Teamsters Official: Support Green Growth at L.A. Port

Teamsters International Vice President Chuck Mack today called for national reform of the trucking industry to promote green jobs at U.S. ports.

Mack, also President of Local 70 in Oakland, Calif., testified at a joint field hearing on “Confronting Freight Challenges in Southern California” before three subcommittees of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The hearing was held at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority building.

“The deregulation of freight transportation is at the root of this broken system that pollutes our air, exploits communities and abuses workers,” Mack told the subcommittees. “We would prefer that the federal government provide leadership on this issue by enacting some much needed national reforms and, even, I dare say, national standards.

“But until there is national leadership, we will continue to advocate for reform at the local level,” Mack said.

Mack said the freight challenges facing Southern California must be defined by more than building the physical infrastructure needed to move freight by truck, train, ship or plane.

“Too often, unfortunately, the challenges facing the workers who actually move the freight and residents who live in impacted communities are neglected,” Mack said in written testimony submitted to the subcommittees.

The Teamsters strongly support local reform: the Los Angeles Clean Trucks program, which requires trucking companies to be responsible for the costs of owning and maintaining the trucks operating under their authority at the Port of Los Angeles.

Currently at the port, drivers must own their own trucks. They are treated as independent contractors, though they must sign leases that usually force them to haul for one company with no ability to negotiate rates.

Last week, California’s attorney general filed complaints against two companies for illegally classifying their drivers as independent contractors. By doing so, they denied the drivers workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance and the protection of wage and hour and health and safety laws.

Industry lobbyists are trying to block meaningful regulation. The American Trucking Associations sued Los Angeles and Long Beach to block implementation of their Clean Trucks programs. The Federal Maritime Commission also sued both Southern California ports.

Mack urged the subcommittees to continue their support of the ongoing implementation of the Los Angeles Clean Trucks program.

“I hope this committee will look for ways to support efforts like the LA Clean Trucks Program,” Mack said.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.