Charleston truckers begin push for higher hauling wages after ports strike

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - A Charleston trucker advocacy group says they are encouraging drivers to say no to low wage offers and negotiate their way into what they are calling a livable wage.

Inspired by the ILA strike, the local Charleston Coalition 18 says they know they are now in a seat of power to ask for what they want in terms of pay. Jaun Gordon founded Coalition 18 in 2021 as a local support and advocacy group for truckers to share information with each other.

“The ILA decided that they were going to strike, and we can’t work if they’re not working. So we all sat home three, four days as well without being able to work. They did what they did to better their situation and we got to do what we got to do as a community to better ours,” Gordon says.

He estimates every day the ports are shut down, it takes five days of work to recover, so he knows they are in a vital time where their work is invaluable on the roads.

Truckers with the Charleston Coalition 18 Advocacy Group estimate hauling items costs a driver $1.90 per mile, factoring in the cost of gas and wear on the rig requiring maintenance and safety work.

Gordon says customers, helped by the middlemen called brokers, sometimes offer $1.50 or less per mile in payment. That means, in their estimation, truckers aren’t even breaking even, but in fact costing themselves money in the long run.

“We got brokers that that chip away 50% of loads most of those cases, in order for a truck to go, to go down the road, it takes at least $1.90 per mile. You got brokers coming in, companies pushing these things out for $1.50 a mile. So you got a driver who’s got 40, 50, 60, $80,000 invested into this piece of equipment that he can’t maintain properly because he’s leaving his base for negative 40 cents,” Gordon says.

Gordon says there are strict regulations on truckers and their equipment, rightfully so, so that they meet safety standards. In an ideal world, he says they would eliminate the brokers or the middlemen. But that’s not realistic so Coalition 18 is encouraging members to say no to wages that don’t turn a profit based on pay per mile.

The ports are a major one of many customers for truckers. Gordon says in the past they have had good negotiations and relationships with the port on wages and they know their point of contact there. Coalition 18 plans to make contact with the ports and provide a list of rate requests.

“I’ve always believed in that relationship, because anything that we brought to them in the past, we’ve been seeming to be able to work out. But the difference for the guys that run the road is you got 2,000-3000 brokers. So how do you, how do you effectively change those brokers? By refusing to move the freight under your baseline,” Gordon says.

A rally in North Charleston Friday morning brought out a couple of hundred drivers, including Shauntai Robinson and Ebony Richards. They along with Gordon repeated to truckers that they have the power to negotiate with brokers and customers individually, on their own behalf. They agree something needs to change and the way to do it is getting organized and sticking together.

“I do believe this is the first step in the longer process, drivers need to sit together and communicate because of immunity. We’re all fighting for the same thing, just like ILA. We’re fighting for better rates, better working conditions. For that to happen, members need to be there. Drivers are working together for the same cause,” Robinson says.

Trucker’s Report, an online trucker forum based on industry worker input, estimates the average Charleston trucker salary is about $92,000 a year or $1,700 a week. But that rate is an estimate based on a small sample size and voluntary inputs. Other salary tools estimate the average trucker pay for the area around $40,000 a year, depending on experience and hours worked weekly. The salary can fluctuate greatly depending on overtime worked and the pay offers and cuts taken by brokers.

Robinson has plans to start documenting the rates of brokers across the area according to drivers, so they can collectively demand specific percentages they keep on rates per mile and per load and collectively refuse ones they agree are too low. The truckers hope the public will understand their stance, and support them in their efforts as they plan to decline low paying jobs.

“We’re a working-class people. We have families as independent drivers and truckers. Our goal is not to negatively impact anybody. We don’t want to put any family or anybody in a bad place, because at the end of the day, we are a part of that community as well as we have families. But we’re looking for the public to support us and help understand that we’re simply trying to make a living for our families and to be able to safely provide the services that they need as well,” Robinson says.

Gordon says it all hinges on this group sticking together and they plan to hold more closed-door meetings soon. In the meantime, they maintain the urge for drivers to decline low wage jobs, below the baseline cost estimate of $1.90 per mile and he hopes for public support.

“I want to let the public know that this is not against you. We know you need things on the shelves. We get that. We understand it was just a storm. We get that. But what we’re telling you is, for your safety and our safety, we cannot operate these trucks for under the cost per mile, we got to get to and from where we got to go safely, and that takes money,” Gordon says.