Thread: Truckers pushed to join boycott

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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."

For anyone who is even remotely considering disrupting the freight and commerce of the United States;THERE ARE SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES FOR INTERFERING IN INTERSTATE COMMERCE!

THE ORGANIZED VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW TO DISRUPT, SLOW, OR STOP THE FLOW OF INTERSTATE GOODS AND SERVICES IS A FELONY! IN ADDITION, ENGAGING IN SUPPORT OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IS WILLING PARTICIPATION IN CONSPIRACY TO VIOLATE U.S.C. SECTION 8, PARAGRAPH 1324!

All employers who find that employees are participating in an unexcused/unsanctioned work stoppage, slowdown, sick-out, or other absence designed to disrupt the orderly flow of goods and services within the legal jurisdiction of the United States of America, are required, by law, to report any and all employees engaging in such activity to the proper authorities within said Federal Jurisdiction.

IN THIS CASE,THE AUTHORITIES IN QUESTION ARE THE SECRETARY OF COMMERCE, THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, AND THE DEPARTMENT OF IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT!

IF YOU WILLFULLY, AND KNOWINGLY PARTICIPATE IN AN UNAUTHORIZED WORK STOPPAGE, YOU ARE VIOLATING THE LAW! IF YOU ARE PARTICIPATING IN THIS STOPPAGE AS AN ILLEGAL ALIEN, YOU ARE ENGAGING IN SEDITIOUS ACTIVITY! THE SEDITION ACT;

"That if any persons shall unlawfully combine or conspire together, with intent to oppose any measure or measures of the government of the United States, which are or shall be directed by proper authority, or to impede the operation of any law of the United States, or to intimidate or prevent any person holding a place or office in or under the government of the United States, from undertaking, performing or executing his trust or duty; and if any person or persons, with intent as aforesaid, shall counsel, advise or attempt to procure any insurrection, riot. unlawful assembly, or combination, whether such conspiracy, threatening, counsel, advice, or attempt shall have the proposed effect or not, he or they shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor, and on conviction, before any court of the United States having jurisdiction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars.....

GO AHEAD AND TRY TO BRING THE ILLEGAL PROTEST TO FRUITION ON MAY 1ST!---LET'S SEE WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES FOR ILLEGAL (ALIEN) BEHAVIOR ARE!

Ya....there's a law, but will they enforce it? The independant truckers I know in no way shape or form would ever participate in the May1 boycott. They never wanted the mexican truckers in here in the first place. The American truckers are already loaded down with restrictions and safetly things the mexican truckers don't have to abide by. They're running them out of business just as they are the carpenters and such.

Why are these illegals constantly singling themselves out as "Hispanics or Latino's?"

No one ever said "one ethnic group or the another" ..we say, Illegal Aliens ,which consist of any person, or group of ppl that are here in our country illegally.

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

Tough!! Who's job do you think THEY might have taken??

MJ

No one ever said "one ethnic group or the another" ..we say, Illegal Aliens ,which consist of any person, or group of ppl that are here in our country illegally

That's also an issue that's strange. We try and stick to just "illegal" and it's difficult since the majority are hispanic. It's difficult when the biggest impact on our culture is hispanic. But we're racist just by making note of those facts, yet they can blatently call it an hispanic movement and that's fine.

My company coordinates and negotiates trucking and other modes of transportation for my clients. Since 2000, the truckload industry has been tight, especially since the fuel costs have gone up. After 9/11, insurance went up on these trucking companies, in both LTL and TL.

We don't deal with ANY trucking company, nor independent who is latino/hispanic. We have our clients use legitimate, legal, companies.

That is great Truism, if only all other companies would follow that example, not to mention the legal ramifications if the trucker was involved in an accident with your company name plastered all over the trailor and truck and he was in this country illegally and most likely unlicensed.