TEAMSTER harbour truckers serving southern California were to strike against two major logistics companies this week over alleged misclassification of drivers as independent contractors rather than regular employees
TEAMSTER harbour truckers serving southern California were to strike against two major logistics companies this week over alleged misclassification of drivers as independent contractors rather than regular employees. Teamsters scored a victory last month with the passage of a California state law that will hold beneficial cargo owners (BCO) liable for any claims filed by drayage drivers against their employers.
The law, which goes into effect in January, also requires that the Department of Industrial Relations to publish a list of drayage carriers that have outstanding claims against them.
Teamsters have filed 987 claims with California's Department of Industrial Relations in wage and other disputes related to their status as independent contractors in 2011. As of last May, the state's Department of Labour Relations has awarded US$48.5 million in 454 of those cases.
The spokesman was unable to give a timeline for the strike, except that it starts Monday 'and continues for much of the week'.
The strike at Los Angeles and Long Beach ports takes aim at XPO Logistics and National Freight Inc (NFI industries) and is expected to slow cargo handling, reports FreightWaves of New York.
In its last annual report, XPO said its drayage drivers have won $5.7 million in judgments in California related to wage disputes, said the report.
Connecticut-based XPO was unavailable too comment by press time, said Freightways.
New Jersey-based NFI said the Teamsters are looking to 'force representation' on drayage drivers through having them classified as employees.
'We respect their desire to operate as independent business people and not as employees of our companies or the hundreds of other trucking companies that are currently looking to hire employee drivers,' NFI said.
The action is also expected to affect operations at the NFI-owned Cal Cartage Container Freight Station in nearby Wilmington, which employs about 500.
NFI said most Cal Cartage Wilmington workers have voted against union representation.
'Even though the Teamsters have failed on several occasions to organise these workers, the Teamsters have been unwilling to accept the voice and the vote of the employees, who have the absolute right to determine whether or not to organise,' NFI said.
Said the Teamsters: 'Port drivers and warehouse workers will not recede into the shadows and accept the rampant abuse and illegal working conditions they have endured and contested for decades.'
