L.A., Long Beach port officials split over truck pollution

2/19/08
Los Angeles Times, CA

This was always due to happen, because there was never any way that the companies were going to buy a bunch of brand new emissions legal trucks and then turn them over to the same guys that have been operating bottom of the barrel rigs. Nor were the companies going to ever hire these guys as employees, and take on the responsibility for providing medical insurance to the driver and their overly extended families.

Unless the port authorities find a way to whoop and holler about the wonderful changes and improvements they have made, without making any substantial changes to the current status quo, nothing will happen. Unless the rates go up by a very healthy margin, the ports will continue to operate just as they have in the past. No one can afford to spend 100-110,000 for a truck to hau containers at the current rates, and no one should expect that the container pullers have suddenly developed the credit history to buy a new truck. These people are at the bottom of the economic ladder in trucking, and wishful thinking amongst the Teamsters and the wacko environmentalists will not change that simple fact. They drive 5-10,000 dollar trucks because that's all they can afford to operate on the rates they are paid.

And the Teamsters could care less about the individual truckers, they just want to have the companies own the trucks and hire all the drivers to make it easier for them to organize them in one group. problem is, if the drivers all go to work for a company, get healthcare and other benefits, what do they need the Teamsters for? It would be a major improvement in their situations, even without union help.