TTSI and Pac 9 drivers striking back in July. Photo by Maren Machles.
After supposedly “cooling off” since a strike in July, drivers from two trucking companies have heated back up with anger and will resume picketing at the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles come noon time. This marks the fourth time this year that the trucker have strike.
Drivers from two firms, Total Transportation Services Inc. (TTSI) and Pacific 9 Transportation (Pac 9), have claimed that “despite commitments to Mayor Garcetti [who initiated the cooling off period], the companies have dramatically escalated retaliatory activity, clearly violating the terms of the cooling off period,” according to Barbara Maynard of Justice for Port Drives.
TTSI and Pac 9 note that, during the cooling off period, the alleged retaliations include the wrongful firing of 35 TTSI drivers and a “dramatic increase in illegal deductions” from Pac 9 driver paychecks.
The drivers of Green Fleets Systems, who joined TTSI and Pac 9 earlier this year in protest, have agreed to continue to remain within the cooling off period.
Art Wong, spokesperson for the Port of Long Beach, noted that there is picketing at two of their six container terminals but “work inside the terminal continues as usual.”
As to whether longshoremen will join the strike is unclear; should they opt to join in the protest, it would severely detriment services at the ports.
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