Hr» Franca» Schoen-.*.'a»spapar R oom U n iv e r s it y o f Oregon L ib r a r y cugene, Oregon 9 /433 Albina center threatened LU Ul Page4 Valentine love story Jesse Jackson on Reagan Page 2 Page 4 PCC builds basketball Page 12 PORTLAND OBSERMER USPS 959.680-855 C tu r February 9, 1983 Volume XIII, Number 18 25C Per Copy PlMaJung C o. I MJ Businessmen strike Truckers continue shutdown by Robert Lothian “ Run today, welfare to m o rro w ," and "In d ep e n d en ts U n it e ! " read the picket signs stacked in front o f the modest o ffic e o f the P a c ific Coast O w n e r-O p e ra to r’ s Associa­ tion, located across from the Jubitz T ru c k Stop on N o rth V an c o u ve r W ay. The 250-member organization o f P o rtla n d -V a n c o u v e r independent truckers is the local spearhead o f the two-week old national strike. " W e 'l l stay out tw o w eeks, six months, a year, whatever it takes,” said P C O O A president Robert Zieg­ ler, 66. " W e ’ re all broke n ow ,” he said. " I f w e 're going to lose our trucks, we might as well lose them; there’s no use prolonging it ." Z ie g ler predicted that reduced produce shipments from C alifo rn ia would cause a strike im pact in the P o rtla n d area Even though the T eam ster’s U nion has so far w ith ­ d raw n o ffic ia l supprot fo r the strike, Ziegler said that many indivi­ dual Teamsters had expressed sym­ pathy. The nation’ s ItW.tMM) independent truckers, representing about one- fifth o f the industry, transport 90 percent o f all fresh produce in the U.S. When they shut down it means that fruit and vegetables soon begin disap pearin g fro m store shelves, and their prices go up. The strike started January 31st, (anniversary of a hard-fought strike o f independents in 1974), to protest the H ighw ay Im provem ent Act o f 1982 passed by the lame duck C o n ­ gress on Decem ber 7 th . T a x in ­ creases called for in the b ill, plus pressure from railroads and general depressed economic conditions are seen by the truckers as conspiring to make them a vanishing breed. A c ­ co rd ing to Z ie g le r, independents were "going broke" before the bill was passed, and the tax increases represent a double w h a m m y . F or these reasons, the nation-wide Inde­ pendent Truckers Association has called the new law the " T r u c k Bankruptcy Act o f 1982." " R o n ,” a trucker in Ziegler’s of- fice, said his w ife was " rig h t now trying to get the kids on the school lunch p r o g r a m ." T h e y were " b r o k e , " he said, and lo o k in g toward welfare. T h r iT A 's president, M ike P ark­ h u rst, explain ed strik e issues to truckers and the public at a rally at the North Portland Expo Center on February 4th. According to Parkhurst, the new bill, which won’ t take full effect un­ til 1985, w ill cause independent truckers’ tax bills to rise to upwards o f $3,000 per year. The federal high­ way use tax w ill rise to $1600 per year, he said, and the fuel tax in ­ crease o f S< per gallon called for in the b ill translates into a $1,000 per year increase for the average driver. Parkhurst said that a new 12 per­ cent federal sales tax on all new trac­ tors and tra ile rs , and on all parts and accessories added w ith in six months, would am ount to $17,000 or over $5,000 per year, spaced over fo u r years, based on a $ 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 price tag lo r a new tru c k -tra ile r c o m b in a tio n . A n added b u rd e n , said P arkhurst, is the new "ru b b e r tax” o f 50« per pound on each tire weighing over 90 pounds. T h e federal tax increases are a l­ ready paving the way fo r states to raise their truck taxes and user fees, and the b ill has created an a tm o ­ sphere favorable to the renegotia­ tion of the "M a s te r Freight Agree m ent” covering Team sters, which could mean wage cuts fo r union drivers, he said. Parkhurst attacked the 55 m .p.h. speed lim it as con tribu ting to a 30 percent loss o f p ro d u c tiv ity fo r drivers— it means 12 extra hours on the road during a 3,000 mile trip, he said. He also disagreed w ith D ept. o f Transportation studies which show that heavy trucks were not paying th eir share o f highw ay dam age costs. The n ation ’ s interstates were designed to be able to handle m ili­ tary-sized loads, he said, which are much heaver than to d a y ’ s trucks. The "patch the roads" aspect o f the new b ill to uted by C ongress, he said, hides an attack on independent truckers. T ru cke rs contend that the real thrust of the bill is to drive the inde­ pendents out o f business and contri­ bute to a railroad monopoly on land transport. The b ill is " a ll oriented toward the railroads," says Ziegler. S o-called "p ig g y b a c k s ," e q u ip ­ ment owned by the railroads which can go by both road and r a il— re ­ m ain exempt fro m the tax burden Attention! Th» possibility that the Adult and Family Sarvlcas andChll- dran s Sarvlcas Division officaa In tha Albina Araa will ba closad and thalr staffs and functions transfarrad to otflcas