Posted on 07/20/2022 5:43:22 AM PDT by lowbridge
Truck drivers choked traffic at the Oakland, California, seaport on Monday protesting a state law that makes it harder for independent contractors to transport goods and could limit labor at the state's already clogged seaports, threatening to worsen the nation's pandemic-fueled supply chain jams.
California's ports handle about 40% of container goods that enter the United States. Trucking disruptions come at a time when unions and West Coast port employers are also negotiating a high-stakes labor contract.
The law, known as AB5, or the "gig worker" law, sets tougher standards for classifying workers as independent contractors. Independent truckers who now operate under the authority and insurance of companies that hire them for jobs would be shouldered with the hefty costs and red tape of taking that on when the law is enacted.
"They want to eliminate us," said independent driver Douglas Urtado, who joined dozens of protesters on Monday at the Oakland seaport in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Wayne Feng, wearing a "No on AB5" T-shirt, told Reuters the law would be so financially draining that drivers "aren't making anything."
Legal challenges kept the law from going into effect in 2020, but the U.S. Supreme Court last month denied a California Trucking Association petition claiming the law is blocked by federal regulations. Experts say an injunction that put the law on hold could soon be lifted.
More than 100 drivers and small trucking company operators opposed to the law swarmed two terminal gates in the Port of Oakland, slowing truck entry to a trickle. The action came after port truckers in Los Angeles picketed gates and snarled roadways at the nation's busiest seaport complex last week.
Business owner Josue Mendez, 29, said AB5 would devastate his port trucking firm, which relies on 10 independent drivers to move everything from
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
The blame needs to be laid where it’s due.
With the government, not the truckers.
Agree...Ca should lift all their ridiculous laws.
Quick, blame Trump, or possibly Putin. Maybe both for good measure
But they won’t. Anyone who thinks the current shortages is due to incompetence is fooling themselves. It’s intentionally done to make Americans feel the pain.
I will argue that it is LABOR feeling artificial oats and pretending to still be a force to be reckoned with
CALLING Buttplug , Oh wait he’s trying to sell, cars
I know an independent owner-operates living near me in Oregon. He is thinking about quitting the trucking business, and getting a day job. The price of fuel is so high that it eats up his profit.
He may not be able to compete against large trucking firms that have the ability to hedge their fuel costs..
The trucking business is about to experience an OBE. The attack on fossil fuels and proxy war with Russia is causing myriad problems. Diesel engine oil requires special additives that are unavailable in the supply chain. The attack on domestic oil/gas production has driven up the price of diesel and limited supply. Modern diesel engines require DEF (depends on urea). For want of diesel fuel, diesel engine oil and DEF, many 18 wheel, local delivery and farm equipment vehicles will be idled. The same may applied to diesel/electric locomotives. A locomotive uses 300 gallons of diesel engine oil and has capacity for 5300 gallons of diesel fuel.
A secondary effect it hitting the farmers. Natural gas provides the basis for creating much of the fertilizer required to generate good yields. Fertilizer was scarce and expensive, so many farmers planted without. The yields on the planted fields will be low. The price of the diesel fuel needed to harvest the crops is high. In some cases, the cost of the diesel fuel to harvest the crop exceeds the value of the harvested crop. Consequence? The crop won't be harvested. Food shortages.
Related, there has been a concerted attack on fertilizer manufacturers and food processors to damage the food supply. This attack on food supply has extended to attacking big box retail freezers. Freezers at Costco and Walmart have been sabotaged causing tons of food to spoil and be sent to the dump with no replacement available. Expect empty shelves.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-09-18/gavin-newsom-signs-ab5-employees0independent-contractors-california
BIDEN & DEMS want ALL JOBS TO BE UNION JOBS....
THEN YOUR UNION DUES BECOME DONATIONS TO THE DEM PARTY
I live in central Illinois. The county I live in is supposedly in a severe drought condition(D2). Driving around in rural areas the corn and soybean crops look to be healthy. I am not out in the fields inspecting the yields, but they look really green to me...
“Freezers at Costco and Walmart have been sabotaged causing tons of food to spoil and be sent to the dump with no replacement available.”
Where has that happened...and how many?
Speaking of ports, has anyone heard anything on the status of the Ports America sale...?
The LA ports job is to keep the water clean.. Go check the website. Not to move freight. Check out the commissioners. Maybe one has had a real job.
The democrats do not care that 70,000 truckers would lose their jobs they want. They want the union bribe money. They do not care how bad the economy gets.
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