Port L.A., Long Beach truck drivers vote to join Teamsters union

[Omaha Steve]

Source: My News LA

BY DEBBIE L. SKLAR

Los Angeles-Long Beach port truck drivers for a Carson- based shipping company voted to join the Teamsters union following the company’s decision to classify the drivers as employees instead of independent contractors, officials announced Friday.

Port truck drivers have long complained about being classified as independent contractors, saying they were being denied the wages and benefits given to employees. Drivers have staged a series of strikes at the port over the issue.

Carson-based Shippers Transport Express switched its policy effective Jan. 1, moving to an “employee-based business model.” Drivers were notified of the change in November and invited to apply for jobs with the company.

“Shippers’ transition to an employee-based business model is a crucial step in the drayage industry’s efforts to modernize, make the ports more efficient and reduce congestion at the ports and on our freeways,” according to Kevin Baddeley, general manager of Shippers Transport Express. “On unionization, we took a neutral position because we respect our drivers’ right to form a union. Finally, through our productive dialogue with the Teamsters, we anticipate we will be able to improve operational efficiencies and stabilize our driver workforce.”

FULL story at link.



Photo by John Schreiber.

Read more: http://mynewsla.com/business/2015/01/09/port-truck-drivers-shipping-company-vote-join-teamsters-union/

[SunSeeker]

1. Good for them.

That's a union that fights hard for their members.

[LittleGirl]

2. I hope this means

our shipment of household goods will start moving now. We've been told that we won't see our stuff until the end of February and that's just nonsense. I think it's b.s. that they were categorized as contractors. These companies need to take some responsibilities for the people that do their work. Good for them!

[stuffmatters]

3. The 3rd Koch Brother leaks his pet coke in trucks through residential Long Beach

to ship out to China from his terminal in Long Beach.The most directly poisoned by this are the truckers, but I've read complaints from area neighbors that these unchecked emissions keeps their homes filmed with the dirty,poisonous toxin.

I hope a union that includes all these truckers will champion the health dangers these pet coke truckers face daily. Koch, at minimum, should be forced to seal these pet coke leaking trucks as they wind their way through the freeways to the port.

The truckers and the LB City Council...including the Dem who represents downtown/western LB, the district most impacted by this
pet coke air pollution...recently supported renewing Koch terminal lease, essentially arguing the jobs matter more than the health dangers. But that shouldn't dissuade the union from exacting more protections from the transporters for both their members and the
residents of Long Beach. It would be a relatively easy fix to seal the trucks, but then no Koch have ever been known for voluntarily implementing even an easy and inexpensive fix to protect workers, residents and the environment.