The Port of Oakland was closed for the third day in a row on Thursday as truckers continued to protest a California labor law that could affect an estimated 70,000 truckers.
The protests, which began on Monday, resulted in the closure of the third busiest port on the West Coast and the eighth largest in the country.
Cargo traffic entering and leaving the port was halted by the blockade of trucks, and it is not known when the protests will end.
Truck drivers are protesting Parliament Act 5 (AB5), which, with some exceptions, “requires companies that hire independent contractors to reclassify them as employees,” CNBC reported. An estimated 70,000 people are classified as independent contractors.
Truck protesters worry that if they don’t seek jobs that classify them as employees, they will have to “pay more for insurance and permits to remain independent under the terms of the law.” Wall Street Magazine reported. According to the Associated Press, the law would also force independent truckers to work in their spare time and earn a living if they were employees.
Passed by state legislators in 2019, the law was supposed to go into effect in 2020, but was introduced due to legal issues. Recently, the US Supreme Court refused to hear a case that would allow the state to enforce the law; however, the California Trucking Association still contests the law in lower courts, magazine aforementioned.
Trucks ask the government. Gavin Newsom (D) and MPs will reconsider imposing AB5 if the courts allow it to happen. A protester who owns a trucking company confronted Newsom and told CNBC that he refused to speak to them.
California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at the US Forest Service Del Rosa Fire Station in San Bernardino, California, January 21, 2022. (Photo: Getty Images via Patrick T. Fallon/AFP)
“The governor doesn’t seem to care about the disenfranchisement of American workers,” said Bill Abudi, owner of AB Trucking. “These are independent small businesses that decided to drive their own trucks and now that right has been taken away. They pay taxes, they have insurance. It’s their choice.”
Proponents of the law argue that companies exploit truckers classified as independent contractors to enjoy fair wages and benefits.
AB5 was created as part of a broader effort against partner ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft, which use deals with independent contractors.
The protests come as ports around the world, including the Port of Auckland, grapple with a cargo supply chain crisis at the end of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We understand the frustration expressed by protesters at California ports,” Port of Oakland CEO Danny Wang said, according to the AP. Said. However, a prolonged closure of port operations in California for any reason will harm all businesses operating in the ports and cause California ports to lose more market share than competing ports.
According to CNBC, before the truckers’ blockade, more than 2,100 people worked at the port each day, importing goods such as “Australian wine and meat, aluminum from South Korea, furniture, clothing and electronics from China.”
You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at: @EthanLetkeman.
Source: Breitbart
