Teamsters React to CA Trucking Association Lawsuit to Perpetuate Misclassification and Wage Theft at America's Largest Port Complex

PORTS OF LOS ANGELES and LONG BEACH, Calif., Nov. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On Tuesday, Nov. 12, the California Trucking Association (CTA) filed a lawsuit to block implementation of California's Assembly Bill 5, presumably to allow California trucking companies to continue to violate multiple state and federal laws that define "employee" vs. "independent contractor."

The following is a statement from Fred Potter, Vice President-at-Large, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and Director of the Teamsters' Port Division:

"For decades, companies like Lowe's, Rio Tinto Mines, and Target have enjoyed unprecedented profitability and shareholder value off the backs of the hardworking truck drivers who haul their imported cargo from our nation's seaports to their warehouses. It's no surprise that their trucking contractors are going to court to perpetuate a scheme – deemed illegal by multiple regulatory agencies and courts long before Assembly Bill 5 was introduced in the California Legislature – that has robbed the typical driver of tens of thousands of dollars a year due to their misclassification as independent contractors. The gig is up and it's time for the drayage industry to comply with local, state, and federal laws or risk being kicked out of the ports altogether, and it's time for the cargo owners – America's largest retailers – to stop doing business with recidivist lawbreakers."

Misclassification of workers as "independent contractors" is a hot topic with the passage of California's Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5) and the subsequent push by U.S. corporations like Uber, DoorDash, and XPO Logistics to undermine the law so they can continue to dodge payroll taxes and increase profitability by exploiting their workforce. There are a lot of questions about AB 5, but one thing is crystal clear: Long before AB 5 was introduced in the California Legislature, port and rail drivers have consistently been proven to be employees under the current laws, yet deep-pocketed companies like XPO Logistics have continued to flagrantly break employment, labor, and tax laws by persistently misclassifying their truck drivers. 

• Click here for an overview of port trucking misclassification cases
• Click here to read "Rigged," an investigative series on misclassification at America's largest seaport
• Click here for the seminal report "Big Rig Overhaul" on the epidemic of misclassification at America's seaports

PRESS CONTACTS:
Barb Maynard, (323) 351-9321; [email protected]
Kara Deniz, (202) 624-6911; [email protected]

SOURCE Justice for Port Drivers