Teamsters reportedly planning July 7 pickets at LA-LB
Bill Mongelluzzo, Senior Editor | Jul 03, 2014 5:18PM EDT
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Organizers backed by the Teamsters Union reportedly plan on July 7 to picket terminals in Los Angeles-Long Beach and target the trucks of three drayage companies they have been trying to unionize.
This action could have repercussions for cargo-handling at the nation’s largest port complex because the International Longshore and Warehouse Union declined on July 1 to extend their contract that expired at 5 p.m. Without a contract, there is no grievance procedure through which terminals affected by an ILWU refusal to cross the pickets could seek relief.
On the other hand, when the ILWU and Pacific Maritime Association this week announced that they had not reached agreement on a new contract by the deadline, they issued a joint statement saying “cargo will keep moving, and normal operations will continue at the ports until an agreement can be reached.” So far that has been the case.
Neither the ILWU nor the PMA would comment on what might happen if truckers picket in the harbor next week. The ILWU’s response was that the union had no information about any such action being planned for July 7.
When the Occupy movement in December 2011 set up pickets at the Port of Oakland, ILWU President Bob McEllrath indicated in a letter to the membership that although the union was also concerned about income disparity in the U.S., he did not appreciate outside groups using a seaport for their own agenda.
“Support is one thing. Organizing from outside groups attempting to co-opt our struggle in order to advance a broader agenda is quite another,” McEllrath stated in a Dec. 19, 2011, letter to ILWU members in Oakland.
Alex Cherin, executive director of the Harbor Trucking Association, said the HTA learned today that the Teamsters on July 7 plan to target trucks operated by Green Fleet Systems, TTSI and Pac 9. The Teamsters have been attempting to organize drivers at those drayage companies.
Teamsters spokeswoman Barb Maynard declined to comment on any plans the truckers have for July 7. She referred only to an unfair labor practices charge that some of the drivers filed against Green Fleet.
“The recent 50-count Unfair Labor Practice Complaint issued by Region 21 of the National Labor Relations Board against Green Fleet Systems underscores how fed up port drivers are with being mistreated and misclassified by their employers,” she said.
The Teamsters or individual drivers have filed a number of misclassification lawsuits against drayage companies across the country. Since harbor trucking company drivers are usually classified as independent contractors, and as such can not be legally organized by unions, attempting to show that companies exert enough control over the daily work practices of the drivers as to constitute an employer-employee relationship is a common strategy by unions in their attempt to organize drivers.
This action could have repercussions for cargo-handling at the nation’s largest port complex because the International Longshore and Warehouse Union declined on July 1 to extend their contract that expired at 5 p.m. Without a contract, there is no grievance procedure through which terminals affected by an ILWU refusal to cross the pickets could seek relief.
On the other hand, when the ILWU and Pacific Maritime Association this week announced that they had not reached agreement on a new contract by the deadline, they issued a joint statement saying “cargo will keep moving, and normal operations will continue at the ports until an agreement can be reached.” So far that has been the case.
Neither the ILWU nor the PMA would comment on what might happen if truckers picket in the harbor next week. The ILWU’s response was that the union had no information about any such action being planned for July 7.
When the Occupy movement in December 2011 set up pickets at the Port of Oakland, ILWU President Bob McEllrath indicated in a letter to the membership that although the union was also concerned about income disparity in the U.S., he did not appreciate outside groups using a seaport for their own agenda.
“Support is one thing. Organizing from outside groups attempting to co-opt our struggle in order to advance a broader agenda is quite another,” McEllrath stated in a Dec. 19, 2011, letter to ILWU members in Oakland.
Alex Cherin, executive director of the Harbor Trucking Association, said the HTA learned today that the Teamsters on July 7 plan to target trucks operated by Green Fleet Systems, TTSI and Pac 9. The Teamsters have been attempting to organize drivers at those drayage companies.
Teamsters spokeswoman Barb Maynard declined to comment on any plans the truckers have for July 7. She referred only to an unfair labor practices charge that some of the drivers filed against Green Fleet.
“The recent 50-count Unfair Labor Practice Complaint issued by Region 21 of the National Labor Relations Board against Green Fleet Systems underscores how fed up port drivers are with being mistreated and misclassified by their employers,” she said.
The Teamsters or individual drivers have filed a number of misclassification lawsuits against drayage companies across the country. Since harbor trucking company drivers are usually classified as independent contractors, and as such can not be legally organized by unions, attempting to show that companies exert enough control over the daily work practices of the drivers as to constitute an employer-employee relationship is a common strategy by unions in their attempt to organize drivers.
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