Port truck drivers plan sixth strike against company

[Omaha Steve]

Source: LA Times

By DAINA BETH SOLOMON

Drivers at a trucking company serving the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports plan to walk away from their jobs Tuesday in an ongoing struggle to be deemed employees, a union representative said.

The truckers are also demanding wages they say they are owed by their employer, Pacific 9 Transportation, after working as independent contractors rather than company employees.

The picket lines, scheduled to go up around the company’s truck yard and port terminals at 6 a.m. Tuesday, will mark the sixth strike against the company in nearly two years, Teamsters Union spokeswoman Barbara Maynard said.

She didn't know how many drivers would abandon their posts, but said the strike could go on indefinitely.

FULL story at link.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-port-trucker-protest-20150720-story.html

[TBF]

1. Good to hear -

I've learned a little about trucking in the past couple of years through a family member who tried driving. The trucking companies are run like any other corporation in America - whether they classify the drivers as independent contractors or employees they are expecting a lot out of them for less pay than you would think. It's a dangerous job (loading, unloading, driving long hours & through major cities at times). I'm glad to see the workers banding together to try to better the conditions.