PORTAGE LAKE (AP) – Log-hauling truckers and loggers have postponed a planned strike until they meet with officials of Irving Woodlands, northern Maine’s largest landowner.

Truckers who haul logs for Irving had originally planned to stage a work stoppage on Monday. But a group of 65 truckers and loggers voted Saturday to postpone any action until next Saturday, when they will vote on the matter.

The drivers want rate increases of 25 percent to 30 percent, a surcharge payment when diesel fuel costs rise above $1.45 a gallon and better road conditions. They said the company is now offering them a rate increase of 7 percent come Jan. 1.

The loggers’ cutting contract doesn’t expire until spring, but loggers at the meeting said they would honor a strike by truckers.

They also said they would seek rate increases of 25 percent to 30 percent when their contract comes up in June.

The last time truckers had a work stoppage against Irving was three years ago, when they stayed out of the woods and parked their trucks in downtown Fort Kent for most of a week while negotiations proceeded.

“Whatever needs to be done has to come from you guys,” state Rep. Troy Jackson, an independent from Fort Kent and a logger, told the group Saturday during a meeting at Dean’s Hotel.

“I will do whatever you guys need me to do. I realize there is a problem with the price you receive for working,” Jackson said.

Jackson was one of the leaders in organizing work stoppages against northern Maine landowners four years ago, when woods workers blocked roads and border crossings on private lands.

Fearing reprisals from the company, truckers on Saturday asked that their comments at the meeting be anonymous.

They agreed to have Dean Plourde, a former trucker who is on disability, bring their demands to Irving officials.

They also agreed to talk to another two dozen or so truckers and loggers who were not at the meeting in hopes of presenting a unified front.

Irving officials were not immediately available for comment.

AP-ES-12-15-03 0216EST