Wildcat Truckers Strike Hits Port of Seattle - Hundreds Walk Off

Port truck drivers in Seattle and Tacoma are paid as little as $10 or $11 an hour.

Learn more, visit: Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports

(SEATTLE) - Hundreds of truck drivers at the Port of Seattle have walked off the job and lawmakers are deciding if they need to take action.

The impact is being felt by some Puget Sound businesses. At Culinary Collective, a Mukilteo-based importer of cultural foods, a vital shipment from the Port of Seattle arrived Friday -- a week late -- costing the business an estimated $25,000 in lost sales.

Keep reading this report: http://www.king5.com/news/investigators/Investigators-risky-rigs-folo-138695099.html

"Drivers at several trucking companies that haul containers between the port and intermodal rail yards are refusing loads because they charge the companies they contract with are paying them less than the market rate in the harbor area.

Harbor trucking companies normally negotiate a drayage rate with shipping lines or cargo interests. The general practice is for the trucking company to keep a percentage of the rate and then pass the rest on to the drivers. In this instance, drivers say some motor carriers are retaining a higher percentage of the drayage rate than is customary in Puget Sound."

Keep reading this report: http://www.joc.com/portsterminals/port-drivers-step-pressure-seattle

Driven by  a broken economic system, port truck drivers in Seattle and Tacoma are robbed of basic protections afforded other types of workers in the United States and paid as little as $10 or $11 an hour. Low-wage port truck drivers are forced to carry the entire cost of owning and maintaining their own trucks and are often only able to afford to oldest and dirtiest trucks available. As a result, communities located near ports or along major truck routes are saturated by toxic, deadly diesel pollution.

The Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports is a local and national alliance of environmental activists, truck drivers, faith leaders, labor unions and community advocates fighting for environmental and economic justice at our nation’s ports.

Keep reading this report: http://cleanandsafeports.org/seattletacoma/