Posted on 04/29/2006 4:25:18 PM PDT by seastay
Thousands of truck drivers vital to the transit of goods from the neighboring ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles -- the busiest combined U.S. seaport -- are expected to take part in a May 1 work boycott and rallies for immigrant rights, organizers said on Thursday.
A large walkout would be disruptive to the combined ports which together are the primary U.S. trading gateway with Asia. But port officials said it was difficult to determine how many drivers would take part, and for how long.
Local organizers involved in the nationwide call to stay away from work on May 1 -- international labor day -- have called on the upward of 12,000 drivers at the two ports to stop work or attend rallies.
Some 24,000 containers filled with clothing, supplies and other goods are taken out of the ports by truck each day and unloaded at warehouses for further distribution throughout the country.
Although undocumented labor at the ports is minimal, the vast majority of truck drivers serving the complex is Latino.
"There's been a call by the community for a general strike. That means we're shutting down," Ernesto Nevarez, one of the organizers, told Reuters. "Everyone has a relative (who is Latino)," he said. "It's out of solidarity with our people."
Organizers are using Citizens' Band (CB) radios and handing out fliers at the ports and their rail complexes to spread the word among the drivers, who are not members of the Teamsters union.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union representing longshore workers at the ports is not taking a position, said spokesman Steve Stallone. "I'm looking forward to seeing what will happen," Stallone said. "(The boycott) could be a flop or it could be total chaos at the ports."
Art Wong, spokesman for the Port of Long Beach, said it was still unclear how big the work stoppage could be, but if it continued for a week, it could have "longer, dramatic economic impacts, not just here but across the country."
But, he said, "Because they're all barely getting by -- and that's one of the issues -- it's hard for them to all walk off the job for a day or a few days."
Organizer Nevarez said truck drivers will decide during their rally May 1 whether to extend the sit-out to five days to press demands for for collective bargaining rights and a 25 percent pay increase
"There's a strong push to shut down five days. It's turning into a catalyst for further action," he said.
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach last faced a serious congestion problem in the summer of 2004, when a shortage of labor held up the movement of goods. Two years previously, a lockout of longshoremen resulted in losses of billions of dollars and a massive backlog of pre-holiday cargo.
Stephanie Williams of the California Trucking Association, said she doubted that independent truckers would stay away from work on a large scale, attributing the boycott calls to the work of "troublemakers". But she said she had heard that warehouse employees might walk out.
"That's just as devastating," she said.
Whether it be the truckers or the warehouse workers, who load and unload interstate trailers, a walkout could result in a backlog of trucks that would "take forever" to right, she said.
"This could have a big economic impact on not just California but on other states, because 40 percent of freight out of the ports is headed for places other than California," Williams said.
these truckers don't work for the federal government.
Ain't that a comfort? With our already lax border secutity, we have foreign drivers legally privileged to haul huge rigs into US cities. Independent truckers now have south-of-the-border competition.
