companies,” Potter said.
Potter, who is president of Teamsters Local 469 in Hazlet, N.J., takes over as head of the union’s national port division from Chuck Mack, who was named chairman of the Western Conference Teamster Pension Trust.
Although harbor trucking companies are U.S.-based, they shuttle containers for international shipping lines and importers and exporters with multinational operations. It is the most competitive trucking environment in the country, known for its low rates, low wages and rapid turnover of drivers.
For much of this decade, the Teamsters union has tried various strategies to organize the thousands of drivers who work at the nation’s seaports. The task is formidable because the owner-operators in this deregulated arena are classified as independent contractors. Unions, by law, cannot organize independent contractors.
Potter is noticeably upset by this classification. “The vast majority of these drivers are not independent,” he said, comparing their situation to the early 20th-century “company store” environment in industrial towns.
While achieving employee status for harbor truckers is Potter’s goal, it won’t be easy. Most contracts between harbor trucking companies and owner-operators are written so that the companies maintain an arm’s length distance from the drivers.
More recently, the Teamsters union has developed a broader strategy built upon the environmental and socioeconomic impact of harbor trucking on seaport communities. It argues that old, poorly maintained, polluting trucks have a higher incidence of accidents and produce an increased risk of respiratory diseases and cancer in nearby communities.
The Teamsters also contends local communities are forced to pick up the health-care costs for poorly paid drivers and their families.
To promote this strategy, the union has formed coalitions that include environmental groups such as the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club, faith-based organizations and local community groups.
The coalition strategy is a direct response to the clean-trucks programs developed by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. These plans seek to reduce truck pollution by mandating the retirement of old, polluting vehicles.
The interest groups convinced the Port of Los Angeles that to be sustainable, its clean-trucks program must be limited to well-financed trucking companies with employee drivers. These companies would have the muscle to force marine terminal operators to operate more efficiently and thus prevent the idling of trucks. They also would have the financial capability to maintain modern, high-tech trucks in good repair.
Both ports require harbor truckers to sign concession agreements as part of their clean-trucks programs, although Long Beach does not have an employee-driver mandate.
The clean-trucks movement, which is spreading to other ports, “is a really viable program to address these issues,” Potter said.
The Southern California test case has not gone well for the Teamsters, however. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles ruled that certain aspects of the Los Angeles and Long Beach clean-trucks programs violate the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act.
That act, which also covers trucking, states that only the federal government can issue regulations affecting the rates, routes and services of motor carriers engaged in interstate trucking.
The Teamsters and its coalition members are developing a strategy in response to those rulings. “We will come up with a clear, concise strategy,” Potter said, but the planning is still in the development stage, and he would not elaborate.
However, the strategy reportedly would involve attempting to amend the FAAA to exempt trucking within a specified radius of seaports from federal preemption, thereby allowing ports to set guidelines affecting safety, security and the environment.
As the strategy evolves, it will still likely hinge on clean-trucks plans. Potter said the Teamsters and its coalition members will focus on New York-New Jersey, Miami, Oakland and Seattle-Tacoma as well as Southern California.
The political environment and structure of port management varies from port to port, but they all share the same need for clean air and safe, modern trucks driven by drivers who are paid a fair wage, Potter said.
Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at bmongelluzzo@joc.com.