Just as the West Coast’s more than two dozen ports were getting back up and running, emptying out its massive backlog that had clogged conditions, a new strike threatens to reverse some of the gains that have been realized at area ports since the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) finally reached a contract agreement.
On April 27, truckers who ship goods delivered at Southern California’s area ports – located in Los Angeles and Long Beach – abandoned their big rigs in order to join picket lines in a bid to persuade employers to provide better wages and benefits, multiple news outlets reported. The Port of Los Angeles is the nation’s largest, handling a tremendous amount of goods received on a daily basis, so the work stoppage has the potential to create supply concerns for retailers and all companies that engage in trading activity.
The source of the Teamsters’ frustration, the union that’s involved in the work stoppage, are four ground-shipment companies, Pacific 9 Transportation, Intermodal Bridge Transport, Pacer Cartage and Harbor Rail Transport. Barb Maynard, spokeswoman for the Teamsters union, told Reuters that these companies have engaged in what amounts to wage theft because they ought to be classified as employers when in reality they’re considered independent contractors. This distinction is important, because it determines what benefits and wages they’re entitled to, depending on their work status.
Protesters to be out in full force
Though truckers may not be manning their vehicles any time soon, their presence will still be felt in other ways. Maynard told Reuters that in addition to forming picket lines at marine terminals in Southern California, hundreds of union members will also be at other sending and receiving locations, like rail yards, all in a bid to make their grievances known.
The work stoppage wasn’t a hasty decision. This past weekend, members of the Teamsters union convened in order to see if a strike was in their 16,000 members’ interest. Ultimately, they decided that it would be after a formal vote determined the majority of members to be in favor of one.
The employee classification issue has been a long-simmering problem for area truckers. At least 500 port truckers have filed a complaint with the California Department of Labor, arguing that their rights are being violated because they’re not getting the remuneration that they deserve. They have also claimed that because they’re errantly considered independent contractors, just going to work every day costs them money because they’re charged to use their company’s vehicles.
Length of strike uncertain
It’s not known how long the strike is expected to last. Given the length of the labor dispute between the PMA and ILWU, it could last several months. The outcome will largely depend on whether the ground-shipment companies are willing to talk about the classification spate. Representatives for the companies have stated that those who have walked off the job are the minority, thus aren’t concerned about the flow of commerce.
Because most of the goods that come into and out of the United States derive from the West Coast, a work stoppage certainly has the potential to cause a number of problems. Between 14,000 and 16,000 truckers serve the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and more than 1,000 trucking companies, a port spokesman told the Los Angeles Times.
In February, the PMA and ILWU agreed on a five-year contract, after a dispute that led to cramped conditions at West Coast ports. Just recently have things started to get back to normal. In February, for example, traffic at West Coast ports fell 10.3 percent from January and by 3.6 percent when contrasted with year-ago levels, according to data from the National Retail Federation (NRF). By March, twenty-foot equivalent shipments totaled 1.4 million, a more than 13 percent uptick from 12 months prior.