Members of a workers union that represents many employees at the Port of Hueneme in California, US, have refused to load fresh produce onto trucks in protest against a company that they feel wrongly fired 10 drivers.
According to the Ventura County Star, major players such as Fresh Del Monte and Chiquita Fresh North America could be impacted by the move, although they could find other truck companies to deliver the produce for them.
The union is supporting the drivers, who said that they were mistreated and paid 'substandard' wages by Seaboard Produce Distributors Inc. before voting to unionise, and then being fired the next day.
'We're going to stay here until the companies in the harbour tell `Seaboard owner` Mr Hansen to take his business elsewhere,' Dennis Shaw, contract administrator for the Teamsters Local Union No. 186, told the Ventura County Star.
However, even if Hansen does get his trucks loaded, he would have trouble at grocery store warehouses, many of which are staffed by fellow Teamsters, Shaw noted.
'So if he does get product to those locations, they won't be unloaded,' he added.
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