A.M. Executive Briefing - Aug. 18
This Morning's Headlines:
ul>
li>Union Wins Overnite Electiont
li>California Truckers May Go to Court for Fuel Relief
li>Can the Wallenbergs Shift Gears?
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h4>Truckers Rally, Slow Work at Port
uesday at the Port of Seattle began with approximately 80 owner-operator harbor container truckers participating in a work stoppage and proceeding to encourage others to participate in the job action.
Noon saw about 200 at a Teamsters rally at Terminal 18 demanding that the truckers be paid by the hour.
Port spokesman Imbert Matthee says some International Longshore and Warehouse Union clerks "indicated confusion about whether to cross picket lines" until an arbitrator at the dock said the job action was not sanctioned.
Still, the confusion caused containers to stop moving for as much as an hour at terminals 5, 25, 30, and 46. Matthee also says "trucking activity is down, either because of the independent owner-operators refusing to work or because trucking companies using them have scaled back on their assignments."
Teamsters Local 174 organizing director Rob Hickey says at first the drivers used picket signs at the terminals, but they stopped because "We wanted to avoid confusion for the Longshore clerks."
Hickey adds that "We're not asking other unions to stop work. Our focus is on talking with other owner-operator drivers." He says there are containers "beginning to back up" at Seattle's port and some customers wondering where their freight is.
Today, truckers will encourage others to refuse to work at the Port of Tacoma, according to Hickey. He says some truckers will not participate because they have "fear that they'll be fired, fear that they'll lose their trucks."
The Seattle and Tacoma ports have about 1,000 owner-operator truckers, and approximately 50% of them have signed Teamsters cards.
Port of Tacoma spokesman Mick Schultz says containers at his port rarely are hauled by truck because Tacoma has on-dock railyards. He adds that there are some owner-operators who take containers to Tacoma facilities or haul them to regional destinations, "But most drivers here are yard hustlers and they are union."
Harbor truck companies stopped using union owner-operators after deregulation.
A similar job action has been going on in Vancouver, British Columbia, for 26 days, and on Monday there 15 companies okayed an hourly wage. The wage will be set by a mediator and will be effective Nov. 1. Seattle Post-Intelligencer Online (08/18/99); Gorlick, Arthur C.
Union Wins Overnite Election
he National Labor Relations Board has certified an April 1996 election by Lexington, Ky., Overnite Transportation employees who voted to be represented by the Teamsters.
The Teamsters accuse Overnite of holding off the certification by challenging the election due to photography by workers while the election was taking place. The company said employees were intimidated by the photography.
According to the Teamsters, 36 Overnite terminals--11 with bargaining orders, one not yet certified, and the rest certified--have Teamsters representation, with 40% of company truckers and dock employees unionized.
The union has been trying to organize Overnite since 1994. Journal of Commerce (08/18/99) P. 20
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Quebec to Get Tough on Speeding Trucks
uebec Transport Minister Guy Chevrette announced Tuesday that "I'm not using kid gloves" and "We're going to get tough" on lawbreaking truckers.
Over the next two years, the province's highway patrol will grow by 125 officers. Also, the province will campaign to influence motor carriers to obey traffic laws and might accede to the provincial police's request for photo radar.
A study found that heavy trucks were to blame for 40% of road crashes since 1990, with speeding mentioned as a factor.
Chevrette says 25% of violations are committed by 5% of drivers.
The study also recommends improved driver education.
Last month, four people died and 11 were injured in the vicinity of Quebec City when a truck hit a line of vehicles. CNEWS Online (08/17/99)
California Truckers May Go to Court for Fuel Relief
he California Trucking Association (CTA) executive committee will meet Thursday to decide whether to file a class-action suit requesting price caps on diesel fuel.
State law mandates price caps during crises or emergencies, and CTA argues that problems with refineries and pipelines constitute a fuel emergency.
The association also accuses oil producers of driving up prices due to the problems.
"During the first quarter of 1999, the oil producers in California made up to six times the profit they had the year before," says CTA Executive Vice President Joel Anderson.
According to the California Energy Commission, refineries' gasoline margins went up 150% between Feb. 22 and July 19, although commission spokeswoman Claudia Chandler cautions that these margins are not the same as net profit. The Trucker Online (08/17/99) ; Loftis, Scott
Can the Wallenbergs Shift Gears?
arlier this month, Swedish holding company Investor sold its 28.5% share of Scania, the Swedish truckmaker, to Volvo for $38.80 a share. That price was 29% higher than the stock's closing price the previous day.
Volvo, which started buying Scania stock back in January, tried to acquire Scania earlier this year. Investor, though, was able to hold them off, driving up the price.
"Investor won the blinking match," remarks Salomon Smith Barney analyst John K. Lawson.
The final price was more than double the 1998 low for Scania.
Investor is run by the Wallenberg family. In April, Marcus Wallenberg--at 42 one of the family's rising younger members--became CEO. He will now be able to use $2 billion from the transaction to try to revitalize Investor, whose stock is trading 30% below its underlying portfolio. Important Investor holdings like Ericsson have been hit with economic troubles, and many of the company's investments are in aging companies.
Volvo's moves on Scania this year were tough for Investor to resist because of the company's lack of 1998 gains. But the deal will give Investor a seat on the Volvo board and approximately 13% of voting stock in Volvo. Business Week (08/30/99) No. 3644; P. 59; Reed, Stanley; Sains, Ariane
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