Reaction to Teamsters Strike Mixed : Castaic: Union members join picket lines, but independent counterparts at one truck stop say they need to keep working to survive.

Reaction to a nationwide strike by the Teamsters union against nearly two dozen major trucking companies ranged from unabashed resentment to guarded sympathy Wednesday as independent truckers who stopped at a popular Castaic truck stop contemplated the fate of their union counterparts.

About 80,000 Teamsters walked off their jobs and on to picket lines, in protest of freight companies’ plans to hire more part-time workers and shift more business to railroads.

About two dozen union members picketed in front of Roadway Express Inc. trucking company in Pacoima. Teamsters from locals 208 and 63 also formed picket lines at three other San Fernando Valley locations.

At the Castaic stop just off the Golden State Freeway at Lake Hughes Road, truckers from California, Colorado, Nevada and even Canada said they doubted that the strike would result in any significant changes in freight companies’ plans.

“It won’t affect the trucking industry because they’ll never get everyone together,” said Joe Jackson, an independent truck driver based in Fallon, Nev. “There’s too many independent guys who are hungry.”

Los Angeles trucker Scott Williams said he has watched a move away from well-paid union drivers to cheaper non-union truckers evolve over his 13-year career.

“I know people are cutting out the unions,” said Williams, an independent contract driver. “I don’t agree with it, but that’s the way it’s going.”

Williams said he knows that he and other independent drivers are undercutting the Teamsters by agreeing to ship goods at a cheaper rate, but he echoed Jackson when he said it all boils down to an issue of survival.

“We got to eat, too,” Williams said as he sat inside his 18-wheeler surrounded by the thick odor of diesel fumes that filled the air around the truck stop.

But resentment could be detected in the voices of other truckers who said they believe the Teamsters are trying to improve on an already good deal.

“I think the unions are going too far,” said Ken Huntley, a trucker from Calgary, Canada. “They’re cutting their own throats.”

Huntley, who makes about three trips to California each month to ship paper and wood, said that as an independent truck driver he works without the benefits, truck insurance and hourly wages that union workers receive.

“They should count themselves lucky,” Huntley said.

Trucker Randy Jenkins, however, said one issue the Teamsters are protesting--shifting more business to railroads--stands to affect all truck drivers.

“It’s a legitimate grievance,” Jenkins said. “If they decide to use more railroads, we all stand to lose miles and money. Everything is getting too dehumanized and more mechanized.”

Still, Jenkins, who ships the sort of mozzarella cheese used to top pizzas throughout Southern California, said he had little sympathy for the Teamsters’ other complaints.

“I think the union people have a good deal and they’re pushing for more,” Jenkins said. “Things change, companies have to be competitive, so they got to do what they got to do.”

Back inside the cab of his truck, Williams sat waiting for his next assignment. As an independent trucker, he lacks the luxury of a set schedule, which his union counterparts can count on.

Instead, he said he waits for hours at a time for work.

“I’m waiting for Safeway or Vons to call and tell me to go to Oxnard and pick up some celery,” Williams said as he waited for the call a little after noon Wednesday. “They may not call till 9 p.m. tonight, but it’s not costing them anything for me to sit here and wait.”

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