March 2, 2009: Jack Cooper, operating as PMT in the West, has lost GM traffic in Los Angeles and Milpitas, Calif. to a nonunion outfit called Harbor Auto Transport. Over half of the drivers working have been laid off.

Los Angeles Local 63’s carhaul BA, Bob Doss, has consistently blamed the workers for not taking big concessions. The company continues to pressure the drivers to take a flat rate concession.

30-Day Notice

Jack Cooper has also royally screwed the owner-operators in Local 63. Management encouraged a number of drivers to buy brand-new trucks less than two years ago, to become “partners” with PMT. Now they have given the drivers 30 days notice of their lease cancellation. They did the same thing in Georgetown, Ky.

These Teamsters are stuck with payments on vehicles that cost over $200,000 at a time when there is no market to sell a car carrier.

They could be forced to take an enormous loss on the investment that management asked them to make.

Doss, their BA, won’t even return their calls for help, leaving the drivers on their own.

With excess capacity in the industry, companies are taking every advantage they can. And shippers are looking to increase nonunion market share. In tough times like this we need a union leadership with a plan more than ever. We don’t have that now.