Rln 9 5 13 edition

Page 1

Fast Food Strikes: The Redeeming of King’s Dream p. 6 Blues Titan Arthur Adams on Blues, Roots and Leaves p. 11 The Buzz About the Blue Grotto Bistro p. 12 Q-Film Festival Sept. 6-8

p. 14

The Local Publication You Actually Read

On Aug. 26, port truckers at Carson-based Green Fleet Systems, went on strike for 24 hours in a bid to get unionized. Photo by Robin Doyno.

By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor

T

Green Fleet Truckers Strike for Union/ to p. 7

SCIG Weighs Price of Job Creation

By Zamná Ávila, Assistant Editor Buried beneath the court battles over the construction of a $500 million rail yard facility is the project’s impact on job creation. The Southern California International Gateway Project, which would border Wilmington, Carson and Long Beach, would allow the Port of Los Angeles to send trucks to the facility, about four miles away. There, container cargo would be loaded onto BNSF Railway trains, which would be shipped throughout the region and out of California. The project is expected to handle more than 2 million additional truck trips a year and more than 2,887 more train trips annually. SCIG Impact on Area Jobs/ to p. 3

September 6 - 19, 2013

hree days before fast food workers across the country went out on a one-day strike, port truckers at Carson-based Green Fleet Systems did the same. This was a show of determination in their bid for union recognition from a company that has responded to them with hostile hardball tactics. They went on strike Aug. 26 at 5 p.m., and returned to work the same time Aug. 27, with a rally of supporters cheering them on. “This is the first time as port truck drivers that we are doing this, exercising our rights,” Green Fleet Systems employee Ramon Guadamuz said. “We started in May last year, working together, exercising our right to form our union. We have been struggling” against illegal tactics by Green Fleet Systems, he said. “One of the things they do is they have a anti-union petition, they intimidate every single worker to sign it. They say, if they don’t sign it, they’re going to fire” the truckers who refuse. Green Fleet was fined more than $380,000 for wage violations against four workers early this year by the California Labor Commissioner’s office, around the same time that Australian-owned Toll Group became the first port trucking firm to sign a union contract since the industry was deregulated in 1980. That’s also when the Green Fleet workers formalized their struggle, with a letter to Green Fleet declaring their desire to form a union. Drivers at American Logistics International did the same, citing specific labor law violations.

1


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.