Friday, September 08, 2000 2:57 AM MST Truckers demand more money to meet gas prices Matthew D. LaPlante CORRESPONDENT

OAKLAND -- About 60 truckers have been spending the week outside their big rigs to protest what they say is poor compensation for rising fuel costs.

The truckers are independent contractors of Pacific Rim Trucking Inc. a subsidiary of Maersk Inc., the largest container hauler in the United States. So far, their protest has not expanded to any of the company's seven other West Coast locations.

At issue is the compensation rate Pacific Rim offers for fuel and trucking costs. The truckers say the rate has not changed significantly in the last year, even though the cost of diesel fuel has soared.

"Last year we were buying fuel for anywhere from $1 to $1.10. At that time, the rate in the Oakland-San Jose area was $1.23. Right now, diesel costs about $2 per gallon, and the rate is still $1.23," said Naim Sharifi, a protesting trucker.

Pacific Rim officials say they sympathize with the truckers' plight and are considering rate changes.

"We professionally and personally feel sympathy for the independent contractors and want to help with this sudden new cost," said Joshua Gruen, the company's terminal manager. "We have and will continue to update rates to make us competitive."

First though, Gruen has offered the truckers temporary supplement payments while the cost of diesel is high.

But Sharifi said the truckers don't want a supplement payment that can be discontinued if the price of gas drops. The truckers have asked for a 15 percent increase on all rates.

"A lot of these truckers are immigrants, they think immigrants don't know anything," Sharifi said. "But we've all been in the business long enough to know this isn't fair."

However, Teamster's organizer Odus Hall said he believes the truckers may have a difficult time negotiating against Pacific Rim because the truckers aren't unionized. Federal law prohibits independent contractors from collective bargaining.

Hall has offered to mediate the protest, but said the company isn't interested.

"In my opinion, what they are trying to do is to continue to muscle these guys," Hall said. "The drivers are very willing to have us mediate."

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 08, 2000