Accusations fly as concrete worker union claims companies are using ‘ghost trucks’
Feb 28, 2022, 9:53 AM | Updated: 12:21 pm
Seattle-area concrete delivery drivers on the picket line. (Teamsters Local 174)
(Teamsters Local 174)
A 12-hour mediation session didn’t get anywhere last week on settling the nearly three-month-old concrete delivery driver strike.
Latest talks in Seattle-area concrete worker strike fall flat
The union and the concrete suppliers did offer new proposals during the mediation session, but they were rejected out of hand.
The companies upped their pay raise to 18% over three years, which the union said amounts to just 15 cents more an hour.
The union offered a new one-year deal with a raise of nearly 11%, which would have put the drivers back to work immediately while a long-term deal could be hammered out. This contract would last until July 2022, so it penciled out to only a five month deal. The companies called that “obviously unacceptable.”
Both sides continue to say they are ready to bargain any time, claiming the other side is not.
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The accusations ratcheted up over the weekend as well. The union put out an 11-page document suggesting the companies are using unsafe, third-party drivers that are putting the public at risk.
The document shows pictures of concrete trucks with logos covered up and blocked-out Department of Transportation numbers, described by the union as so-called “ghost trucks.” The pictures also show what the union calls “outlaw trucks,” vehicles with missing pieces like chute covers and tail lights, and without license plates.
KIRO Newsradio has asked the companies to comment on these accusations. A spokesperson is going over the information.
