Contract truck drivers for various drayage companies serving the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports will decide Saturday if they will go on strike as early as Monday in an effort to urge their respective employers to hire them on full-time and agree to potentially negotiate a union contract, Teamsters union organizers said Friday.
The union will host a meeting Saturday for drivers to vote on whether they will strike to protest a practice in which employers avoid fully compensating their drivers by wrongly classifying them as independent contractors.
A recent victory by drivers who successfully negotiated a union contract in January with Shippers Transport Express has served as a “catalyst” for other drivers to demand a similar deal, Teamsters spokeswoman Barb Maynard said.
“The drivers have asked to take a vote, they are fed up and they’re sick of the lawlessness,” Maynard said. “They really demand change, and change isn’t happening fast enough.”
The results of the strike vote will be announced early Monday morning, according to Maynard.
If drivers decide to strike, it would be the sixth job action contract drivers have taken against drayage employers in the past two years, Maynard said.
The Teamsters also are circulating a petition to urge Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia to encourage shipping firms to stop classifying drivers as independent contractors, Maynard said.
—City News Service