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Truckers pushed to join boycott
MAY 1: Organizers of the protest against proposed immigration legislation urge drivers to take part.


10:00 PM PDT on Sunday, April 23, 2006
By SHARON McNARY
The Press-Enterprise


Immigrants rights supporters who are pushing for a nationwide work stoppage are counting on truck drivers -- essential workers who keep the economy rolling -- to stay off the roads on May 1.

Independent trucker Armando Gonzalez of Rancho Cucamonga said he won't jackknife his rig on Interstate 5 like he did during an April 30, 2004 protest of high fuel prices. But he said he will join other truck drivers that day holding up pro-boycott banners within view of freeway motorists in Commerce to protest strict new immigration laws pending in Congress.

A proposal like HR 4437 "is not an attack just on illegals, but on the entire Hispanic community," Gonzalez said of a law that would make it a crime to be or help an undocumented immigrant. "We're taking it personal, and we want to let them know that we don't like it."

More Stringent Rules

That and other bills pending in Congress, would require more stringent identity and work-authorization verification that could cost undocumented drivers their jobs.

Word of the possible truckers' boycott has spread via fliers at truck stops, Internet postings and over the citizens band radio that truck drivers use to chat with each other on the highway.

Strike organizer Ernie Nevarez has spent a few days holding up a banner that reads "Huelga General," Spanish for "general strike" on a highway visible to drivers hauling containers out of the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports, an action that would deeply affect trucking-dependent businesses in Inland Southern California.

Port truckers call for a boycott every few years, and the resulting efforts are usually not significant, but this one might be bigger because it targets immigrants and Latinos who make up a large portion of the truck-driving work force, said George Cunningham, editor of The Cunningham Report, a newsletter covering West Coast ports.

"If there's any disruption at the port, there's disruption out there in the Inland Empire. It's the new distribution hub," said Cunningham, at his office in Long Beach.

Freight containers that arrive from Asia and other world ports at Long Beach and Los Angeles are hauled by port truck drivers to distribution warehouses in Rancho Cucamonga, Mira Loma, Ontario and Fontana. From there, goods are loaded into other trucks for distribution across the country.

"Significant Impact"

"I'd be surprised if the participation involves a majority of drivers. If they can get 30 to 40 percent of the drivers to stay home, that would have a significant impact," Cunningham said.

Robert Garcia, operations manager of CPS Express in Mira Loma, planned to meet soon with his drivers, many of whom are Latino, to learn whether they planned to sit out work on May 1. But even if all his drivers show up that day, business could be hurt if the customer locations at destinations in Arizona and other western states experience warehouse worker shortages. A two-hour offloading could turn into a six-hour job, requiring drivers to stay longer, running up expenses and throwing off delivery schedules.

"That would have a domino effect for the next couple days," Garcia said. "That could hurt us."

Arizona-based driver Ron Kelsey walked along his trailer outside an Ontario truck stop Thursday, checking to see that his 46,000-pound load of decorative tile was securely strapped down. He won't join the boycott because immigrants are his competition.

"I compete with Mexican drivers every day out of Phoenix," Kelsey said, describing drivers who undercut his prices, and have old and poorly maintained equipment.

Company managers tell him, "Why should I give you a rate increase when I've got 20 guys out here with 15-year-old rates?"

Pitzer College history student Ashley Osofsky, 20, has been visiting the Ontario rest stop, tucking boycott fliers into the door handles of parked trucks. A member of Students for a Democratic Society, she took on the task of promoting the boycott among truckers because their participation would significantly impact the economy on May 1.

"They have a lot of power to shut down commerce," she said. "Many of the truck drivers are Latinos from Mexico, especially in this area."

Torn Whether to Join

Driver Jose Castro had heard about the boycott on Spanish-language radio and TV during his cross-country drives from Dallas, but was torn about whether to join in.

He has lived in the United States since the mid-1980s, when he came here with his parents to escape civil war in El Salvador. He received his permanent legal residency permit after having spent a month in an immigration detention center and was very nearly deported. That experience made him sympathetic to the boycotters' demands for greater rights and full legalization for undocumented immigrants.

But economic necessity might dictate that he work to support his family.

"Everybody needs to understand we're doing this for a reason. We want to be heard, and not ignored," Castro said.

Kentucky driver Sherman McCoy, asked about a boycott, said, "It's not a bad idea if you could get two truck drivers to agree on anything."