For days, trucking fleets have blocked roads servicing the Port of Oakland, destroying major west coast freight hubs already hampered by global supply chain disruptions.
The protest is intended to send a message to Governor Gavin Newsom. Keep drivers away from California labor law, which they say is threatening their lives.
Truck drivers, primarily independent owners and operators, have decided to classify gig workers in some industries into benefits such as minimum wages and overtime, in opposition to Bill 5 passed in 2019. It is obligatory.
In addition to a coalition of industry groups, truck drivers want to issue a presidential order to Mr. Newsom to postpone the application of the 2019 law, taking labor and industry to the table and negotiating ways to move forward. increase.
“We will continue to partner with truck drivers and ports to ensure the continued movement of goods to California residents and businesses, which is important to all of us,” said Newsom. Said.
Last week, small protests were organized at two ports, Los Angeles and Long Beach.
In a statement, Danny Wang, executive director of the Port of Oakland, said he understood the manifestations of frustration. But he warned of further delays surrounding the port, an important link in the supply chain that has already bleeding from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the blockade of Covid-19 in China.
“For some reason, a long-term outage of port operations in California will damage all businesses operating in the port, and California ports will suffer further loss of market share to competing ports,” he said. Said.
When Newsum signed the bill, he was immediately criticized by companies such as Uber and Lyft. Their leaders argued that the law could significantly change and destroy businesses.
State law codified the California Supreme Court’s ruling from 2018, stating that people must be classified as employees, especially if the job is part of the company’s normal business.
Uber and Lyft, along with DoorDash, swiftly worked on a voting bill that would allow gig economy companies to continue to treat drivers as independent contractors.
California voters passed bill 22 in 2020, but last year a judge in the California Superior Court ruled that it was unconstitutional. Uber and Lyft immediately appealed and were exempted from complying with Act of Parliament 5 during the proceedings.
But that wasn’t the case for truck drivers. In June, the US Supreme Court rejected a California truck driver’s appeal. Under the new law, California truck drivers are considered employees of their trucking companies.
Nearly 70,000 California truck drivers work as independent owners and operators, transporting goods from the port to the delivery warehouse. Drivers protesting with truck companies claim that when Assembly Bill 5 is applied, drivers will be less flexible about when and how they work, as Uber and Lyft did.
Proponents of the law say the company can simply take on the driver as a full-time or part-time employee and continue to offer flexible schedules.
The majority of California port truck operators are independent operators and do not work for a single company. A small number of drivers have been integrated and are primarily represented by Team Stars.
“I’m dissatisfied with the lack of a way for people to become independent,” said Matt Shrap, chief executive officer of the Harbor Trucking Association, an industry group of shipping companies that serve ports on the west coast. Stated.
“The frustration is boiling and taking action,” Shrap said.
Former state legislator Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, who was the designer of the labor bill, rejected the idea that applying the law to the truck industry would be detrimental to drivers.
“These truck companies have a business model that misclassifies workers,” said Gonzales Fletcher, who is about to become head of the California Labor Federation. “It was illegal how they were operated.”
Truck driver protests occur when the International Longshore and Warehouse Union is engaged in contract negotiations with the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping terminals in 29 ports from San Diego to Seattle.
Farless Daily III, chairman of the Longshore Union’s 10 locals, said his members were not trying to overcome the truck blockade for their own safety.
“When they don’t come in, they don’t get paid,” he said. “But we’re not going to put our members in jeopardy through the line of truck drivers.”
Port officials said the largest marine terminal had been closed since Monday due to protests. Three other small terminals worked, but the capacity is limited.
Christopher S. Thanh, a prominent professor at the University of California, Los Angeles’ Anderson School of Business and a supply chain researcher, said the closure of the Port of Oakland shouldn’t cause major problems for consumers so far. rice field.
“The impact will not be significant in the short term,” he said. “Many retailers stockpile inventory.”
On Thursday, German truck driver Ochoa, who lives in Auckland, arrived at the harbor as he did every day of the week.
With the corners of the semi-trucks ringing in the background, Ochoa said on the phone that he was standing side by side with other truck drivers. Some people had a poster board with the words “Please drop AB5 !!!”. And “AB5 went!” He said.
“This is robbing me of my independence,” Ochoa said. “It is my right to be an independent driver.”
Gnome Shyber Contribution report.