A.M. Executive Briefing - Aug. 20
This Morning's Headlines:
- Big Labor Backs Drivers
li>Trucking Is Flashpoint in Many Ports
li>Trucking Company Beats IRS in Court
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h4>Big Labor Backs DriversAt a rally Thursday in Seattle, President John Sweeney of the AFL-CIO urged many unions to back the owner-operator port truckers' unionization movement.
University of Washington Center of Labor Studies director Margaret Levi says Sweeney's backing "means there will be allies [and] could mean some monetary support from other unions" for the truckers.
The Teamsters have planned informational picketing for Saturday outside United Motor Freight, MacMillan-Piper, Western Ports Trucking, and West Coast Freight.
Union leaders met Thursday night with Port of Seattle Executive Director Mic Dinsmore and perhaps other parties as well.
"Apparently it was very positive and the port wants to play a constructive role in bringing people together," says AFL-CIO organizing project spokeswoman Gretchen Donart.
The Seattle port says all terminals were working Thursday, but the labor troubles had slowed freight movement. In addition, Port of Tacoma spokesman Mick Schultz says some container movement between terminals and warehouses there was disturbed. Seattle Post-Intelligencer Online (08/20/99) ; Nyhan, Paul
Trucking Is Flashpoint in Many Ports
Many ports, including those in Washington state and British Columbia, see the same course leading up to job actions by port truckers.First, cargo volumes rise while terminal operators do not alter working conditions accordingly. Trucks back up, and the independent drivers end up making fewer trips and, consequently, less pay. Eventually, the truckers protest.
Other ports along the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf coasts have seen similar events in the past few years.
American Trucking Associations outside counsel and Long Beach trucking firm executive Greg Stefflre says, "These problems always start at the marine terminal."
Trucking firms competed heavily for port contracts after the 1980 deregulation, driving rates down so far that many owner-operators cannot realize a profit without spending between 10 and 12 hours daily on the job.
The Teamsters union, which has seen its power going down in the past few years, is getting involved with the owner-operators' protests. The truckers also complain that they are treated badly by longshoremen, who make more money than the truckers do. However, the truckers are often unsuccessful in unionizing, since federal labor law usually does not allow unionization of outside contractors.
Trucking companies believe that paying hourly wages to unionized truckers will give them no reason to try to do more work.
Last week, the Port of Charleston saw a trucker protest over delays, and the New York-New Jersey Sea-Land Service terminal's congestion is building -- and so is truckers' tension there. East Coast trucking companies often do not run into as many problems because there is better communication between organizations and the shipping lines.
Although the Los Angeles-Long Beach and Houston ports are currently calmer than they have been in the past, truckers are still unhappy about lengthy waits there as well.
Trucking executives think that if all the companies involved in port freight movement work together, efficiency can be improved and, Stefflre says, the truckers will be happier. Journal of Commerce (08/20/99) P. 1; Mongelluzzo, Bill
Trucking Company Beats IRS in Court
This week, a jury decided that the Internal Reveue Service must pay back close to $150,000 worth of taxes to Sharon Parker Trucking of Greenwood, Ark.The jury accepted Parker's contention that her drivers were outside contractors and not, as the government argued, employees. ABC NewsWire (08/20/99)
Communities Jumping on Truck-Ban Bandwagon?"
A July executive order banning trucks from some New Jersey highways is one of several truck bans popping up nationwide.Cambridge, Mass., passed an ordinance keeping truckers out of the city from 11 p.m. until 7 a.m.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that Rutland, Vt., residents are at odds over possible truck bans in their town. Also in Vermont, a board regulating the environment has restricted trucks from a Rutland mining site, and the town of Woodstock is pushing for the enforcement on state restrictions on 53-foot trailers.
Executive Director Sam Cunninghame of the New Jersey Motor Truck Association says it is a trend that has "been brewing for awhile."
However, Bill Joyce of the New York State Motor Truck Association calls it "a flurry," but not quite a trend.
Meanwhile, Ed Miller of the Vermont Truck and Bus Association says the activities are not outright truck bans, but attempts at handling specific problems.
Cunninghame points out that the New Jersey order has not been enshrined in permanent law, nor have final rules been drafted. The Trucker Online (08/19/99) ; Cox, Dorothy Palmer
Researching the Way to a Profitable Truckstop
The 13-member Natsco Foundation recently published the first issue of its new Journal of Transportation Research, comprising four papers funded by foundation grants for university research.Among the papers are a study by the University of Maryland on what makes truckers want to stop, as well as research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on similar influences on travelers.
While the foundation has done its own smaller-scale studies in the past, it paid for these studies in order to get more complete data on how people pick a truckstop to patronize.
"This shows our industry is interested in what we are doing enough to a point that a study was done to improve the truck stops," says foundation chairwoman Kathy Beeler, who with husband Mark owns six truckstops in three states.
Truckers ranked clean restrooms the top priority in picking a truck stop, followed by restroom access and a clean restaurant. Ranking fourth and fifth on the trucker list were food quality and price of diesel.
This means smaller operators can compete by making their stops cleaner, with more food options. Small operators should advertise such qualities in brochures and on billboards, in addition to relying on positive word-of-mouth.
Travelers, unlike truckers, are most interested in gas prices. They also want to be able to park away from trucks.
Such services as tire repairs are also important, as are cleanliness, adequate lighting, and facilities for children.
The other studies dealt with how fleet-fuel managers choose where to buy and whether a shortage of truck parking spaces is related to truck accidents. National Petroleum News (08/99) Vol. 91, No. 9; P. 16; Kelly,
eckie
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