Your Sept. 14 Pre-Trip: Port drivers picket this morning

Here are five things worth knowing today:

1. Striking port truck drivers in California have announced that they will escalate picketing early this morning. Thirty-eight misclassified “independent contractor” port truck drivers – many of whom have been on strike against their employer, Pacific 9 Transportation (six times in the last two years) – are now entering the 10th week of their sixth strike. That strike concluded six weeks of testimony in back-to-back individual hearings before the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, during which drivers claimed more than $6 million in wage theft. This morning, the striking drivers, who will be joined on the picket line by drivers from recently-unionized drayage companies Shippers Transport Express and Eco Flo Transportation, will escalate their picketing beginning at 6 a.m. PST at the company’s truck yard in Carson, CA.
2. BMW recently announced it will convert all models to electric drive trains, range-extending engines and plug-in hybrids over the next decade, Nasdaq reports. According to the report, this is in response to a coming series of EU carbon emissions laws. “Time will tell what effect BMW’s move to an electric focus will have, but at its stage EV’s still appear very much in their infancy, and if BMW’s change goes through as advertised it could represent a seismic shift in the market,” the report said. “BMW is pushing forward with other electric initiatives including its first all –electric tractor trailer.”
3. A truck and trailer loaded with more than 40,000 lbs. of snow crab has been stolen from the Nova Truck Centre in Westville, Canada, The News reports. According to the report, Westville police are investigating the theft of a 2007 Freightliner FDLI 32 XL Classic conventional truck. The trailer contained 42,6000 lbs. of snow crab laced with the chemical Oyinon-S, which is used to preserve the crab for shipment to Japan, The News said. According to the report, the chemical is unfit for human consumption and can be lethal.
4. Fiat-Chrysler is recalling nearly 1,697 2014-15 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel 4x2 trucks in the U.S. because of an electrical short, the Bulletin Leader reports. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the short may pose a stalling and fire risk.
5. Alabama’s House Transportation, Utilities and Infrastructure Committee has passed a new bill that would raise the gas tax in the state by 5 cents per gallon, according to a report in Equipment World. According to the report, the increase would raise $100 million in 2016 and $150 million in 2017.