Swift may be viewed by some observers as the face of a greener port industry – the national trucking company was first in line to sign up for port concessions – but despite their clean fleet the concessionaire appears to be running a dirty campaign against its workers.

Like the haulers who last Monday protested the unscrupulous labor broker scheme at Southern Counties Express, Swift drivers this morning marched on their boss with a petition signed by nearly 80 drivers (partial listing available here) with a similarly clear message: Enough is enough.

Four Swift employees were wrongfully terminated in the past month, an Unfair Labor Practice filed Friday with the National Labor Relations Board charges. Anthony Herron, Bismark Sanchez Jr., Marco Diaz and Salvador Diaz say they were fired because they refused company pressure to illegally haul overweight loads on alternate routes to avoid Department of Transportation inspection points, and for questioning why they weren’t paid the overtime they worked.      

And that has Councilwoman Janice Hahn, whose district includes the Wilmington based Swift, beyond peeved. She joined the roughly 100 port drivers and their community and Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports advocates at 8 a.m. to deliver a strongly worded letter to the company’s terminal manager. It reads, in part:

I am very concerned by the grievances brought on against SWIFT by several of its current employees. It is my understanding that employees have been subjected to a series of meetings where they have been interrogated and beleaguered for raising safety issues and speaking out against workplace mistreatment.

I have been a strong supporter of the Los Angeles Clean Trucks Program because I firmly believe that my constituents deserve both clean air and good jobs. While I applaud your use of a clean fleet as part of your doing business in my district, I remind you that treating your workers in a fair and responsible manner is just as important to the Los Angeles Clean Trucks Program.

LA Clean Trucks Program supporters David Greene of the San Pedro Democratic Club, Angelo Logan of East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, Professor Jake Wilson from California State University Long Beach and several port residents agreed. . As public health advocates, they let the brave port drivers know that they would stand with them in their fight – it’s not enough to have clean trucks if the worker behind the wheel is being treated unfairly.

Bizmark Sanchez Jr. was deeply moved by all the support for him and his co-workers. As one of Hahn’s constituents, he courageously blew the whistle in a letter on Swift’s dirty tricks and said he was grateful that the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports and the Councilwoman heard his plea for help. He couldn’t believe his simple words on college-ruled paper and blue ink would generate attention from TV cameras, newspaper reporters a powerful elected leader and community residents: 

We are hard working people who just want to earn an honest living for our families. I know that many port drivers fought hard to finally be employees and drive clean trucks, but the companies act just as bad as they used to when we were independent contractors. We want to work in the port but we also want to be safe and we want to get paid for all the hours we work.

 As the drivers like to say, Sí Se Puede.