all the groups seem to link to here
http://www.nohr4437.org/
Lists of Endorsers
A day without Latinos Voces de La frontera (Milwaukee, WI)
Action Center For Justice (Charlotte, NC)
Action LA Coalition (Los Angeles, CA)
African American Holiday Assoc (Washington, DC)
Ahumada Alejandro, President - 1.E. Chapter Asociacion Internacional De Descendencis De Joaquin Murieta (Yucapia, CA)
Aliados Hispanos (Phoenix, AZ)
All Peoples Congress (Baltimore, MD)
Almighty Latin Kings & Queens Nation - Sun Chapter
American Families of Deported and Detained Arab Nationals (New York, NY)
Anakbayan Los Angeles
Anti-Racist Action-LA/People Against Racist Terror (Culver City, CA)
Art Without Walls (Brooklyn, NY)
Asociacion Internacional De Descendencis De Joaquin Murieta (Yucapia, CA)
Asylum Seekers Housing Network (Baltimore, MD)
Axis of Justice (Los Angeles, CA)
BAMN (San Francisco, CA)
BAYAN-USA
Berkeley May 1st Mobilization Committee (Berkeley, CA)
BlueLatinos.org
Bob McCloskey - Democratic Candidate 29th Congressional District (Monterey Park, CA)*
Boston Rosa Parks Human Rights Day Committee (Boston, MA)
Boston Troops Out Now Coalition (Roslindale, MA)
Brazilian Immigrant Center (Allston, MA)
Call To Action (Chicago, IL)
Capital Terminus Collective (Atlanta, GA)
Carlos Magana - LULAC (Allen, TX)
Carol Slegers, Local Rep - Portland UUSC Beaverton, OR)*
Catherine Minhoto Justice Coordinator Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary (Rome, Italy)
Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (Riverside, CA)
Church of Stop Shopping (Brooklyn, NY)
Clearinghouse: Denver Biodiese (Denver, CO)
Coalicion de Estudiantes Unidos (Los Angeles, CA)
Coalicion PAZ, JUSTICIA y DIGNIDAD (Vista, CA)
Coalition of United Students (Los Angeles, CA)
Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
Communist League
Communist Party USA Wisconsin section (Green Bay, WI)
Communist Party, USA Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)
CSULB Campus Progressives (Long Beach, CA)
Day Workers Center (Mountain View, CA)
Defensa de La Humanidad (Chestertown, NY)
Doctors of the World Greek Delegation (Athens, Greece)
Donna Warren - California Green Party (Los Angeles, CA)*
DRUM- Desis Rising Up & Moving (Kackson Heights, NY)
Dupage Peace Through Justice Coalition Glendale heights, IL)
East Bay Sanctuary Covenant (Berkeley, CA)
Echo Park Youth Empowerment (Los Angeles, CA)
Educadores Del Pueblo (Bronx, NY)
ENLACE Comunitario
ERSEY CITY PEACE MOVEMENT (Jersey City, NJ)
Familias Unidas: Centro Latino de Recursos (Evertt, WA)
Family Rescue (Chicago, IL)
Federacion Baja California (Downey, CA)
Federacion de Clubes de Aguascalientes (South Gate, CA)
Federacion Veracruzana (Corona, CA)
Federacion Yucateca de California Inc (Eagle Rock, CA)
Fedration des femmes du Quebec (Quebec Women's Federation) (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)*
Fellowship of Reconciliation (Los Angeles, CA)
Feminism Without Borders (College Park, MD)
Feminist Women's Health Centers (Chico, CA)
Fight Imperialism Stand Together (San Diego, CA)
FMLN - Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA)
Forrest Hill - Green Party (Oakland, CA)
Four Women, Inc. (Attleboro, MA)
Fr. Luis Barrios - St. Mary's Episcopla Church (New York, NY)*
Freedom Socialist Party (Los Angeles, CA)
Freedom Socialist Party (Seattle, WA)
Frente Indigena de Organizaciones Binacionales (Los Angeles, CA)
Global Women's Strike Los Angeles
Gonzales Tomas, District VII Director LULAC (Long Beach, CA)
Greater Milwaukee Green Party Women's Caucus (Milwaukee, WI)
Green Mountain Anarchist Collective (Montpelier, VT)
Green Party Peace Action Committee
Green Party USA
GROW - Grass Roots Organizing Works (Amherst, MA)
Harlem Tenants Council, Inc. (New York, NY)
Harvard May Day Coalition (Cambridge, MA)
Hector Cordova, Dean, Humanities and Social Sciences - Merritt College (Oakland, CA)
Helping Democracy (Pasadena, CA)
Helping Hands Against Violence (Odell, OR)
Hermandad Mexicana (Oxnard, CA)
Hispanic News (Phoenix, AZ)
Hispano America Immigration (Fullerton, CA)
