As grocery strikes continue to spread across the country, more and more truckers will be faced with driving loads into strike zones, and possibly to companies covered by the strikes.
So far, the strike action appears to be centered on the retail stores. And that's good news for many truckers, especially over-the-road drivers. Most long-haul truckers carry goods to distribution centers, rather than individual stores, so the majority of truckers who will face picket lines will be those who work short-haul or locally.
Among those truckers, some may have already accepted the loads before they became aware of the strike. In other cases, they may be asked to take a load to those areas. In either case, if they are among the drivers who are likely to encounter strikers, there are some facts they need to know.
The first precaution every trucker should take is to be aware of what areas and what companies are covered by the strike - not only from a business perspective, but also from a safety perspective.
Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, said truckers should keep themselves informed and not expect that they will receive any warning - or for that matter, any accurate information - that they are going into a strike area when they take a load.
"Don't count on a broker or anyone else to tell you," he said.
Truckers already scheduled to deliver to strike areas have a wide variety of factors to consider. First and foremost, is the truck obligated to deliver that load?
Gary Green of OOIDA's Business Services department said that if you are an owner-operator and have already accepted a contract to haul a load to one of the stores under strike, he or she should attempt to bring the load to the receiver and present it for tender.
Two attorneys contacted by Land Line agreed.
"Generally speaking if they take on a load, they would be required to discharge their responsibility under their contract documents," said Kent Bevan, an attorney with Dysart Taylor Lay Cotter and McMonigle, a Kansas City, MO, law firm that represents clients including a number in the transportation industry.
"I don't think a strike prevents any type of legal obligation," Jeff McConnell, an attorney with Road Law in Oklahoma City, said. "Their obligation probably supercedes any type of outside stresses that may be going on. That contract is a contract."
Of course, realistically speaking, to deliver the load, a trucker has to have access to the property. Although it is not legal for pickets to block someone from entering a commercial property, a picket line is problematic.
Bevan said a trucker trying to decide what to do next should consult the contract he's hauling under, such as a lease with a carrier, to see what his or her specific obligations are.
OOIDA's Green said delivering into a strike situation, where there may be no one but store management to accept the load, could lead to other problems. For example, some receivers may tell truckers to bring the load and that they will unload as soon as they are able, "then you might be there for three days, and you might end up being their storage."
Green said truckers could take some precautions to lessen the effect of that situation. For example, before they take the load, owner-operators should make clear what their demurrage rate is and make sure, if they want to receive that money, that the demurrage is included in any contract. An appointment time is useful to back that up.
In some cases, truckers could arrive at their destination and then be told the receiver cannot take the load. Once again, Bevan said, they should first check their contract for guidance.
"The contract documents are going to control," he said. "But I think they would want to contact their dispatcher and have the company for whom they're hauling contact the shipper. You've gone from point A to point B and you want to let that shipper know where you are, what the status is and try to get confirmation of what they want done. If you're hauling groceries and particularly if they're perishables you've got shelf-life issues and you've got cost issues."
McConnell said that legally, the receiver has contracted to take the goods once the trucker has delivered them. Under the law, the receiver's situation doesn't matter.
"It's like buying short on futures; here's your pork bellies," he said. "You ordered it, you contracted for it, I suggest you take it."
If the trucker is successful in delivering the load, he or she has fulfilled the obligation, McConnell said.
If at all possible, truckers should decide before accepting a load whether they want to haul to one of the companies covered by the strike, Green said.
"It's a decision you have to make," he said. "I suspect many truckers sympathize with the grocery workers. If that's the case they should not only pass on the loads, but also buy their groceries at markets that aren't on strike."
McConnell said once a trucker accepts a load, it would be a good idea to talk with the broker or shipper to make sure they understand the load is headed for a potential trouble area, and to discuss how to ensure that the trucker will be paid for the load once it is delivered. It's also a good idea to call the receiver before leaving to make sure they can and will accept it.
"You need to try to work with your broker and your shipper and your receiver and all the parties involved and just know what you're getting into," he said.
The first grocery strikes broke out a week ago. Since then, the actions have spread to four other states.
In Southern California, more than 800 stores operated by Vons, Ralph's, Pavilions and Albertsons - roughly 60 percent of all groceries in the southern half of the state - are the target of a strike by 70,000 workers, media outlets reported. The strike, which centers on health benefits, started Sunday, Oct. 12.
In the St. Louis area, strikers have targeted more than 90 stores operated under the Schnuck's, Dierberg's and Shop & Save banners, local media outlets reported. According to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the strike started when more than 10,000 grocery workers who are members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 655 struck one of the stores, Shop & Save. In response, that company and the other two chains locked out union workers. During the strike, the stores are using a combination of management and roughly 7,800 temporary replacement workers, The Post-Dispatch said.
The St. Louis strikers have been joined by workers in other unions, including auto workers, who are showing their support. That strike entered its ninth day Friday, Oct. 17.
Workers in West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky have also joined the spreading strikes. Roughly 3,000 of them voted Oct. 13 to go on strike against Kroger Co., the parent of California strike target Ralph's, after rejecting a contract offer, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
--by Mark H. Reddig, associate editor
Mark Reddig can be reached at mark_reddig@landlinemag.com.
