Truck Drivers Clinch New Power with First Union Contract at L.A. Ports; Collective Workplace Action Cited as Key to Winning 50% Hourly Raise, Retirement, and Real Health Care

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Triumph over Global Employer Toll Group Fuels Hope for More U.S. Workers
Organizing to End Low Wages, Poor Conditions in Retail, Food, and Supply Chain

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A set of truck drivers
who haul shipments of imported merchandise from our shores to America's brand
name stores will kick start 2013 with a raise that doubles their hourly pay. The
extra $6+ change is part of a first-ever contract that shifts a bulk of their
health care costs to their employer, grants overtime, paid sick leave and
holidays, offers guaranteed hours and other terms for job security - not to
mention a pension plan. The collective bargaining gains in an otherwise
union-free private sector rival 21st century agreements in long-organized
markets.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100127/IBTLOGO)

"Justice…it's sort of indescribable and overwhelming to finally have the
American Dream at our reach," said Jose Ortega Jr., a driver for global
logistics giant Toll Group who served on his co-workers' bargaining committee
along with representatives from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters/Local
848 in Long Beach, Calif. The Australian corporation operates at port
complexes on both U.S. coasts and handles accounts for Guess?, Polo, Under
Armour, and other sportswear lines sold at big box and department retailers like
Walmart and JC Penney.

The Toll drivers' efforts mirror the collective action that has recently erupted
in retail and fast food chains. The landmark agreement culminates more than 24
months of worker struggle and employer resistance in which these truckers -
aided by a community coalition, their children, and clergy - borrowed
bullhorns, leafleted consumers, gathered signatures, practiced their picket
lines, staged noisy protests, and crashed shareholder meetings in a dogged
campaign to end the Third World working conditions they once endured.

U.S. port drivers are the most underpaid in the trucking industry: A typical
professional earns $28,873 a year before taxes. Their net incomes often
resemble that of part-time or seasonal workers though they clock an average of
59 hours a week. They possess specialized skills and licensing to safely command
an 80,000 lb. container rig, but they fit the profile of America's working poor.
Food stamps, extended family, or church pantries are needed to get by; their
children often lack regular pediatricians or only receive care at the public ER.

With American wages in freefall due to the imbalance of power enjoyed by
multinational corporations, the scope and significance of such a labor accord
with a transportation titan that operates in some 55 countries is a jaw dropper
alone. What observers further find remarkable: The 65 workers who secured these
middle-class benefits with their $8 billion employer are blue-collar
Latino-Americans who hold jobs within a deregulated, virtually union-free
industry at the ports.

"It upends the common wisdom that a workforce that lacks rights on the job
cannot build the strength to take on the Goliaths of the global economy. But
these drivers, like the workers at the warehouses and Walmart and Wendy's,
cannot raise families on such low wages, so they are coming together to rewrite
the playbook," noted Dr. John Logan, the director of Labor and Employment
Studies at the College of Business at San Francisco State University. "The
faces of this new movement are ordinary parents and churchgoers and community
members who value the influence of a local priest as much as the expertise
pouring in from strong trade unions overseas. Not only do they have the guts to
strike - they have the faith they can win."

Their collective resolve paid off. Mr. Ortega, a single father who works the
night shift, will see his new per-hour rate of $19.75 reflected on his next
paycheck, along with any overtime that will now be paid at a time-and-a-half
rate of $28.

"As a truck driver, I wanted the assurance that things would be okay for my
daughter if I was injured, that I could take her to see the doctor if she got
sick," the 36-year-old explained. "When we started organizing ourselves, we
weren't asking for anything out of this world. Dignity. A fair day's pay for a
hard day's work. Decent, sanitary facilities to make a pit stop, rest, eat…you
know, to perform our jobs safely.

"But we knew winning respect would take a fight at every turn. So if we were
afraid to lose our jobs, we asked our allies for help. When it was time to take
action, we prayed for courage to speak out. And we always stuck together, and
never gave up."

Elected leaders quickly praised the union contract as both a middle-class
builder and noted its high-road business merits.

"We're talking about the men and women who are the backbone of our regional and
national economy, yet they have never shared in the prosperity of the
corporations they make so profitable," said Los Angeles Councilman Joe
Buscaino, whose district includes the largest port in America. "The standards
that Toll Group, its workers, and Teamsters Local 848 set make it possible to
reward and attract responsible port businesses that want a level playing field
to compete on innovation and quality, rather than who can pay Los Angeles'
vital workers the least."

Contract Highlights include (Click here for a full summary & graphic
comparison):

Fair wages -The day shift hourly rate increased from $12.72 to $19, and the
night shift hourly rate from $13.22 to $19.75. In addition to the over
$6/hour increase in hourly pay rates, drivers won $0.50/hour per year raises
over the life of the contract, giving Toll port drivers over a 60% hourly wage
boost over the life of the 3-year contract. Overtime pay of time-and-half kicks
in after a typical full time 40 hour week, which is extremely rare in an
industry where truckers are exempt from federal overtime laws and an average
week hovers around 60 hours.

