Trucking labor historians will look back on 1999 and note that it was the year a second Hoffa took over the helm at the Teamsters union and frustrations with port operations on both coasts came to a head.
Teamsters officials under James P. Hoffa intensified their organizing efforts among the workers of the nation’s largest nonunion less-than-truckload carrier, Overnite Transportation. Also, the demise of two large unionized trucking companies — NationsWay Transport Services and Preston Trucking Co. — caught the union in its ripple, leaving thousands of card-carrying members without jobs.
But perhaps the industry’s biggest labor story took place at the maritime terminals, as strikes and other job actions by truckers spread from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Seattle and Tacoma, Wash.; Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif.; and eastward to Baltimore; Charleston, S.C.; Savannah, Ga.; and Jacksonville, Fla.
The unrest materialized in a sector — port drayage — where years of low pay and inferior working conditions had driven truckers to the point of desperation.
For the full story, see the Jan. 10 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
