Seattle - Port of Seattle short-haul truck drivers are in the second week of their walk out in protest of unsafe working conditions. In what began as a rally at the State Capitol in Olympia on January 30th by more than 150 Port drivers to garner attention to HB 2527, a truck safety bill, has continued with more than 300 drivers now refusing to drive.
The extended walk out was triggered by the intimidation, harassment and retaliation for traveling to the state legislature last week to support HB 2527. They were called “animals” by their dispatchers and one of the leaders was suspended from work—punished for organizing the trip to the State Legislature.
The drivers are hired as “independent contractors” and paid a flat $40 to $44 per-load rate to deliver cargo containers from the Port to the BNSF Railway yard a few miles away in south Seattle. The containers and trailers are owned by cargo shipping companies and according to the drivers are poorly maintained and in many cases are unsafe.
There appears to be a significant amount of corroboration to the driver’s claims. A KING 5 investigation last year found that more than half of the container haulers inspected around the Port were taken off the road for safety reasons involving both the trucks and company owned trailers.
The low pay rate, truckers explain, makes it difficult to afford to keep their trucks in good working condition. Additionally, they say they are forced to haul loads that they suspect are overweight and are not allowed to do safety inspections on their loads before hauling them. House Bill 2527 would place the burden on the trailer owner rather than the operator to ensure the safety of the load. However, even if the bill passes the drivers still face difficulties due to the low pay and poor working conditions.
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Puget Sound Sage in conjunction with the Puget Sound Labor Agency have established a Safe Drivers’ Family Support Fund to help the support the out of work drivers and their families so they can continue to protest the unsafe working conditions they are forced to labor under.
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