Secure retirement -Prior to the contract, less than a dozen Toll drivers could
spare any extra dollars, even pre-tax, to participate in the corporate 401(k)
plan. As Teamster Local 848 members, they have been automatically enrolled in
the union's Western Conference Pension Trust. Such a retirement plan at the port
has rarely been seen since trucking was deregulated in 1980. Toll will make a
pension contribution of $1/hour per driver until 2014, and a $1.50/hour per
driver by 2015.

Affordable health care - The Toll Group health care plan was financially out of
reach for most of its truck drivers. The few who managed to meet the premium,
deductibles, and copayments will now keep significantly more money in their
pocket without sacrificing coverage, and the rest of their co-workers finally
have access to quality, affordable health insurance coverage, including dental
and vision care. The company will pay 95% of the premium for individuals and 90%
for family coverage. Drivers who previously had to shell out $125/month for
individual or $400/month per family will drop to roughly $30 or $150,
respectively.

Stable work hours and paid time off - Most truck drivers lose a day's pay if
they cannot work, are penalized by dispatchers for being unable to haul a load,
and lack paid sick or holiday leave, making it stressful for family budgets and
planning. But Toll drivers made substantial gains in all these areas. They will
receive seven paid holidays, three paid personal days, and six paid sick days
annually. They will accrue one or two weeks of vacation within the first two
years of service, with longtime employees earning up to a month. They can also
bank on guaranteed full- or half-day of pay regardless of seasonal slowdowns if
they are scheduled to work.

Competitive growth incentives to raise market and living standards- The
agreement establishes a high-road business model that recognizes Toll's
competitors have not yet embraced fair wages and conditions. Provisions to
encourage a level playing field and wide-scale unionization allow drivers to
re-negotiate more gains when a simple majority of the regional market is
organized.

"We commend these truck drivers for their leadership in challenging the status
quo at the ports. Workers everywhere are standing up to say enough to poverty
wages, and Toll drivers have demonstrated that working families will fight for
middle-class paychecks in America," said Teamsters General President James P.
Hoffa.

"For too long companies in the global supply chain have gamed the system by
undercutting U.S. businesses that actually create good jobs. Toll Group and its
drivers have raised the bar for responsible competition, and the Teamsters will
not stop until the rest of the nation's port drivers have a shot at the American
Dream."

Additional Background

The landmark contract caps over two years of struggle for union recognition that
workers took online, to the truck yard, and in the LA streets; they zig-zagged
to other U.S. seaports to shore up support, and even continent-crossed to meet
their Aussie union workmates who stood in solidarity at their joint employer's
doorstep.

In so doing, this group of Latino immigrants became an unlikely symbol of hope
for their underpaid counterparts - union and not-yet-union, working in an
adopted homeland as well as American-born workers - who must endure low-wage
jobs in other profitable sectors in the U.S. food, retail, and global supply
chain industries.

"We may work in the warehouses, but we all put in long and hard hours to make
the big corporations rich, while we struggle to keep food on the table. Port
truck drivers are our friends, our neighbors. They are even like our
co-workers," said Javier Rodriguez, who works for Walmart's Riverside County
warehouse subcontractor, NFI. "They are proof that having a good job in the
supply chain is more than a dream if we dare to unite together, and demand a
better future for our children."

The victory is also being celebrated across the Pacific Ocean where the
Melbourne-based Toll Group employs some 12,000 of Australian drivers united in
the Transport Workers Union (TWU). The members view their U.S. counterparts as
their "workmates" and have supported the port drivers from Day One to ensure
that as Toll enters new global markets, the company replicates the constructive
labor-management relations that made it so profitable Down Under.

"We couldn't be prouder of our mates in America. From the beginning we said
'your fight is our fight' and today we say your victory is our victory," said
TWU Acting National Secretary Michael Kaine. "The standards of fairness and
respect for workers should be upheld by Toll no matter where they operate. The
message to industry is clear, in this global economy workers and unions across
continents are already in alliance with each other and we will continue to
support one another until we have a strong voice in our workplaces everywhere."

The newly-inked contract with the Teamsters further gives another shot in the
arm to the movement of port drivers fighting to overcome "misclassification" -
illegally denying workers W-2 employment and benefits, a scam that keeps the
American Dream out of their reach. Workers are coming forward with evidence for
state and federal authorities as part of a coast-to-coast multi-industry
crackdown on employers who disguise their employees as independent contractors
to evade taxes, commit wage & hour violations, and quell unionization. The
controversial practice is widespread in the deregulated trucking sector.

See here for an infographic and a summary of the contract. For more background
on the Toll drivers' campaign for justice, visit their website . Information
on the blue-green coalition behind the nationwide movement to drive up worker
standards and clean up U.S. seaports can be found here:
www.CleanAndSafePorts.org.

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Coral Itzcalli, +1-310-956-5712, coral.itzcalli@changetowin.org, or TJ Michels,
+1-415-213-2764, tj.michels@changetowin.org