Port truck drivers for Carson, CA-based Green Fleet Systems went on strike Monday. The drivers allege the company is attempting to thwart their efforts to unionize, union organizers told the Los Angeles Times.
Monday's strike went on for 24 hours and organizers called a Tuesday rally with labor leaders and elected officials.
Protesters began picketing the trucking firm outside its Carson facility, located about eight miles north of the Port of Long Beach.
Organizers also followed company trucks to warehouses and distribution centers in California’s Inland Empire region to picket as they deposited goods at their destinations.
The 30 truck drivers involved in the strike contend that Green Fleet Systems-- which has hauled freight from ports in Long Beach and Los Angeles for more than 20 years — has hired "union busters" who are intimidating drivers seeking to join Teamsters Local 848.
In March, the Teamsters’ Port Division filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, Region 21, alleging that a Green Fleet Systems supervisor asked an employee to sign an anti-union petition and promised better pay and a boost in benefits if workers did not join the union.
A Sept. 16 hearing date on the issue has been postponed to sometime in October, an attorney for the Teamsters union told the Times.
