California truck drivers returned to work at the Port of Oakland this week, after shipping companies agreed to hike driver’s pay to help ease the pain of soaring diesel prices.

A majority of the companies that haul freight from the port agreed to raise rates 25% for independent contractors. The drivers own their own trucks and are hired individually by the companies.
Hundreds of drivers slowed traffic at the port in Oakland after they stopped working, seeking to get increases in rates to compensate for the high diesel fuel costs. Late last month, drivers in Los Angeles participated in a one-day work stoppage at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, the two busiest ports in the U.S. Oakland is the fourth busiest port.
Diesel fuel prices reached a record average of $2.45 a gallon in California on Monday, one trading day after crude oil in the U.S. reached $40 a barrel for the first time since the 1990 invasion of Iraq.