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Jul 11, 2015

TEAMSTERS & OWNERS DRIVERS * USA: Debate

* California - Truckers at Los Angeles Port vote to unionize
-- Short-haul truckers employed by Eco Flow in the Los Angeles and Long Beach port complexes voted unanimously to unionize, but the Teamsters still face an uphill battle to organize the wider labor pool... A group of truck drivers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach voted late Wednesday to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, becoming the fourth company at the port to unionize at a time when many say port trucking is ripe for a shake-up... For decades, most drayage drivers—who number more than 10,000 at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach—have been independent contractors who own their own trucks. But as ports have grown more congested amid a general trucker shortage, an opening emerged for companies that purchase trucks and hire full-time drivers... The 88 drivers who unionized this week work for Eco Flow Transportation LLC, which launched earlier this year with funding from a private equity firm. The unanimous unionization vote, which was expected, brings the total number of drayage Teamsters in the Los Angeles and Long Beach region to roughly 450... Still, many truckers say they’d rather remain independent...  Weston LaBar, executive director of the Harbor Trucking Association, an industry group of about 100 port trucking companies, says while there may be a “shift in proportions” among companies that hire full-time drivers and those that contract with independent ones, he doesn’t see unionized drayage firms becoming the norm... Mr. LaBar said that some trucking companies have raised their rates and compensate their drivers for wait time as ports become more congested... 
(PHOTO: BLOOMBERG NEWS - Truckers wait to unload their cargo at the Port of Los Angeles)  --  Los Angeles, CAL, USA - The WSJ, by ERICA E. PHILLIPS - July 9, 2015

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Apr 27, 2015

TRUCKERS WIN * Canada: Court rules against Port Metro Vancouver in licence dispute

* B. C. - Judge calls port's process “procedurally deficient and profoundly unfair”

-- Canada’s federal court has ruled in favour of Vancouver-area trucking companies who said they lost out because of an unfair licensing process conducted by the Vancouver port authority... In the ruling, judge Robert Barnes found that Port Metro Vancouver’s (PMV) method of processing applications from companies in batches, and applying a higher threshold to applications that were submitted later, made for an “evaluation model that was procedurally deficient and profoundly unfair.”.. For instance, companies that applied earlier had to get a score of four points in order to get licences when the port authority rated their application. But applications filed later had to get five points, and the final batch had to achieve a score of six points. Barnes described situations where filing one day later meant the different between being awarded or denied a license...
(Photo by Rob Kruyt - Ken Rakhra, owner of Nilam Trucking, was one of 600 workers expecting to lose work because of Port Metro Vancouver’s new truck licensing system)  --  Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN - Business Vancouver, by Jen St. Denis - April 23, 2015

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Mar 27, 2009

Owner-drivers * Australia - Granted authorisation to collectively negotiate

Sydney,Australia -ATN -25 March 2009: -- Owner-drivers have been granted authorisation to enable them to collectively negotiate the terms and conditions upon which they provide earthmoving services in the commercial and civil construction sectors in South East Queensland... Owner-drivers contract with earthmoving companies to pick up and deliver materials to and from construction sites. Most operate as small businesses and are engaged on a job-by-job basis... The Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy (CFMEU) Queensland will provide support services to facilitate the collective negotiations. It will not conduct negotiations on behalf of the owner-drivers... Authorisation provides protection from court action for conduct or arrangements that might otherwise raise concerns under the competition provisions of the Trade Practices Act. Authorisation is granted where the ACCC is satisfied that the benefit to the public from the conduct outweighs any public detriment...

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