News Updates

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) introduced legislation that would allow local ports, including the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, to regulate and enforce fuel-efficient truck programs that go beyond current federal mandates.

Under the Clean Ports Act of 2011, port cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Newark, Oakland and Seattle would have the authority to set standards, reduce emissions and improve air quality by replacing older diesel trucks with cleaner vehicles without imposing the burden onto truck drivers. Earlier this year, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, re-introduced the House version of the bill.

“Congress must act to provide New York, and cities all across the country, with the common sense tools they need to improve the quality of air and quality of life for millions of people,” said Senator Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “It’s time to update federal laws and allow our nation’s ports to help reduce diesel emissions and improve air quality for all New Yorkers by putting clean trucks on the road.”

“With this bill, New Yorkers who live in and near the working waterfront will be able to breathe a little easier knowing that Congress has provided the tools to ensure that the thousands of trucks on their roads are using the latest in clean technology,” said Senator Schumer. “This is a common-sense initiative that will improve public health without diminishing economic activity in our port. I look forward to pushing hard for it in the Senate.”

“The Clean Ports Act is a critical modernization of federal law that would dramatically improve the quality of air for the 87 million Americans who live and work near major container ports,” said Congressman Nadler (D-NY), the House sponsor of the legislation. “It is indefensible that ports are being challenged from enforcing clean truck programs to replace highly polluting and outmoded diesel trucks. Such pollution profoundly increases rates of asthma, cancer and heart disease and contributes to a growing public health crisis across the nation. I am thrilled that Senator Gillibrand has joined this important campaign to clean up our ports and protect Americans from unnecessary pollution.” 

“Improving air quality for every New Yorker who lives and works near our waterfront is an important piece of the broader environmental goals of PlaNYC, our long-term infrastructure and sustainability strategy,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “The Clean Ports Act will give the City the ability to partner with all stakeholders in developing effective strategies to reduce emissions from the trucks that use our ports.” 

Approximately 95% of the nation’s 110,000 port trucks fail to meet Environmental Protection Agency emission standards. According to agency estimates, poor air quality impacts 87 million people who live and work near U.S. ports. 

The Clean Ports Act of 2011, co-sponsored by Senators Gillibrand, Schumer, Al Franken (D-MN), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) would amend the Federal Motor Carrier Act to allow cities’ ports to set clean truck initiatives and delegate responsibility for the upgrade costs. 

Here in New York City, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey proposed a 10-year clean air strategy that would reduce port activity-related pollutants by 30 percent and greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent. This new federal legislation would enable and empower New York City and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to do more to reduce truck pollution and emissions. 

In Los Angeles, the clean truck program is set to permanently ban all trucks with engines made prior to 2007 from operating at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach beginning on January 1, 2012.   However, the portion of the program that would require truck companies to hire drivers as direct employees rather than contract with individual “owner-operators” was struck down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9^th Circuit on September 26, 2011. 

More than 150 civic, environmental, labor, business, and civil rights groups, including the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Change to Win, American Stevedoring, Inc., BlueGreen Alliance, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Sierra Club, Apollo Alliance, and Natural Resources Defense Council, support the Clean Ports Act.

On October 27, drivers at Toll Group went to work wearing Teamster t-shirts to show their support for forming a union with Teamsters Local 848 in Covina, California. A delegation of drivers approached Toll management to demand recognition of their union while outside the company’s San Pedro facilities a delegation of more than 200 Teamsters, community residents, environmental activists and labor allies rallied in support of the drivers, ready to deliver a petition bearing 1,000 signatures urging justice for these men and women. The company’s response came two days later: 26 of the 70 drivers that worked for the company were let go and handed a final paycheck. 

Australian Trip Doesn't Help

With his last $8 in his wallet, Alberto Quiteno said goodbye to his wife and teenage daughters last Friday and traveled 8,000 miles to Melbourne to plea to his employer, the Australian logistics giant, Toll Group, for humane working conditions in the United States.

