Judge Permanently Bars Los Angeles’ Owner-Operator Ban
This story appears in the Sept. 2 print edition of Transport Topics.
A federal judge has put the final touches on a long-running battle over employee status at the Port of Los Angeles, where drivers for Green Fleet Systems LLC last week staged a 24-hour strike as the Teamsters union intensifies organizing efforts.
U.S. District Court Judge Christina Snyder on Aug. 23 issued an injunction permanently barring the port from enforcing its 2008 move to force drivers who enter the port to be company employees.
The employee mandate, which would have made it possible for unions to organize drivers, was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court, as part of legal action by American Trucking Associations that originally began in Snyder’s courtroom. She upheld the employee mandate, which was overturned by the Ninth Court of Appeals.
The judge’s order, which also blocked placarding and limits on off-street parking requirements that were sought by the port, is the final step relating to the case, said Curtis Whalen, who heads ATA’s Intermodal Motor Carriers Conference.
ATA brought the suit after Los Angeles included the employee mandate in its Clean Truck Program that was introduced in cooperation with Long Beach, where officials didn’t impose the employee mandate in the final plan.
“Since its commencement on Oct. 1, 2008, the [clean truck plan] has delivered an estimated 91% reduction in the rate of truck emissions compared to 2007 air emissions data,” said Phillip Sanfield, an L.A. port spokesman who noted that the reduction showed that program’s broad emissions reduction goal has been accomplished.
“Since Jan. 1, 2012, 100% of the cargo gate moves at the ports’ terminals have been made by clean trucks. The fleet currently servicing the ports comprises approximately 11,500 trucks meeting the EPA 2007 emissions standards,” Sanfield said.
Whalen told Transport Topics on Aug. 27, “Our hope is to move forward” to work with Los Angeles officials on trucking issues now that the case is completed, including a working group that could be formed to discuss issues of mutual interest.
Meanwhile, the strike against Green Fleet that began the evening of Aug. 26 was staged by about 25 drivers, said
Nick Weiner, who is heading the Teamsters’ initiative at Carson, Calif.-based Green Fleet.
“A number of the drivers walked out for a one-day-long strike,” Weiner told TT. “They have been coming together for months, wanting to form a union. We won’t be able to do that [organizing] in one fell swoop. It’s going to take many drivers from other companies, who we also are working with.”
Alex Cherin, spokesman for Green Fleet, told TT the company “continues to be one of the safest and best paying companies. The company’s federal safety scores and the drivers’ overwhelming rejection of the Teamsters union are evidence of that.”
The Teamsters last year won their first contract with port drivers, covering drivers at Australian-based logistics company Toll Brothers, whose workers in the firm’s home country also are union members. Toll’s U.S. unit has fewer than 100 drivers, who make up about 1% of the total port trucking corps.
Weiner also said that the union was pursuing an unfair labor practice complaint against Green Fleet at the National Labor Relations Board.
Organizing efforts are continuing at other carriers in Southern California, Weiner said.
He acknowledged that the status of most port drivers, who are independent contractors rather than employees, is a challenge for the union’s organizing effort.
