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Reports vary on impact of May 1 protests
By Lance Orr
The Port of Long Beach, Calif., was effectively shut down May 1 by “Day Without an Immigrant” protests, the California Trucking Association said, but other areas of the industry reported no problems.
News reports said the Port of Los Angeles, too, was virtually shut down.
“Ten percent of the workforce came into the ports, so they were affected,” said Stephanie Williams, the California association’s senior vice president.
On May Day itself, Art Wong, the Long Beach port’s public information officer, characterized the situation differently.
“Yes, we have much lighter than usual traffic today, but we had heavier than usual traffic on Friday and Saturday, so it’s not clear if it has an impact,” Wong said. “The terminals are open, they are working on the ships and trains, but there are fewer trucks than usual.”
Wong said the terminals might have anticipated the protests. “There are some trucks going in and out of the terminals, but it is very light,” Wong said.
When told of Wong’s comments, Williams suggested that the port wanted the public to think it was working at full capacity so its billing would be unaffected.
“We didn’t want to be charged per diem that day because 90 percent of the workforce was out,” Williams said.
Follow-up calls to Wong after May Day were not returned.
Hundreds of thousands of immigrants, mostly Hispanics, staged protests, work stoppages and boycotts nationwide May 1 to demonstrate Hispanic economic clout and protest illegal-immigrant legislation passed by the U.S. House.
News reports said half the constuction workers in Florida's Miami-Dade County failed to show up for work, while Goya Foods, a Hispanic-owned company based in New Jersey, suspended deliveries everywhere but Florida.
The effect on trucking, as on other industries, seemed to depend on the region.
“It had absolutely no impact,” said Bill Webb, president of the Texas Motor Transport Association. “We didn’t see anything anywhere. All of our members said all their employees showed up, and we didn’t have any problems.”
American Trucking Associations spokesman Mike Russell also said May 1 he hadn’t heard of any problems.
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