In his carry-on, Alberto had carefully packed a petition signed by 62 (out of 75) co-workers that local management had previously refused to accept. Along with it was a copy of a letter he sent to Toll Group CEO Paul Little before his journey to outline the mistreatment and local management missteps. Hearing no response, Alberto headed to LAX and boarded a plane, joined by officials representing America’s largest transportation union, the 1.4 million-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

It took an overseas pilgrimage to grab front-section seating at the $8.6 billion corporation’s annual shareholder meeting to nab the undivided attention of the top brass. Alberto even landed a meeting with Mr. Little and another top executive, CFO Brian Kruger. Mission accomplished? Wrong. The 17-year port driver was stunned to learn he had no job to return to once he flew home.

That’s right, after a 30-minute face-to-face and cordial encounter with the retiring executive and his successor, Quiteno—along with 25 other Toll drivers—were all sacked.

The final paychecks of “The Toll 26” were dated and cut on Thursday, October 27, when employees from both the day and night shifts, in a show of unity, clocked in to work wearing T-shirts of the union they desperately want to represent them. That same afternoon 200 community residents, environmental and labor advocates picketed in support of the drivers outside the company’s San Pedro facilities, complete with 1,000 hand-gathered signatures urging justice for the workers who are the backbone of the port economy.

The workers filed another set of retaliation charges at the labor board on Monday, adding a new layerto an ongoing federal investigation. But first, some more backstory from Down Under.

The Toll shareholder meeting was quite the spectacle. Alberto’s allies roamed inside the halls circulating a new white paper by investor analysts with evidence that Toll’s instigation of a contentious low-road relationship with their truck drivers at American ports—at odds with their constructive labor approach in Australia—is a risky move that impairs the company’s reputation, operations, and relations with their retail customers.

Outside, Aussie Toll employees and officials from the Transport Workers Union staged a “sausage sizzle.” It was a lampoon-like BBQ fundraiser for their cash-strapped mates in the U.S., larded with a heavy point: Toll’s non-union employees at the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Newark and New Jersey do not earn a fair day’s wage for a hard day’s work like their 12,000 unionized counterparts in Australia.

And in the virtual arena, the Teamsters and the Transport Workers Union together launched a website to detail the grim truth at Toll Group in their new joint effort, aptly titled GrimTruthAtTollGroup.com.

The result of Alberto’s presence and his backers? Mr. Little was forced to publicly defend his actions which include banishing his truck drivers to filthy, unsanitary outhouses that lack running water. There would be no “riding off into the sunset” for Mr. Little after what should have been his final “legacy” presentation to shareholders,  thanks in part to the scrutiny and negative press of Toll’s U.S. operations.

Take action to help these workers. Send an email and tell Toll Group to respect the rights of American workers to organize.

WASHINGTON, D.C.-The Obama administration today issued the first ever medium- and heavy-duty truck fuel efficiency and carbon pollution standards, signaling a new era in vehicle efficiency. The announcement comes on the heels an agreement on light-duty vehicle standards, which was announced in late July.

While medium- and heavy-duty vehicles — including utility trucks, delivery vans, buses, and long-haul freight trucks — make up just four percent of vehicles on the road, they consume up to 37 billion gallons of fuel every year and account for 20 percent of greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution from the transportation sector. As a result, these standards represent an incredible opportunity to lower fuel costs for truckers, cut pollution, save oil, and create jobs. The new rules are set to take effect in 2014.

Michael Brune, Executive Director, Sierra Club

"The Sierra Club applauds the President’s historic announcement today. By setting fuel efficiency and carbon pollution standards for medium and heavy duty trucks, we will, for the first time, be able to clean up and improve the performance of the delivery trucks, city buses and freight trucks that Americans rely on each day, clearing our air, saving truckers and businesses money at the pump, creating jobs and bringing the nation a step closer to moving beyond oil."

James P. Hoffa, General President, International Brotherhood of Teamsters:

"These new standards will be vital to our efforts to clean up our nation’s ports and ensure we all can breathe cleaner air. The standards will be an invaluable tool as we work together with other unions, environmental organizations, and private and public interests in the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports.

“But, as these standards are implemented, we must ensure that the cost of doing business and cleaning up our environment by moving to more efficient vehicles is not passed on to hardworking truckers and we instead hold the industry responsible to labor and environmental standards.”

