Truckers Plan to Picket SoCal Ports
Truck drivers at the Southern California ports are planning a 48-hour work stoppage beginning Monday to protest companies that do not classify them as employees, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Drivers have accused companies of illegally misclassifying them as independent contractors instead of employees, the Times reported. It did not say how many truckers were expected to take part in the protest.
Tensions between drivers and drayage companies have escalated in recent years, and industry estimates say that about 10% of truckers are directly employed by companies, the newspaper said.
The protest is being organized by the group Justice for Port Truck Drivers, the Times reported.
Total Transportation Services Inc., a Southern California drayage company that is being targeted by the protests, said in a statement it was “discouraged to learn that once again outside interest groups like . . . the Teamsters are continuing to spend their members’ hard-earned money to battle an issue that a vast majority of harbor truck drivers have soundly rejected time and time again.”
TTSI pays its “contractor partners above the industry average and provide one of the safest-rated work environments in the industry while doing it,” the statement said.
