Truckers abandon protest
By MICHAEL JAMISON of the Missoulian
June 16,2005

KALISPELL - Log truck drivers have abandoned their organized protest against Plum Creek Timber Co. without a sought-after pay increase, but are nevertheless considering their shutdown a success.

"We didn't lose this battle by any means," said trucker Kevin Jump. "All Plum Creek did was make the trucker shortage worse by forcing a bunch of guys out of the business."
In the month before the strike, Jump owned 15 trucks but lost five drivers to higher wages in the construction business. Now, he's following his former employees.

Jump sold one rig to a construction firm this week and is converting several others to operate as "dump boxes" for construction work.

"I'm going into the construction business," Jump said, "at least with part of my business."

Another longtime log trucker, he said, is selling five of his rigs, forced out of the business by "Plum Creek's total lack of response to our concerns."

Nearly two weeks ago, the truckers stopped hauling for Plum Creek, asking the company to raise both haul rates and fuel payments. The timber company refused to talk to the truckers, however, saying fair rates had already been negotiated with general logging contractors.

Those contractors, not Plum Creek, hire the truckers, based on rates negotiated with the timber company.

According to Jump, some contractors "dug into their own pockets" to help the truckers when Plum Creek refused to budge.

Other drivers have gone to work for the few small mills still afloat in northwest Montana.

Still others have crossed over to construction trucking, which Jump says pays far better than Plum Creek.

And at least one logging contractor bought trucks to do his own hauling, Jump said, "but what he's really bought is nothing but a big headache."

Keeping drivers behind those wheels, he said, will prove no easier for the contractor than it was for the trucking businesses themselves.

Throughout the debate, Plum Creek's regional general manager, Tom Ray, has said his company provides fair rates and will not be affected by disgruntled drivers.

But Jump predicts "a huge problem" once the summer season woods work hits full swing and so many have walked away from Plum Creek's pay.

"I really don't think so," Ray countered. "I believe we'll have adequate trucking capacity. I think it will be fine."

Ray's optimism was bolstered by the fact that Plum Creek mills received a full haul of 300 loads Tuesday, despite the shutdown.

But Jump said abandoning the protest had less to do with truckers who would not join and more to do with Plum Creek's refusal to talk.

When the company offered no response whatsoever to the protest, he said, truckers realized their best bet was to simply move on.

"These guys are in agreement that Plum Creek no longer cares," Jump said. "They don't care about the log truckers, and they don't care about the community that this was all about. We're going back to work, but not for Plum Creek."

Wednesday, though, logs were continuing to roll into Plum Creek mills, just as Ray predicted they would. It may take weeks to determine what the impact of the unsettled settlement might be on the company's log inventories.

"This is truly not over for Plum Creek by any means," Jump said. "Actually, it's just gotten worse. I mean, there's no way a guy's going to make a living with a log truck if he's totally dependent on Plum Creek. At some point, the company's going to have to negotiate."

Reporter Michael Jamison can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or at mjamison@missoulian.com.