Aussie Billionaires Think They Can Keep American Workers Down & Under

by Eric Tate, Teamsters local 848

Some 12,000 transportation workers employed by Toll Group in Australia are unionized, and are fairly rewarded and valued for helping make the logistics giant so profitable. But not here in the U.S. The company suspiciously sacked one-third of its Southern California truck drivers before the busy holiday shopping season, just two days after Toll’s pro-union workers donned Teamster T-shirts and partook in a peaceful community rally.

The truck drivers didn’t buy for one minute the claim that work had simply slowed down at America’s largest port, so instead of being silenced—they mobilized! To date, the workers have successfully pressured the company to rehire 15, but management instituted an arbitrary 90-day deadline that could put the remaining pink-slipped drivers out of work for good if they are not recalled in the next week.

For months, L.A. facilities have been raising concerns to management about their Third World-like workplace conditions— filthy, fly-ridden outhouses, and no access to clean, running water. Then suddenly, 26 were canned, without notice. The top federal labor agency has been investigating the company and recently found that drivers were being intimidated, harassed, and put under surveillance in retaliation for organizing themselves.

The finding is a powerful symbol, but it won’t help the 11 workers who are underwater since their unemployment in October. Let’s tell Toll Group they can’t play dirty here. Demand that they drop their arbitrary deadline just as swiftly as they manufactured it to keep their American workers silent. Click here to take action and demand that Guess and Polo’s trucking carrier treat their American workers like they do in Australia – fairly!