Bob King, President, United Auto Workers:

“With these new fuel efficiency standards — and the light duty standards announced recently — we truly are moving forward to a more efficient fleet of vehicles across the board. And, with this new fleet comes good jobs, a reduced dependence on foreign oil, and less pollution harming our communities and the environment. UAW is pleased to support these common sense proposals that illustrate what we can achieve when business, labor, and the public sector work together to achieve consensus.”

Larry Schweiger, President and CEO, National Wildlife Federation: 

“These standards will provide welcome fuel savings, budget relief, and pollution reduction to those who rely on heavy trucks to move nation’s goods and people, haul equipment on the job, or tow a boat to the lake. Truck manufacturers and workers, state and federal regulators, and conservationists stand together behind this new rule. It shows what Americans can accomplish when we work together.”

Kevin Knobloch, President, Union of Concerned Scientists:

“These standards will put Americans back to work by saving fuel and sparking innovation. We have the technology to meet the standards and go even farther in the future to make our trucks cleaner, more fuel efficient, and less expensive to operate. That’s good for workers, trucking companies, and the environment.”

Peter Lehner, Executive Director, NRDC

"Under these historic standards, American companies will use less fuel to move food, freight and other products and manufacturers will build cleaner trucks. This means less air pollution for our communities to breathe and less carbon pollution that threatens our climate.

"More fuel efficient heavy trucks will help businesses and consumers by lowering transportation costs while protecting the environment."

David Foster, Executive Director, BlueGreen Alliance:

“The BlueGreen Alliance strongly supports the Obama administration’s efforts to build a comprehensive, national set of vehicle standards that will usher in a cleaner fleet of cars and trucks. These standards will reduce our dependence on oil, strengthen the U.S. auto and truck manufacturing sectors, create quality jobs and significantly reduce GHG pollution as America transitions to a 21st century clean energy economy.

“It’s time Washington focuses on jobs. Efforts like these today by President Obama must be part of a greater plan to close America’s jobs deficit. The BlueGreen Alliance has offered a jobs plan called Jobs21!, which focuses on keeping and creating jobs in 21st century industries, such as advanced vehicle manufacturing, renewable energy, energy efficiency, broadband Internet, transportation and transit infrastructure, green chemistry and other vital industries.” 

Only days before the 19th anniversary of the signing of the Chapultepec Peace Accords, a powerful group of international trade union leaders has publicly called upon El Salvador’s authorities to resolve outstanding cases of murders by death squads, placing advertisements in El Salvador’s national press.

The advertisements, appearing in La Prensa Grafica and Co Latino today, highlight the case of Gilberto Soto, the Teamster Union official who was assassinated in El Salvador in November 2004 during a visit to the country to build a solidarity network between transport workers and their unions in the United States and Central America.

The global coalition of union presidents includes twenty-four leaders from eighteen countries on six continents, many from Latin America.

“Nineteen years after the signing of the Chapultepec Peace Accords, people around the globe are watching to see if El Salvador is prepared to protect the rights of its citizens to participate in union activities and other forms of engagement in civil society without risking their lives,” stated Paddy Crumlin, President of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and General Secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia. “We are especially alarmed that the forces of reaction continue to threaten officials, such as Zaira Navas, who are seeking to end corruption and ensure that no one, regardless of rank or class, is allowed to act outside the law with impunity.”

The advertisement in today’s newspapers calls on President Funes and the Assembly to protect Zaira Navas, and calls on the attorney general to insure transparent and effective investigations of crimes. “People from all sectors of society, all social classes and all political parties must give their support to anyone who is committed to ending corruption and to punishing those who commit these crimes. We call on Attorney General Romeo Barahona to appoint an official who is willing and able to effectively investigate the murder of Jose Gilberto Soto, as well as other killings by death squads,” state the union leaders in their declaration.

“This is our first public statement,” said David Cockroft, General Secretary of the London-based ITF. “But behind the scenes, the ITF and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) have expressed concern previously that Soto’s death was linked to his trade union activities, and have filed a complaint with the ILO’s Committee on Freedom of Association regarding the case.”

For more details please contact:

Antonio Rodriguez Fritz
Fritz_Antonio@itf.org.uk
Secretario Regional / Regional Secretary
ITF-Americas
Av. Rio Branco 26, 11 Andar
CEP 20090-001 - Centro
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Tel: +55 21 22230410
Fax: +55 21 22830314
Mobile: +55 21 94805325