Southeast : TRUCKER PROTEST
About 3,000 placard-waving truck drivers marched through downtown Long Beach on Wednesday, briefly stopping traffic on Ocean Boulevard and crowding into the plaza in front of City Hall. They wanted the city, which owns the Port of Long Beach, to tell their bosses to pay them better for hauling cargo containers from the port to the railroad yards.
“Ten years ago, drivers were getting $75 or $85 a container,” said Laura Reynolds, a director for Local 9400 of the Communications Workers of America, which represents most of the drivers. “Now it’s about $35.”
But city officials say there is little they can do. The truckers work for independent trucking firms, who contract with shippers to move the containers, said port spokeswoman Yvonne Avila. “We don’t have any control over them,” she said.
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