Post by HardTimeTrucker on Jul 26, 2009 7:21:36 GMT -5
Oakland Port Delays Transit Vote
By Jill Dunn (OVERDRIVE)
Once again, the Port of Oakland postponed a vote on a request for a federal exemption to a transportation funding bill for West Coast ports.
On July 21, the Oakland Board of Port Commissioners asked staff to revise a resolution based on input from the Executive Director Omar Benjamin and bring it to Executive Committee for consideration at a July 30th meeting. More information was not immediately available from port officials.
Port representatives have discussed asking Congress for an exemption to the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act, which prohibits any law related to the "price, route or service of any motor carrier” and requires exemptions be "genuinely responsive to safety concerns."
The proposed resolution, as presented at the July 21 meeting, asks federal legislators to amend its upcoming long-term transportation funding bill to expand exemptions to include “environmental, security and congestion programs” and focus investment in West Coast ports.
Clayton Boyce, American Trucking Associations spokesman, said unions and other entities seek to “destroy small independent businesses serving the Port of Oakland and replace them with larger trucking companies whose employees can be more easily organized by the Teamsters."
"Unions and their supporters are wrongly claiming that banning independent owner-operators from the Port of Oakland is necessary to clean the air,” Boyce said. “The recent experience in the Port of Los Angeles, where clean air efforts are far ahead of schedule even though the L.A. ban on owner-operators has been enjoined, has shown that claim to be false.”
Boyce noted a Beacon Economics study, which Oakland has based its plans on, said costs of regulatory compliance combined with an employee driver requirement would raise drayage rates by up to 53 percent.
Beacon’s research also revealed most owner-operators did not want to become employees, and that employee driver earnings are comparable and significantly higher than non-drayage truckers.
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach had approved truck plans for requiring cleaner trucks in its ports in addition to California’s own new emission requirements. However, in April, a federal court issued a preliminary injunction regarding issues disputed by ATA over the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports’ truck concessionaire program, with a trial date set for Dec. 15.
ATA had fought requirements that include hiring preference, health insurance requirements and Los Angeles’ rule that drivers must be employees.
By Jill Dunn (OVERDRIVE)
Once again, the Port of Oakland postponed a vote on a request for a federal exemption to a transportation funding bill for West Coast ports.
On July 21, the Oakland Board of Port Commissioners asked staff to revise a resolution based on input from the Executive Director Omar Benjamin and bring it to Executive Committee for consideration at a July 30th meeting. More information was not immediately available from port officials.
Port representatives have discussed asking Congress for an exemption to the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act, which prohibits any law related to the "price, route or service of any motor carrier” and requires exemptions be "genuinely responsive to safety concerns."
The proposed resolution, as presented at the July 21 meeting, asks federal legislators to amend its upcoming long-term transportation funding bill to expand exemptions to include “environmental, security and congestion programs” and focus investment in West Coast ports.
Clayton Boyce, American Trucking Associations spokesman, said unions and other entities seek to “destroy small independent businesses serving the Port of Oakland and replace them with larger trucking companies whose employees can be more easily organized by the Teamsters."
"Unions and their supporters are wrongly claiming that banning independent owner-operators from the Port of Oakland is necessary to clean the air,” Boyce said. “The recent experience in the Port of Los Angeles, where clean air efforts are far ahead of schedule even though the L.A. ban on owner-operators has been enjoined, has shown that claim to be false.”
Boyce noted a Beacon Economics study, which Oakland has based its plans on, said costs of regulatory compliance combined with an employee driver requirement would raise drayage rates by up to 53 percent.
Beacon’s research also revealed most owner-operators did not want to become employees, and that employee driver earnings are comparable and significantly higher than non-drayage truckers.
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach had approved truck plans for requiring cleaner trucks in its ports in addition to California’s own new emission requirements. However, in April, a federal court issued a preliminary injunction regarding issues disputed by ATA over the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports’ truck concessionaire program, with a trial date set for Dec. 15.
ATA had fought requirements that include hiring preference, health insurance requirements and Los Angeles’ rule that drivers must be employees.