Informational Purposes . . Fair Use ... Apologies if already posted --

Published Wednesday, February 16, 2000, in the Miami Herald

As truckers' strike drags on, region's economy faces `crisis' BY GREGG FIELDS gfields@herald.com The wildcat truckers strike paralyzing South Florida's trade community isn't just about the rising price of diesel fuel.

Although soaring prices have sparked trucker protests at a number of U.S. cities in recent days, only in South Florida is a truckers strike crippling port operations in Miami-Dade and Broward counties for the long haul.

Restarting the flow of cargo won't be easy, because this isn't a simple case. There are a number of grievances by truckers besides diesel costs. The feud has a lack of organized entities and there aren't really any political bodies with authority to negotiate a resolution. To top it off, rabid competition among independent truckers will make it tough to enforce any agreement that might be reached.

In the meantime, the strike is causing havoc.

``It's a major economic crisis for the county,'' said Rosa Sugranes, owner of Iberia Tiles, which has several dozen containers sitting idle at the port. ``I don't see any way out.''

Independent truckers usually work either under contract with a trucking company or on a per-day basis by getting hauling jobs through a broker who matches up companies with a hauling need to available drivers.

Trade officials say the economic carnage of all those idle trucks is beginning to mount. Roughly $50 billion worth of cargo flows through the Miami Customs District each year, or $136 million on an average day.

With everything from building products to apparel for retailers among the imports, industries beyond trade will soon feel the pinch. And inevitable layoffs will drive up already high unemployment.

``My cash flow has come to a halt,'' said David Friedman, owner of Stanley Metal Group, which both imports and exports recycled metal. He has temporarily closed his North Miami warehouse, where 12 people worked. ``It's just been a complete disaster.''

Of all the issues involved, the rising cost of fuel is probably the easiest to resolve. Companies that need cargo delivered say they're ready and willing to pay drivers more.

``I don't think there's a customer, including ourselves, who wouldn't be willing to pay more,'' said Greg Eifert, an executive with Ramco Trading, a major importer of cleaning products from China.

DEREGULATION

So if it isn't just fuel prices, what else is driving the protracted walkout?

Similar to the protests at the World Trade Organization in Seattle, South Florida's truckers appear to reflect a growing backlash against a deregulated, global economy that has brought prosperity to many, but has marginalized those at the edges of the skills spectrum.

Deregulation of transportation in the 1980s largely did away with the safety net of fixed freight rates for truckers.

Many trucking firms collapsed, so drivers increasingly became owner-operators. They buy their own rigs, then contract with trucking companies or businesses for revenue.

But while truck drivers have an almost mythic place in American folklore, the profession has become a savagely competitive arena of budget-grinding economics.

HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT

While truckers in other parts of the country, which has record-low unemployment, might be able to pursue other lines of work, that isn't a clear option in Miami-Dade, where the jobless rate is well above state and national averages. It's better in Broward, but the independent trucking business isn't as heavy at Port Everglades as it is in Miami.

Getting local truckers to the bargaining table isn't easy. Because they're nonunion, it's not completely clear who can speak for them. In other cities, drivers returned to work at the behest of the Teamsters, which represents them.

A loosely organized entity called Support Trucking Group lacks legal authority to speak for all truckers, some of whom reportedly want to work but fear retaliation.

``The majority of drivers employed in container haulage are willing to work, but they are afraid to work in Metro-Dade County,'' contended the Caribbean Shipowners Association, in a letter to Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas.

``No one has really been able to get a handle on who they're dealing with,'' said Bill Cullom, head of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce. ``With union trucks, you can find who you need to talk to.''

Cullom fears a protracted strike could produce a long-term shift in trade routes if shippers lose faith in South Florida's ports. The chamber wrote a letter to Penelas pledging to help him any way it can. But while Penelas has conducted several meetings to bring the parties together, there haven't been any breakthroughs.

COSTLY INSURANCE

Perhaps the chief grievance among local owner-operators is insurance, said Hosey Hernandez, an attorney for Support Trucking Group.

