Caravan of Trucks Targets Safety Issue

A caravan of trucks slowly snaked through Terminal Island on Thursday in what drivers said was a protest of unsafe conditions illustrated by an April 6 accident in which a trucker was crushed to death.

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

There have been a series of protests in the last year by truck drivers to dramatize working conditions, including long waits at terminals, but this was the first demonstration directed solely at safety.

Gomez, 27, of Montebello, was killed at the Matson Terminals Inc. facility while waiting in the cab of his truck for a cargo container to be loaded onto his rig. The container, weighing about 36 tons, broke free from a lifting beam and landed on the cab.

The incident is being investigated by the Long Beach office of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. A spokesman for the terminal declined comment.