Representatives of 10,000 Los Angeles port troqueros will be having a meeting this Saturday to finalize plans on shutting down the Los Angeles harbor until they win collective bargaining rights. 99% of the truck drivers are latino immigrants. Troqueros in Oakland and Houston are pledging solidarity. This is not an organized event but an accumulation of collective effort.

Saturday's meeting will be at 10am
in South Gate at the park on
the corner of Tweety and Atlantic.
Read last Wednesday La Opinion
or this Saturday's Noticero Pacifica on
kpfk at 4 pm.

The recognition strike begins Friday April 30
after everyone receives their paychecks. the harbor will
be closed, completely for at least a week.

fyi: The Long Beach Port Police are enforcing a no-camera policy on port property and we fear that they
will do with the workers as they did with the youth and
homeless a few years back on May 1. Also, the CHP
has warned that they will be on full alert for any troublemakers.

The revolution will not be televised. So says the Long Beach Port Police.

Dedicated to Matthew Lamont and Ricardo Flores Magon,

solidarity,

Ernesto Jesus Nevarez

Please Ernesto let us know when something new happen. I want to be involve in this action.

If anybody else knows anything about this event, please post a message.

Fire their tired asses! There are millions move mojados to take their places. If some people refuse to work, hire others. Bush will bring in the Army to run the port, just as he threatened to do in Oakland. Believe it.

This past week a flyer calling for a Saturday shutdown planning meeting circulated the harbor. The meeting took place at 10 am in South Gate. At first it was just a handful of Port drivers waiting for the event and then a small truck with a small trailer showed up loaded with DJ equipment and a generator. Music blared as drivers begin to arrive. By 11 am there were about 50 drivers about half from the port and the other half regional line drivers, mainly from the “blvd” which is the 5 connection between Oakland and Los Angeles but some coming from as far as Colorado. We broke off into small groups and discussed issues that confront us. By noon there were about 150 drivers at the park, about one third port and the balance line drivers from the “blvd” and others from the Las Vegas and Phoenix corridors.

The line drivers, the host, began the meeting by welcoming everyone and showing disappointment as they were expecting over 500 drivers. It was decided to continue and hope for the best considering that it isn’t often that 150 drivers show up to a meeting. The effort put into the mobilization was amazing especially since the host did not have an organization nor a name for themselves or movement. Almost all lacked knowledge of transportation regulation, the employment question, and anything at all to do with the NLRB. It was as if we had traveled back into a time warp but this time the wheel will not have to be re-invented. Again, a few of us tried our best to share with them knowledge that we had acquired throughout the years. It was courteously received but energy was allocated to the issue of the day, April 30.

Acts of civil disobedience might had been mentioned but I “heard nothing and can’t remember nothing.” There was also discussion to change the date to either May 1 or the entire following week. But, due to the amount of work already done, and out of respect to their effort everyone agreed to adopt the April 30 day of action. A flyer was quickly made, on the spot, and distributed for all attendees to duplicate and distribute. After several hours of tense discussion and negotiating everyone came to agreement and one after another gave a statement of solidarity. At that point Spanish language station KMEX showed up and aired the event as it’s top story on the six o’clock news. Also, thanx to indymedia one of the local liberal worker newspapers also showed up and brought copies of their Nov. 1993 newspaper which covered the diesel revolt of that era.

Prior to Saturday it was unclear as to whether the shutdown would begin after Friday’s workday and had been publicized on both the speckled bird and indymedia as beginning May 1. Corrections are being sent to both website. Also, I erred in supplying KPFK with a contact that was unaware in detail as to the event so I guess I’m now on their shitlist for “misleading the media” that something was gonna happen with the trucking industry this coming week. So I apologize to KPFK and retract my news alert that something would be happening. The irony is that mainstream media is carrying the event including both La Opinion (article posted to group earlier this week) and KMEX, the largest Spanish language TV station in southern California. Also, both El Cucuy and Pepe Bareto are following the event closely and a massive radio campaign is expected this week.

The key issue for April 30 is the cost of diesel and the toll it is having on the truck drivers’ families. The “organizing” is as grassroots as can be. There was no call for an election, no board of directors, not even a name to identify with. It is a movement based solely on commitment by key troqueros and the social structure that they have developed in their segment of the industry. Between 1980 and 1986 the Los Angeles harbor went Latino and then those port troqueros spread out throughout the nation’s ports. Now the regional OTR is quickly turning over to a heavily Latino presence. This new organizing phenomena will be a crucial bridge in organizing and communicating between the ports. It was a historical moment for Port drivers to UNITE with their OTR counterparts. What will actually transpire this April 30, 2004 is unclear, but something will. But what has happened is one of the greatest events in the American labor movement, the bonding between Port troqueros and their OTR counterparts.

Ernesto Nevarez

By some miniature f***ing cameras!

It makes little or no sense to me to strike over something that is not within the control of your present employer. This is just another example of stupid people following other stupid people. Why hurt yourselves even more by taking money out of your families pocket, and following the example of people that aren't even willing to identify themselves publicly. Anyone who participates in civil unrest, and forces the that issue on the rest of the public, in my opinion should be shot on site. If you don't like your your current job, find another line of work....otherwise quit your sorry ass crying !!!

When any worker gets a job, whether they negotiate or not, there is an implicit negotiation for wages. A strike is a way to negotiate for wages.