Truckers Put Cargo on Hold : Commerce: Drivers say they won’t deliver goods until a pay dispute is settled. They say a freight firm owes them up to $9,000 each.

Claiming they are owed as much as $9,000 apiece by a Gardena freight company, 23 union truckers said Tuesday they will “hold hostage” a fortune in discount store merchandise shipments until they get paid.

Beginning Tuesday morning, the truckers parked 11 rigs in front of the company, Associated Transportation, in the 1500 block of 178th Street. Each truck towed a 40-foot sealed shipping container recently picked up from Long Beach Harbor.

The value of the total contents--including clothes, toys, beauty supplies, and books bound for a Colton distribution company--was estimated at $3 million by Lorenzo Modesto, one of the members of the Waterfront Rail Truckers Union who participated in the demonstration.

The gates of the company were closed shortly after the truckers arrived. A woman who answered an afternoon phone call said the company, which is owned by Arthur Lacilento, had no comment on the dispute.

Truckers charged that Associated Transportation has for years been late in paying its workers or offered only partial wages, then reportedly changed the company name in an attempt to dodge its fiscal responsibilities.

The company also has listed the union drivers as independent contractors, reportedly refusing to pay shipping fines, provide benefits or establish a process for filing employee grievances, said accountant Ernie Nevarez, who represents several of the truckers.

In April, Nevarez wrote to the state Department of Labor to request an investigation of alleged mistreatment of truckers and possible labor law violations.

A spokesman for the department said the labor commissioner’s office is trying to determine whether the truckers should be classified as company employees rather than independent contractors. State labor laws and the department’s jurisdiction apply only to workers classified as employees, the spokesman said.

The truckers vowed to maintain the vigil on their commandeered cargo until they receive the wages they say are due them. Some of the truckers claimed to have gone for eight weeks, receiving only enough payment to cover the cost of diesel fuel and maintenance on their rigs.

“When a man gets hungry, he does desperate things,” Nevarez said. “Either they are going to get thrown in jail, or they are going to prove their point.”