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Workers Look to Unions When Boom Leaves Them Behind
By Tom Herriman
Michael Johnson gestures for emphasis during remarks at truckers' rally. Johnson's father Bill Talmadge is an owner-operator delivering to Port of Seattle. Left, trucks line Seattle streets. |
Child Care
There are thousands of child care workers in Seattle who make it possible for thousands of parents to go to work every day. But the child care center teachers and family home providers are often paid below the poverty level, according to Lynne Barbee, an organizer for the SEIU District 925 Child Care Union Project (CUP). CUP's goal is to conduct a public education campaign to get more public funding for child care.
"We want to bargain a master agreement that will raise standards for workers in the field and improve the quality of child care throughout the community," Barbee said.
Bi-Partisan Support for
Jet Equipment Strikers
Political leaders from both major parties are showing up in several cases to lend support to workers trying to establish their rights to organize and engage in collective bargaining. County Councilman Kent Pullen (R) and State Senator Pam Roach (R) showed up at a rally in Auburn last week in support of Jet Equipment strikers who were "permanently replaced" one day after going out on strike in January. The King County Council passed a resolution July 6 by an 8-4 vote criticizing the Swiss-owned company for "counterproductive business practices which result in labor strife that hurts both the company's workers and our entire community at large. The actions of Jet Equipment set a terrible precedent for good labor management relations." Republicans Brian Derdowski, Pete vonReichbauer and Kent Pullen voted for the resolution, along with Democrats Maggi Fimia, Larry Gossett, Greg Nickles, Dwight Pelz and Larry Phillips. Chris Vance, Jane Hague, Rob McKenna and Louise Miller, all Republicans, voted against.
Truck Owner-Operators
Down on the waterfront, several hundred owner-operators of the big trucks that bring apples, lumber, and manufactured goods into the Ports of Tacoma and Seattle are joining together to get better rates and job security from the companies they contract with to haul the freight. Before trucking de-regulation a few years ago, truck drivers were mostly employees of freight companies, and the Teamsters Union negotiated strong contracts for them. After deregulation, the industry began to treat each driver as a private contractor, forcing each driver into competition with every other. The companies had the upper hand in controlling rates, and the drivers had little leverage.
Pudge Elliot has been a truck driver for 25 years, including 15 years as an owner-operator and 10 years on the waterfront. Her father, husband, two sons, two uncles and a nephew are all truckers. The family owns four trucks. She is an articulate, plain speaking woman who quit trucking a couple years ago because of a build-up of stress and the fact that she wasn't making any money.
"The last time I figured it out, I was grossing $2,000 a month, but actually earning $2.73 an hour in take home pay," she said.
"I had to drive 80 to 100 hours a month, pay insurance, maintenance, taxes, fuel and buy the truck too," she continued. "Usually, there's no pay for waiting time, and there can be a lot of that. It used to be the driver would get 80 percent of the fees the freight company charged the shipper. But many companies have gone to a flat rate, and we don't even know what percentage we're getting or how much they're actually charging the shippers."
Elliot said, "The company controls you because you have to sign that you won't work for anyone else, and they can fire you at the drop of a hat. But we get no health insurance or any other kind of benefits, no unemployment comp or workers comp, and we have to pay higher income taxes because we're a business."
Elliot is working as a volunteer organizer for the Teamster Local 174 campaign to organize the 1,500 to 2,000 waterfront truckers.
Elliot said the goal of the campaign was not to sign contracts with individual companies.
"We're not out to hurt the companies. We don't want to put them at a competitive disadvantage. We want an industry-wide contract that sets standards for everybody and gives truckers a chance to make a decent living."
Harry Kepler, a Local 174 organizer, used to drive logging trucks, "until the spotted owl came in and logging went upside down," he said. He started hauling potatoes for seventy-five cents a mile but, he explains, "They charge you a nickel a mile for insurance and it costs about sixty-three cents a mile to operate the truck. So you end up making eight cents a mile. And you don't get paid at all for 'bob-tail miles'," (heading out to pick up a trailer, or returning home after dropping one off).
Over 250 truckers took part in a rally and convoy May 31 to publicly jump-start their organizing effort. Congressman Jim McDermott spoke words of encouragement at the rally, as well as Brian McWilliams, President of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), which is strongly supporting the truckers efforts to organize.
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