Hitec Aztec Communications (Santa Maria, CA)
Humanist Center of Cultures (Jackson Heights, NY)
Idaho Progressive Student Alliance (Boise, ID)
Iglesia San Romero de Las Americas-UCC (New York, NY)
Immigrant Students in Action (Providence , RI)
Industrial Workers of the World (Cincinnati, OH)
Iniciativa Mexicana Contra la Guerra (Mexico City, Mexico)
Interfaith Worker Justice (Chicago, IL)
International Action Center (New York, NY)
International Socialist Organization (Los Angeles, CA)
Iraq Vets Against the War (Norfolk, VA)
Justicia for Migrant Farm Workers (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Kanadian Posi Kidz (Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada)
Kansas Mutual Aid (Lawrence, KS)
Korean-Americans for Peace (Los Angeles, CA)
L.A. Palestine Labor Solidarity Committee (Baldwin Park, CA)
La Causa Amherst College (Amherst. , MA)
La Collectiva del Troqueros del Puerto (Port of Los Angeles, CA)
La Surda Collective (Vancouver, BC Canada)
La Voz Hispana of Virginia (Richmond, VA)
Labor/Community Strategy Center (Los Angeles, CA)
Larry Cafiero - CA Insurance Commissioner Candidate Green Party (Ben Lomond, CA)*
Latin American Defense Organization (Chicago, IL)
Latin American Solidarity Coalition
Latin American Student Organization (Montclair, NJ)
Latino Law Students Organization
Latino Liberation Movement (Seattle, WA)
Latinoamericanos Unidos de California (Van Nuys, CA)
Latinos Against the War in Iraq (Los Angeles, CA)
LatinoTop10.com (Woodside, NY)
Laura Robeson, Peace Kitchen (Columbus, OH)*
Left Party (San Francisco, CA)
Liars of America (Middletown, CA)
Love Sees No Borders (Sunnyvale, CA)
Macehualli Work Committee (East Los Angeles, CA)
Malcolm Marts - Past President UAW Local 1976 (Brighton, MI)
March 25 Coalition (Los Angeles, CA)
March 25th Coalition San Diego Chapter
Marin Interfaith Task Force on the Americas (Mill Valley, CA)
Marta Palacios-Morales, Principa Bruce-Monroe ES (Washington, DC)
May Day Boston (Boston, MA)
MEChA de USC (Los Angeles, CA)
Metropolitan Community Church Los Angeles (West Hollywood, CA)
Mexican National Liberation Movementÿ (Evans , CO)
Mexican Patriotic Club (Calumet City, IL)
Mexican Political Association (Moreno Valley, CA)
Michael Hargis-Secretary, Chicago IWW (Chicago, IL)
Michigan Coalition For Human Rights (Royal Oak, MI)
Migrant Head Start (La Junta, CO)
Movimiento La Pea del Bronx (Bronx, NY)
Nakbayan Los Angeles
National Black United Front (Los Angeles, CA)
National Immigrant Solidarity Network
New Jersey Civil Rights Defense Committee
New York City May 1 Coalition (New York, NY)
New York Solidarity Coalition With Katrina/Rita Supporters; NCBL (Brooklyn, NY)
NISGUA (Washington, DC)
North Star Bulletin/0101aztlan.net
North Star Fund (New York, NY)
ocorganizer.com
Orange County Organizer (Huntington Beach, CA)
Partido Social-Revolucionario Democratico de Cuba (Miami, FL)
Pastor Jose Santos - Iglesia de Cristo (Vega Alta, PR)
Peace & Freedom Party of Orange County (Anaheim, CA)
Peace No War Education Network
People of Faith CT (West Hartford, CT)
Philadelphia Anarchist Black Cross (Philadelphia, PA)
Philadelphia Anti-Racist Actionÿ(Philadelphia, PA)
Philippine U.S. Solidarity Organizationÿ(Seattle, WA)
Pittsburgh Friends of Immigrants for Immigrants' Rights (Pittsburgh, PA)
Prisoners Defense Committee (Antonio, TX)
Programa de radio (Montevideo, Uruguay)
Progressive Alliance
Progressive Democrats of the Santa Monica Mountains (Woodland Hills, CA)
Project Islamic HOPE (Los Angeles, CA)
Puerto Rican Alliance Of Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA)
Queers For Peace And Justice (New York, NY)
Radical Women (Los Angeles, CA)
Raytito de Sol Spanish Immersion
Resistencia Estudiantil/San Diego City College
Responsable de la mobilisation Fedration des femmes du Quebec (Montreal, QC Canada)
Revolutionary Homeless People's Party (Detroit, MI)
Revolutionary Workers Party of Argentina (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Rio Grande Valley Students United (Edinburg, TX)
