Longshoreman's Death in Benicia Shuts Down Port of Oakland

Dozens of independent truckers were turned away from the Port of Oakland Thursday as union workers stayed off the job to mark the death of a Benicia longshoreman.

Thomas Hoover, 56, reporredly "experienced distress" while woking on a ship in the Port of Benicia on Wednesday afternoon and was taken to a hospital in Vallejo, where he was pronounced dead. Solano County coroner's officials said Hoover died of natural causes and they will not be conducting an autopsy.

Craig Merrilees, spokesman for the Bay Area chapter of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, says 24-hour stand-downs are standard after a worker dies on the job. It's partly to honor the worker and partly so union members can gather facts about the incident to ensure their safety.

"(The union workers) will be going without a day's pay as will the truckers," Merrilees said. "So there is a sacrifice involved, but it's important that the workplace be as safe as possible because these jobs are extremely dangerous."

Luis Sanchez, an independent trucker, says that "sacrifice" is actually a significant hardship for him and others.

Sanchez, who lives in San Jose and has been an independent for 18 years, said he didn't know about the stoppage in Oakland until he showed up at the port early Thursday.

"They didn't say anything, they just shut it down this morning," he said.

Sanchez says the stoppage isn't fair to those, like him, who rely on the longshore workers to unload the goods they drive.

"Everyone is losing, everybody," he said. "I'm losing like two trips to the Silicon Valley, I'm losing like $1,200. It's my own truck. The holidays are coming up, we need that money."

Merrilees says this shut-down should not affect the labor talks between the union and a group that represents major shipping companies.

"This is really completely unrelated to the ongoing negotiations for a new contract, and it's unfortunate that it happened at this time," he said. "But those talks are ongoing and they'll continue."

A spokeswoman from the state's workplace safety department, Cal/OSHA, said there is no plan to investigate Hoover's death at this time, because on first review it does not appear to be work-related.

Merrilees said workers will be back on the job early Friday morning.