Truck drivers on strike at LA port
Workers are striking. Now, at the Port of Los Angeles.
By Michael McGrady, Maritime Direct Americas & Pacific Correspondent
LOS ANGELES — Longshoremen and dockworkers stopped servicing trucks owned by the firm Universal Logistics Holdings as a terminal on the Port of Los Angeles in solidarity with truck drivers who are also striking the company.
“Today is a new day at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Together with working people from across Southern California, we are saying with one voice that the days when port officials and trucking companies could trample on our rights without consequence are over — for good,” the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said in a statement released to local news outlets.
Officials for the port authority also announced that they are working with the unions to stand by their ability to picket for better working conditions. A spokesperson told NBC 4 that “minimal to moderate traffic disruption” by those who are “not servicing the trucks that are being targeted by the Teamsters.”
“We are assisting the Teamsters with their right to picket and their First Amendment rights, and we respect that, and we’re assisting them to do that while making sure to keep the port functioning,” the Port of Los Angeles spokesperson said.
The Port of Long Beach has not made any public statements regarding the strike.
