(The following article by George Raine was posted on the San Francisco Chronicle website on May 11.)
OAKLAND, Calif. — Independent truck drivers ended their weeklong protest at the Port of Oakland Monday after a Superior Court judge issued a temporary restraining order that prohibits trespassing and other forms of disruption at the site.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge James Richman signed the order Friday in response to demonstrations by drivers that significantly slowed the flow of goods through the port. Drivers demanded that the trucking companies pay a rate increase to cover the rising cost of diesel fuel.
Spokesman for shipping lines said trucks and cargo moved smoothly at the port Monday.
“All back to normal,” said Bob Watters of SSA Marine in Seattle. “There’s no demonstrating, and there’s a big queue of trucks,” said Scott Dailey, a spokesman for APL in Oakland. “The terminal manager, Paul Clouse, said, ‘It’s as if last week never happened.’ ”
Driver Oscar Castan was at work at the port Monday because, he said, his company had given him an increase — not as much as he requested but satisfactory, he said. “That’s why we work,” he said.
It is not known how many truckers are still refusing to work, but one of them is Ruben Lopez of Newark, who said Monday that he will remain on strike until he and others see a rate increase from employers. The port hosted a meeting between the two sides on May 6, at which representatives of the drivers said they would return to work for 30 days. The protest continued the following day, however, and the port went to court for the restraining order.
The drivers’ protest has caused a backlog of cargo containers at the port, the fourth-largest in the United States. Because the port is clogged, the Union Pacific railroad has declined to ship most goods bound for the port for the past week, said John Bromley, a company spokesman in Omaha, Neb.