2 Deaths in 2 Days : Port Conditions Unsafe, Truckers Say

‘What we are yelling and screaming about is broken-down equipment and overloaded conditions.’

Jerry Bakke, Union official

A caravan of truckers slowly snaked through Terminal Island on Thursday to honor a hauler crushed at the Matson terminal in an accident truckers say illustrates widespread unsafe conditions in their industry.

“What we are doing here basically is having a memorial shutdown for Michael Gomez, who got killed here April 6,” said Jerry Bakke, president of the 1,100-member Waterfront/Rail Truckers Union.

“What we are yelling and screaming about is broken-down equipment and overloaded conditions.”

The demonstration did not disrupt activities at the port. There has been a series of protests in the past year by truck drivers to dramatize working conditions, including long waits at terminals, but this was the first demonstration directed solely at safety.

Investigation Under Way

The Gomez death is being investigated by the Long Beach office of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. George Godzac, OSHA safety supervisor, said in an interview Thursday that the federal agency probably will cite Matson for a serious safety violation, which carries a possible $1,000 penalty.

A serious safety violation is one that the employer should have known about and been able to prevent.

Gomez, 27, a truck driver from Montebello, was killed at the Matson Terminals facility while waiting in the cab of his truck for a cargo container to be loaded onto his rig, said Godzac and a Matson spokeswoman.

The container, weighing about 36 tons, broke free from a lifting beam and landed on the cab, killing Gomez, Godzac said. He added that the force of the fall broke the container in two.

Sloan White, senior counsel for Matson, said the company “regrets the tragic accident,” but will not comment until a company investigation is complete.

White added that Matson terminals “has a very safe operation,” but declined to discuss any previous fatalities. “We don’t want to comment on past experience at Matson terminals,” she said.

Matson and the union have been at legal loggerheads over picketing activities, and the truckers were placed under a Superior Court injunction in October not to interfere with company operations.

Detective John Smith of the Port Police said that the all-day demonstration, which drew about 75 truckers, appeared peaceful and that union members did not try to prevent other truckers from entering and leaving the Matson facility.

The Gomez death occurred just one day after another fatal port accident that also involved the loading of cargo containers. Killed was a ship’s officer--not a trucker--but the accident was nevertheless cited by Bakke and other union officials as a further example of unsafe conditions at the port.

In Long Beach on April 5, Choi Seong Shin, 32, second officer of the Hyundai Pioneer, was taking temperature readings from refrigerated containers just after they came onto his ship, according to J. D. Park, legal claims manager of Hyundai Merchant Marine.

Park and Coast Guard Cmdr. Don Parsons said that Choi could not be seen by the gantry crane operator. A stevedore responsible for making sure no one was in the way of a swinging cargo container failed to notify the crane operator of Choi’s presence, they said, and Choi was struck. The Coast Guard is handling the case because it was a shipboard accident.

Parsons said the stevedore “did yell at this guy at the last minute when he did see (Choi), but it was too late.” The Coast Guard may issue a safety citation when its investigation is complete, Parsons said.