Post by Californiadodad on Jul 13, 2009 10:17:41 GMT -5
Port of Oakland seeks authority to regulate truckers
By C. Nellie Nelson
Last weekend was the 75th anniversary of “Bloody Thursday,” when two men were killed by police gunfire while protesting in the West Coast Waterfront Strike, prompting the San Francisco General Strike. These days, it’s the port truckers who can barely keep food on the table, or hospital bills paid.
Last month, the Guardian reported that a lawsuit by the trucking company lobby group American Trucking Association against the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is inhibiting the efforts of the Port of Oakland to get a better clean truck program. By making truckers employees instead of independent contractors, West Oakland could also see a reduction in pollution with newer, cleaner company trucks replacing the aging diesel rigs that now dominate the port.
On Tuesday night, the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports expected the Oakland Port Commission to vote on a resolution that would support a Beacon Economics study showing that hiring truckers as employees would improve working conditions and reduce truck emissions. But the Commission declined to vote on the resolution, instead introducing a new one calling on Congress to update laws governing ports.
The new resolution would let ports set their own standards, allowing them to adopt an employee model, according to Valerie Lapin of the Coalition. “I think we’re moving in the right direction,” she said of the meeting’s outcome.
Lapin told the Guardian that US Secretary of Transportation Ray Lahood was in Oakland last week, and that he met with the Port of Oakland to see if the Port could bring in federal infrastructure dollars as well as having Congress modernize transportation laws.
The Commission was unable to both introduce and vote on the new resolution at the same meeting, so on Tuesday it postponed the vote until its July 21 meeting. For a brief history on the deregulation of the trucking industry that saw a precipitous decline from middle-class wages after 1979, more coverage here.
By C. Nellie Nelson
Last weekend was the 75th anniversary of “Bloody Thursday,” when two men were killed by police gunfire while protesting in the West Coast Waterfront Strike, prompting the San Francisco General Strike. These days, it’s the port truckers who can barely keep food on the table, or hospital bills paid.
Last month, the Guardian reported that a lawsuit by the trucking company lobby group American Trucking Association against the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is inhibiting the efforts of the Port of Oakland to get a better clean truck program. By making truckers employees instead of independent contractors, West Oakland could also see a reduction in pollution with newer, cleaner company trucks replacing the aging diesel rigs that now dominate the port.
On Tuesday night, the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports expected the Oakland Port Commission to vote on a resolution that would support a Beacon Economics study showing that hiring truckers as employees would improve working conditions and reduce truck emissions. But the Commission declined to vote on the resolution, instead introducing a new one calling on Congress to update laws governing ports.
The new resolution would let ports set their own standards, allowing them to adopt an employee model, according to Valerie Lapin of the Coalition. “I think we’re moving in the right direction,” she said of the meeting’s outcome.
Lapin told the Guardian that US Secretary of Transportation Ray Lahood was in Oakland last week, and that he met with the Port of Oakland to see if the Port could bring in federal infrastructure dollars as well as having Congress modernize transportation laws.
The Commission was unable to both introduce and vote on the new resolution at the same meeting, so on Tuesday it postponed the vote until its July 21 meeting. For a brief history on the deregulation of the trucking industry that saw a precipitous decline from middle-class wages after 1979, more coverage here.