Ruben Arizmendi, Past President California La Raza Lawyers Association
Sacramento Progressive Alliance (Cameron Park, CA)
San Pedro Neighbors for Peace & Justice (San Pedro , CA)
Santa Barbara Food Not Bombs (Santa Barbara, CA)
Sexual Minorities Archives (Florence, MA)
SmartMeme (Burlington , VT)
Socialist Alternative (Seattle, WA)
Socialist Party of New Jersey (Saddle Brook, NJ)
Southern California Human Rights Network (Los Angeles, CA)
Speak Out - Institute for Democratic Education and Culture (Emeryville, CA)
Student Labor Action Movement (Cambridge, MA)
Students for a Democratic Society
Susan Morucci, Doctors of the World - Greek Delegation (Athens, Greece)*
The Prisoners Defense Committee (San Antonio, TX)
The Real America Press (Charlottesville, VA)
The Rebel Voice News (Montgomery, NY)
The United People of Color Caucus of the National Lawyers Guild (San Francisco, CA)
The WE Project (Baldwin Park, CA)
The World Multi-Cultural Center (Cedar Rapids, IA)
Third Way Peace and Justice Fellowship (San Francisco, CA)
Tim Casebolt, Co-chair Green Party of San Diego County*ÿ
Un Dia sin immigrante (San Mateo, CA)
United Students Against Sweatshops
US Cuba-Labor Exchange (Jersey City, NJ)
US-Mexico Border Actions Project (Los Angeles, CA)
Vickie Fouts, Branch President Women's International League for Peace & Freedom (Fresno, CA)
We Are America
Welfare Rights Union of Washtenaw County, Michigan
Western NY Peace Center (Buffalo, NY)
WNY Sweatshop Awareness Project (Buffalo, NY)
Women of Color in the Global Women's Strike (Los Angeles, CA)
Women's Health Speciliasts (Sacramento, CA)
Workers Solidarity Alliance
Working People's Voice - Voz Obrera (New York, NY)
World Can't Wait Drive Out the Bush Regime!
Youth Against War and Racism (Minneapolis, MN)
Youth for Justice in Anchorage (Anchorage, AK)
Zahra Billoo, Advisor- Muslim Student Association West
Unless they're running without one.
I wonder if Art was suppressing a smile when he delivered this line to the presstitute.
Didn't fly under my radar. I see no real problem with Mexican trucks being allowed to drive our highways, as long as the drivers and the trucks meet our standards and the cargoes are inspected at the border.
But ... My support for Bush is drying up real fast.
Just carrying the freight that Americans won't carry.
.
Aloha, MATSON Steamship Lines:
Former Port of Los Angeles tenant
Present Port of Long Beach tenant
http://www.Matson.com
.
The organizers are the same people who are in contact with the Mexicans while they are still in Mexico, who arrange and direct the invasion, who have connections with landlords and crooked contractors--a system of Godfathers who make money off these connections. This is something that has gone without much discussion in the illegal immigration issue--there are powers developing, an underground excecutive and enforcement. One reason to get illegal immigration under control is to stop the formation of a new Mafia.
As I posted above. The drivers may have nothing to do with it. The trucking company does the routing. In the case of Schneider they have scheduled to route the drivers away from potential trouble the same as they do for hurricanes or any other potential hazard.
The fact that this story tries to connect the fact that trucks won't enter the ports has nothing to do with the actual facts.
My mother told me that she was told a couple of weeks back that she wouldn't be sent to potential hot spots.
Just let the socialists try to touch a union truck or step foot on a union dock.
I can see a wall of semis cruising down all lanes of the street where these protesters are trying to march.
What protest rally? :)
You have a mother-trucker?
as long as the drivers and the trucks meet our standards and the cargoes are inspected at the border.
hmmm guess what, they don't! Read an article awhile back about the California Air Board being very worried about all the trucks from Mexico coming inland because of the pollution. They don't have to meet any of the standards.
Bribes somebody at the BMV.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.