Pay woes drive log haulers together

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Of course the Repukes will blame this on the spotted owl.

By Hal Bernton


ONALASKA, Lewis County — Long before dawn, Randy Turner drives his 1988 Peterbuilt truck up a road that winds through thickets of second-growth fir to a dark expanse of ridge-top clearcuts. There, piles of logs await transport to mills.

In the Cascade foothills of Southwest Washington, this is a familiar ritual for Turner and scores of other log-truck haulers, who once thought that a loaded rig moving down the highway would deliver a decent payday.

That faith has been shattered by events of the past decade as the state bowed out of regulating rates, and escalating fuel, maintenance and insurance costs eroded the incomes of many haulers.

Turner began driving at 18. Now at 43 and owning his own truck, he has little to show for his labor. No health insurance, no retirement nest egg, only a constant churn of cash as money earned from hauling Weyerhaeuser logs flies back out to pay bills. Turner said he has only a few hundred dollars stashed in his bank account. "I would be better off to park this thing," Turner said. "You survive. And that's about it."

For Turner and other log-truck haulers, tough times are bringing about some startling changes in attitude. In Northwest timber towns, these contractors are legendary for their independence and sometimes cutthroat competition.

But borrowing a playbook from the unions they once shunned, Turner and other haulers have banded together to improve their fortunes.

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