Judge Confirms LA Clean-Truck Order

Judge Christina A. Snyder issued her order in the Port of Los Angeles clean-truck case, confirming her recent ruling and dissolving the preliminary injunction that has prevented Los Angeles from implementing the employee-driver mandate in its clean-truck plan.

The American Trucking Associations, which had requested the injunction against implementation of the clean-truck plan's concession requirements, will file a formal appeal with Judge Snyder.

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Curtis Whalen, executive director of ATA's intermodal conference, said the attorneys later today will file a notice of intent to appeal. ATA will then have 14 days to actually file the appeal, giving its reasons why the trucking organization believes lifting the injunction would be detrimental to harbor truck drivers.

ATA will not wait 14 days, but will most likely file its formal appeal next week, Whalen said.

Meanwhile, the Port of Los Angeles is drafting a plan for implementing the clean-truck concession requirements, including the employee-driver mandate. ATA opposes all of the concession requirements, but especially the requirement that harbor trucking companies hire drivers as direct employees.

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Most harbor truck drivers at U.S. container ports are owner-operators. Such independent contractors, by law, can not be organized by labor unions. The Teamsters Union supports the Los Angeles employee-driver mandate as it would open up the harbor to possible unionization by the Teamsters.

The port staff is scheduled on Sept. 27 to present to the Los Angeles Harbor Commission its plan for implementing the concession requirements in the clean-truck plan. Geraldine Knatz, the port's executive director, has stated previously that Los Angeles wants to implement the plan in a measured way so as not to disrupt trucking capacity in the harbor.

Under the employee-drive mandate, for example, trucking companies serving Los Angeles would most likely have to begin to transfer the status of the owner-operators to that of direct employees.

Whalen charged that such an order would harm the thousands of owner-operators that the past two years have begun to lease costly new clean trucks. The trucking environment in the Los Angeles-Long Beach harbor complex would be muddled because Long Beach does not require employee drivers, and many of the trucking companies that serve Long Beach also work in Los Angeles.

The appeals process is far from over, based on what happened more than a year ago in the clean-trucks case. Judge Snyder at that time refused to grant ATA's request for a preliminary injunction. ATA appealed her decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which overturned Judge Snyder's decision.

ATA is expected to file another appeal with the 9th Circuit if Judge Snyder refuses to reinstate the injunction.

-- Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at bmongelluzzo@joc.com.