Trucker protest over gig employee legislation shuts down Oakland’s port

A protest by truckers offended over a California labor legislation has shut down cargo operations on the Port of Oakland, it was introduced Wednesday.

A press release by the port mentioned that “the shutdown will additional exacerbate the congestion of containers” and that port officers are urging operations at delivery terminals to renew.

The protest, which started Monday, entails lots of of unbiased big-rig truckers who’ve blocked the motion of cargo out and in of terminals on the port, which is among the 10 busiest container ports within the nation, in keeping with its web site.

There was no speedy phrase as to when the protest may finish, but it surely’s worsening supply-chain points that have already got led to cargo ship site visitors jams at main ports and stockpiled items on the dock.

The protest comes as toymakers and different industries enter their peak season for imports as retailers stockpile items for the autumn holidays and back-to-school objects.

The truckers are protesting Meeting Invoice 5, a gig economic system legislation handed in 2019 that made it tougher for firms to categorise staff as unbiased contractors as a substitute of workers, who’re entitled to minimal wage and advantages comparable to staff compensation, extra time and sick pay.

A federal appeals court docket dominated final 12 months that the legislation applies to some 70,000 truck drivers who might be categorized as workers of firms that rent them as a substitute of unbiased contractors.

The Worldwide Brotherhood of Teamsters referred to as it a “huge victory” for exploited truckers. However the California Trucking Assn., which sued over the legislation, had argued that it may make it tougher for unbiased drivers who personal their very own vans and function on their very own hours to make a dwelling by forcing them to be categorized as workers.

The authorized battle stalled enforcement of the legislation, however final month the U.S. Supreme Court docket lately determined it wouldn’t evaluation the choice.

Truckers at the moment are asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to satisfy and talk about the problem.

In the meantime, there’s been no phrase on when the state may start implementing the legislation, which remains to be being contested in decrease courts.

Messages searching for remark from Newsom’s workplace and the Governor’s Workplace of Enterprise and Financial Improvement weren’t instantly returned Wednesday night.

The director of the enterprise and financial growth workplace, Dee Dee Myers, emailed CNBC that “it’s time to maneuver ahead, adjust to the legislation and work collectively to create a fairer and extra sustainable trade for all.”

Ports have already got been struggling to deal with container site visitors, a lot of it from Asia. After the COVID-19 pandemic started to take maintain in 2020, cargo site visitors to ports slumped drastically. However then it recovered and has been booming since.

“We perceive the frustration expressed by the protesters at California ports,” Port of Oakland Government Director Danny Wan mentioned within the port’s assertion. “However extended stoppage of port operations in California for any motive will harm all the companies working on the ports and trigger California ports to additional endure market share losses to competing ports.”

Whereas the port handles many several types of cargo, it is a crucial distribution level for California’s agricultural merchandise.

“The availability chain already is in disaster. This can be a large disruption,” Peter Friedmann, government director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition, instructed the Wall Avenue Journal.