CLEAN PORT PROGRAM * USA - Cleaner-Trucks Mandate Will Create Hardships at Port of Oakland

The real problem is that the trucking system is broken. When Congress deregulated the trucking industry in 1980, it dismantled an industry dominated by large companies with union drivers. Independent truckers took their place

New York,NY,USA -The NY Times, by FRANCES DINKELSPIEL -October 30, 2009: -- Ablelom Zerfiel sat in the cab of his 1992 Freightliner, waiting in a long line to drop off his empty cargo container at the Port of Oakland. After driving for 12 years, Mr. Zerfiel is used to delays, low pay, grueling hours and the fickleness of the dispatch company that arranges his jobs... Life for Mr. Zerfiel and many of the other 1,300 independent truckers serving the Port of Oakland is about to get even harder. In an effort to reduce local air pollution, the port has mandated the use of cleaner trucks by Jan. 1. This makes it likely that Mr. Zerfiel, as well as hundreds of other drivers who cannot afford to buy new vehicles, will be out of work... The new regulations have created a clash between two ideals long held sacred in the Bay Area: the right to decent working conditions and a push for greener technologies... (Photo by Jim Wilson/The New York Times - Truckers at the Port of Oakland wait hours to load and unload cargo, releasing emissions into the air and nearby neighborhoods)