MIAMI -- A convoy of close to 200 trucks snarled traffic in Miami's commercial and business districts today as drivers protested escalating diesel fuel prices.

Though the organizers stated in advance that the protest was not aimed at the Port of Miami but, instead, at getting federal mandatory fuel surcharges for commercial truckers, it dramatically reduced gate moves at the Port of Miami.

"We had only about 35 moves the first two hours," said Hilda Torres, the liaison with the port's truckers at the Port of Miami Terminal Operating Company. "After that we stopped counting. Their protest has had a significant effect on the port but we expect the gate moves to return to normal either later today or in the morning. They were very organized in planning this and we knew they would be out today."

The convoy was organized by the Teamsters and provided the first tangible evidence that the union's locals 769 and 901 are making inroads in organizing many of the 3,000 independent truckers who haul containers to and from the region's ports.

"Owner-drivers who haul containers from America's ports are some of the most exploited workers in the nation, working long hours for low pay, " said Herman Vazquez president of Local 901.

The bobtail drivers were organized and assembled along Okeechobee Road in Western Dade County. They were given protest posters to display depicting a truck driver with a gas pump stuck in his back, and given instructions to follow a Hialeah Gardens police escort once they fell in line.

Organizers had promised a 20-mile convoy ending at Miami city hall, but while the protest probably was never longer than four miles, it caused a jam on interstate highways and stopped all traffic between downtown Miami and the park-like city hall in rustic Cocoanut Grove.

There the drivers who could find a place to park joined a rally asking Congress for the mandatory surcharge.

In July 2004, independent truckers boycotted the Port of Miami until a lawsuit by the port's terminal operators forced a return to work and negotiations over working conditions. Those negotiations were concluded earlier this year with an agreement from the truckers never to boycott again in exchange for POMTOC's agreement that they should have the right to organize and seek better working conditions.

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