Catherwood LibraryILR School

Truckers working at the busiest container port in the country, the Port of Los Angeles, from the companies American Logistics International, Pacific 9 Transportation, and Green Fleet went on strike yesterday to protest classification as independent contractors. The strike puts pressure on Forever 21, Costco, and Wal-Mart in the hopes that those companies in turn will pressure the trucking companies to reform. The Teamsters, who led the strike, believe that there are a number of abuses in the industry: paying truckers by the mile, avoiding paying benefits for truckers, and employers taking unnecessary deductions out of truckers? paychecks. Some of the truckers get an hourly wage as low as 32 cents per hour because employers pay them by the mile and take out deductions for equipment and services necessary to perform the job. The possibility of a strike is more viable in recent times because of the Federal Department of Labor?s recent emphasis on correcting misclassification of employees as independent contractors, as well as the labor shortage that trucking companies are experiencing and will continue to experience for the foreseeable future.