Posted by
BLOGASSAULT on Saturday, January 09, 2010 12:46:51 PM
After reading this
article from the LA Times, you have to ask your self this question: Are they trying to clean up the LA sea port air with cleaner tractors, or are they trying to make the trucking industry a wholly owned subsidiary of the Teamsters Union?
At the heart of the conflict is the issue of whether drivers must work for trucking companies, as the Los Angeles clean-trucks program requires, or can remain self-employed, as Long Beach's plan allows. The Los Angeles effort is seen as pro-union because working for a trucking company makes drivers more likely to be recruited by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
One thing is for certain, this is not about capitolism. They are using one issue as cover to accomplish another. Allowing only companies that have unionized employees into the port is clearly not something the government should have any say in.
On Monday, the American Trucking Assn. is to head to federal court seeking a summary judgment to prevent Los Angeles from executing its plan. The ATA says the Los Angeles port is violating federal deregulation laws by requiring drivers to give up independent owner-operator status and work for trucking companies, a mandate that is being phased in.
Here is another issue that needs an answer: How many independent truck drivers have lost there lively hood because of having to buy new trucks and then be told that they can't come into the port becuase they are not union. Sounds, well, un-american. But this is what you get when you let the liberal government run things.