Ten truck drivers for Seaboard Transport, Inc. — which provides trucking services for various distribution centers that ship out of Port Hueneme, CA — have alleged that owner Woody Hansen fired them because they voted to join a local Teamsters union.
Officials from the Teamsters Local Union No. 186 said they filed an unfair labor complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against Hansen, according to a report in Ventura County Star.
The 10 men said they decided to reach out to union officials about a month ago because they were paid below the minimum wage.
“You have 10 drivers who are fighting for their livelihood,” said Robert Padilla, business agent for Teamsters Local Union No. 186. “They all have family. They had to take a firm stance. When someone could take your livelihood away and bread out of your kids’ mouths that's what (Hansen) is doing.”
Teamsters’ officials said the drivers should be making at last $20 to $25 per hour.
The union also was in contact with at least 20 warehouse workers at Channel Islands Logistics, a 62,000-sq.-ft. facility used as a cold storage warehouse, which also is owned by Hansen.
The 20 warehouse workers, however, voted on Friday against joining a union.
Padilla claims Hansen threatened undocumented workers they would be deported if they joined a union.
Padilla said the Teamsters still hope to negotiate a contract with Hansen so the drivers would be paid a “fair hourly rate” with benefits comparable to truck drivers in the state.
