Headline News
Strike Continues At Ports Of Los Angeles Long Beach
Port truck drivers continued the 24-hour a day strike at the ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach today. Since Monday, workers have been picketing outside of trucking company yards and terminals utilized by Cal Cartage, CMI, Intermodal Bridge Transport, and others, over the employers’ exploitive treatment. Many port drayage companies continue to classify port truck drivers as “independent contractors”, thus denying them good wages and benefits.
At a press conference held at the Evergreen terminal in San Pedro, Calif., Seko, a port truck driver working at IBT, said, “Before I go to work, I already owe the company for fuel, insurance, maintenance on the truck.They cannot step on our backs if we just stand up! We need action and justice now! We are on our 6th strike and we will continue to fight for justice. We need our mayors to hold these companies responsible for stealing from workers.”
Former mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, also attending the press conference, said, “When you work hard you’ve got to rewarded for it. I’m going to stand with you so we can grow middle class jobs.”
Other workers at the terminal spoke about their hardships of working many hours, only to end up having very little in their paychecks.
“People working 16-20 hours a day and ending up earning only 2-3 dollars an hour is unfair,” said Teamsters Joint Council 42 President Randy Cammack. “The Teamsters will continue to support port truck drivers fighting to be paid fairly and recognized as employees.”