BREAKING NEWS: Los Angeles/Long Beach Port Trucks to Vote on Strike Tomorrow

A statement released from Teamster affiliate Justice for Port Truck Drivers stated that truck drivers hauling goods from the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles will vote on Saturday whether to launch a strike beginning as early as Monday morning, April 27.

The results of Saturday’s vote will be released early Monday morning, according to Barb Maynard, spokeswoman for Justice for Port Truck Drivers and the Teamsters.

The strike is as a result of truckers fighting over their classification as contractors. They want to be hired as employees complete with benefits by the firms for which they work.

“Since drivers last struck in November 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor has also come down on the truckers’ side. In addition to the California courts and the State of California, the DOL has ruled that port drivers at Shippers Transport Express must be reclassified as employees rather than ‘independent contractors,'” the group said.

“The Shippers drivers’ victory has inspired other misclassified drivers to escalate their demands to be recognized as employees and end the wage theft. In their fight to hold onto an illegal business model, company owners are continuing to harass, intimidate, and coerce drivers.”

The truckers are aware of the havoc a strike could cause at the nation’s two largest ports, noting a “crippling slowdown in early 2015 sent shock waves through the U.S. economy” when the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and employers were at loggerheads over a new contract that is still pending ratification from ILWU membership, according to a news release on the strike by American Shipper.

Sources: American Shipper, Press-Telegram