Truck-Driver Program Off Again at Port
A wrench has been thrown into the Port of Los Angeles’ plans to require that only employee truck drivers, and not independent operators, pick up cargo at the docks.
U.S. District Court Judge Christina Snyder in Los Angeles granted a preliminary injunction that will temporarily halt the port’s new mandate until the issue is heard by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals next year. Snyder’s ruling, on Oct. 26, was in response to an ongoing lawsuit filed by the American Trucking Associations, the umbrella group for state trucking associations, which is challenging the truck-driver regulation.
Participants in the lawsuit—which include the Port of Los Angeles, the National Resources Defense Council and the ATA—are planning to file their briefs to the federal appeals court by next March, with a hearing taking place some time next summer or fall.
The employee truck driver requirement was the most controversial part of the Clean Trucks Program, launched by the Port of Los Angeles, which is owned by the city of Los Angeles, and the Port of Long Beach on Oct. 1, 2008. While the city of Los Angeles and its mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, have been fighting for employee truck drivers, the Port of Long Beach opted to use independent drivers who operate trucks with diesel emissions that meet the stringent requirements of the Clean Trucks Program.
The ATA has been a vociferous opponent of the employee truck driver requirement and filed a lawsuit in 2008 to overturn it. The trucking association contends the driver requirement violates a federal law prohibiting states and municipalities from regulating interstate trucking. The ATA also fears that employee truck drivers could be unionized by the Teamsters.—Deborah Belgum
