California Democrats alienate truckers who shut down port

 Blaze:

Independent truckers shut down the Port of Oakland as a protest against a labor law signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Since Monday, California truckers have been blocking access to the Port of Oakland with a protest against Assembly Bill 5 (AB5). The truck drivers successfully stopped operations at the Oakland port from Wednesday through Friday.

The Port of Oakland said in a Wednesday statement, "Trucker protests that started Monday over the implementation of AB5 have effectively shut down operations at shipping terminals at the Port of Oakland. The shutdown will further exacerbate the congestion of containers dwelling at the Oakland Seaport as port officials urge terminal operations to resume."
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The protest has caused containers to back up, exacerbating the ongoing supply chain issues in California.

“Currently, import containers are sitting at the Port of Oakland for more than two weeks,” said Josh Brazil – vice president of supply chain insights at Project44. "Due to a lack of intermodal capacity, dwell times exceeded 10 days even before the AB5 protest. Those containers will now spend even more time in port due to the restrictions against independent truckers."
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Truckers are rebelling against California Assembly Bill 5 – which was signed into law by Newsom in September 2019.

AB5 called for "a person providing labor or services for remuneration shall be considered an employee rather than an independent contractor unless the hiring entity demonstrates that the person is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, the person performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business, and the person is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business."

Certain professions were exempt from AB5 – including insurance agents, health care professionals, investment advisers, realtors, barbers, and fishermen. In November 2020, app-based delivery drivers and rideshare drivers were made exempt from AB5. However, truckers were not exempt from AB5.

In January 2020, the trucking industry secured an injunction that prevented AB5 from including independent truckers.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case of the California truckers battling against AB5. The labor law would force independent contractors to be employees of trucking companies in order to work in California. As TheBlaze previously reported, AB5 affects 70,000 owner-operated truckers in California.

AB Trucking owner Bill Aboudi told CNBC, "It seems the governor is not concerned about taking American workers’ rights away. These are independent, small businesses that choose to operate their own trucks, and now that right is taken away from them."

A Los Angeles-based trucker told the Daily Caller, "This kills the liberty of being a trucker and kills the American Dream."
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AB5 was clearly a mistake that is hurting not only truckers but the US supply chain.  Liberal Democrats in California are responsible for this fiasco.