Truckers must buy their insurance through trucking firms, he said, or they're denied the right to drive. Those truckers who have ongoing deals with a company are compelled to buy their insurance through that company, and truckers who haul for different companies on a per-day basis have to buy insurance for that day's work before they're given cargo to pick up.

Hernandez contends that firms frequently gouge truckers on premiums. He said truckers might pay upward of $8,000 a year for insurance, which they could obtain for $3,500 or so on the open market.

``They need to be able to get their own insurance,'' he said. ``The brokers say, `You don't buy the insurance from me, you don't work for me.' ''

Although an independent driver might take in as much as $1,500 total revenue in a week, he said fuel, payment on the truck and insurance might whittle that to $300 before taxes. ``These guys have no motivation to go back.''

But owners of trucking firms say insurance isn't such a simple issue. Truckers must buy policies in-house, they say, because it's the only way to guarantee universal coverage. Monitoring myriad individual policies to make sure they're adequate, and paid promptly, is more than most firms could handle.

``We have to have a uniform policy,'' said Tim Darwick, operations manager at Countywide Trucking, whose 19 drivers under contract are all idle.

Raising pay for drivers to cover costs such as insurance isn't realistic, he said, because not everyone will follow suit.

``It's very hard to have good rates when there are cutthroats out there,'' he said.

Pete Mitchell, chief of staff to Florida Insurance Commissioner Bill Nelson, said Penelas had contacted him and that his department would send the appropriate staffers ``if there's anything we can do to negotiate this out.''

Beyond insurance issues, truckers remain united around another issue: crippling waits at Miami's seaport.

Drivers wait up to three hours at the port, burning up increasingly costly fuel. More importantly, they burn time, reducing their number of daily deliveries. It's important because they're paid by the trip.

``I think they really have a plight with the traffic delays,'' said William Cullom, of the chamber. ``It has to be resolved. The whole thing has to be looked at from a total efficiency standpoint.''

-- PHO (owennos@bigfoot.com), February 16, 2000

Answers

Thanks PHO,
One more link in the economic chain. I wonder, where is the breaking point going to be? (Or can we make it thru till after the elections?)

-- Possible Impact (posim@hotmail.com), February 16, 2000.

r r r r r r r rrr r r r r r r r rrrrrrrrrrr rrr r rr rrrrrrrripple effect.

-- Squirrel Hunter (nuts@upina.cellrelaytower), February 16, 2000.

PHO, excellent find!

Oh, I was especially struck by these two quotes:

"Similar to the protests at the World Trade Organization in Seattle, South Florida's truckers appear to reflect a growing backlash against a deregulated, global economy that has brought prosperity to many, but has marginalized those at the edges of the skills spectrum."

Emphasis upon "marginalized those at the edges"...

"But while truck drivers have an almost mythic place in American folklore, the profession has become a savagely competitive arena of budget-grinding economics."

Emphasis on "budget-grinding economics"... No horse do-do...

And for the truckers, they aren't even seeing an oncoming effect of NAFTA which will be Mexican truckers running U.S. highways, pulling much heavier loads than ours are allowed to, not having to adhere to the safety standards ours must adhere to, and at least some probably not very well able to read our signage.

Oh, excuse the heck outta me -- we'll soon look worse than Quebec -- we in the U.S. will have to have interstate signage in English, French and Spanish. Darn signs are gonna resemble skyscrapers and gonna have to have aircraft warning lights on 'em! Oh, yeah, and us U.S. taxpayers will have to pay for the cost of all that new signage of course.

Now, as I drive back and forth later this week, it'll be interesting to see how soon truckers running Ohio are chewing this over on the CB's. I guarantee you that among those truckers running the East Coast runs this is already one hot topic. Let's see, Baltimore is one huge port, isn't it?

Rrrrripppple is right. Isn't gonna taste very sweet, either!

I still think the Canadian truckers have a deliciously nasty idea: "Low er the fuel taxes" !!!

-- redeye in ohio (cannot@work.com), February 16, 2000.