LA Truckers may strike over higher fuel costs

Truck strike over fuel surcharges threatens L.A.  Long Beach Independent truck drivers who serve the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach are gearing up for two work stoppages next week to protest their inability to be reimbursed for the rising cost of fuel, according to trucking sources on the West coast.

The Teamsters union, which has been trying in the last couple of years to represent shuttle drivers in ports around the country, is organizing the protest, according to Stephanie Williams, vice president of government affairs for the California Trucking Association.

Truckers will stop work and block traffic Monday, April 26 from 12 noon until 1:30 p.m. during a rally to coincide the Long Beach harbor commissioners meeting, she said, citing a Teamsters flyer.

Another protest action is scheduled to take place Wednesday, April 28 from 9 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. at the Los Angeles Port Authority.

The main grievance is the rising cost of diesel fuel, which is now $2.36 a gallon in California compared with the national average of $1.70 a gallon.

Truckers are reportedly upset that vessel lines who hire them to move cargo to customers are not willing to pay a fuel surcharge to help cover this major expense.  A driver work stoppage will shut down all work at the port because longshoremen will not cross the picket line, Williams said.

Calls to the Teamsters office in Long Beach were not returned by press time.