Teamsters expand Labor actions at ports of LA/LB

Teamsters expand Labor actions at ports of LA/LB
http://www.ajot.com/blogs/full/teamsters-expand-labor-actions-at-ports-o...

The Teamsters Union has expanded labor actions from its on-going strike at Pacific 9 Transportation to include three other harbor trucking companies serving the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, according to Barb Maynard, spokeswoman for the Teamsters Port Division.

The companies are:

* XPO Logistics

* Intermodal Bridge Transport

* Gold Point Transportation

Harbor truck drivers are protesting that they are employees and have been misclassified as independent contractors.

Philip Sanfield, spokesman for the Port of Los Angeles told AJOT, “There have been pickets at numerous terminals at the Port this week and in some cases terminals are turning away trucks from companies being picketed by the Teamsters.”

Overall “the impact has been peaceful with picketers being respectful under the watchful eyes of Port police,” he added.

The Teamsters issued a press release on October 30th explaining that:

On Monday, Oct. 26, port truck drivers began their eighth “Unfair Labor Practice” strike at the twin ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach. The striking drivers included drivers employed by Pacific 9 Transportation (Pac 9), who have been on an indefinite strike since July this year for 15 straight weeks, and those employed by global giant XPO Logistics

On Tuesday, Oct. 27, drivers from Intermodal Bridge Transport (IBT) began their second Unfair Labor Practice strike after delivering a petition for improved working conditions, recognition as employees, and to be represented by the Teamsters.

On Thursday, Oct. 29, port drivers employed by Gold Point Transportation, which is owned by 3Plus Logistics Co., went on strike to protest misclassification. They are picketing at the company yard as well as at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. 3Plus Logistics also owns Harbor Express, Inc.

Maynard told AJOT that workers are filing new claims with the California Labor Commissioner’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement charging that they are misclassified. The new claims are “adding to momentum that drivers and also warehouse workers are being robbed of wages and benefits when they are misclassified as independent contractors when they are in fact employees.”

If these new claims are upheld, she said, they could result in millions of dollars of payments by companies to workers.

Maynard said that the Teamsters are also supporting the strike of 40 workers at the California Cartage Warehouse in Wilmington, California. Maynard said the company does warehouse work for Amazon and that its effort here is to “expand our focus on the supply chain that begins with harbor trucking and spreads to warehousing for Amazon in Wilmington with the eventual goal of labor actions at warehouses in Riverside and San Bernardino counties in the Inland Empire.” Many imported containers are trucked from the two ports to these warehouses for sorting and transloading onto trucks for transport to final destinations in California and Nevada.

Maynard said California Cartage is located on Port of Los Angeles property and is subject to City of Los Angeles Living Wage law.

“The Port of Los Angeles is aware that the Teamsters have been in discussions with (Los Angeles) Mayor Garcetti and if there is any issue here, then the Port will take direction from the Mayor,” Sanfield told AJOT.

In an October 29th press release the union said that misclassification is widespread, “Spanning employees in the janitorial, e-commerce, entertainment, home care, construction, port truck driving industries. These workers are not only robbed of basic workplace protections like the right to minimum wage, overtime pay, and a safe and healthful workplace, but they are also being cheated out of such rudimentary workplace benefits as unemployment compensation when they are laid off; workers’ compensation when they are injured on the job; and the right to form a union and have a voice on the job.”