Seattle Truckers Suspend Walkout
The port drivers, who walked off the job two weeks ago in support of container-haulers in Vancouver, B.C., stayed away from work even after their Canadian counterparts won their fight for hourly wages and a licensing system at the Port of Vancouver that regulates who is allowed to haul freight there.
Seattle drivers are demanding that trucking company owners let them vote on Teamster representation. They are also seeking a company licensing system similar to the one being devised in Vancouver.
Hasegawa wants the Port of Seattle to convene a meeting of trucking company owners and drivers to resolve the dispute.
"We've flexed our muscle," Hasegawa said. "We wanted to rattle the cages of the ivory tower. But we didn't want to overplay our hand."
Strikers and union officials said the two-week strike slowed down business at the port considerably.
If port haulers agree to let the drivers vote on union representation and they vote the Teamsters in, it will be the first time owner-operators in this country have been organized for collective bargaining.
Other ports on both coasts, which chiefly use owner-operators to haul their container freight, are keeping a close eye on what happens in Seattle, industry observers said. Meanwhile, the Seattle strikers say they are in this fight for the long haul.
"I built some wealth for the company and for the steamship lines. And somehow I will retire with nothing," said Nick Lavrentiev, an owner-operator with Pacific Coast Intermodal in Seattle. "That's just not fair.
"If we succeed, maybe I will have some pension. We hope to change this status of owner-operators. Because we're independent only from benefits," he said.
