LOS ANGELES, May 1, 2006 – Troqueros are claiming that their strike shut down 90% of the operations of the Port of Los Angeles on Monday. On any given week day up to 12,000 truckers are working at the port. On Monday, May 1 the ports looked empty. At the main gates to the port at the intersection of Figueroa and Harry Bridges normally 1000’s of trucks are coming in and out of the gates, on Monday at about 10:30 am this reporter saw no trucks.
The security guards at the gate would not comment on the absence of trucks and claimed to have no knowledge of the strike. When asked the guards stated that the “ports are open and operating”.
A rally for the Troqueros was held in nearby Banning Park on the Pacific Coast Highway. I was told by one of Troqueros at the rally that on a typical workday one could expect to see hundreds of trucks rolling by on the highway every hour. In the one hour that I was there I counted less than 10 trucks.