We received the following letter in response to Bill Picture’s report on the Port of Oakland’s efforts to clean up truck pollution.
Published: May, 2009
We received the following letter in response to Bill Picture’s report on the Port of Oakland’s efforts to clean up truck pollution.
If your publication is editorially independent and not affiliated with unions or the port, then it should publish the rest of the story here. CCSP [Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports] is a union group with the goal not of cleaning the air, but of unionizing all port drivers.
The Court of Appeals in Los Angeles on March 20 ordered a lower court judge to issue an injunction against all or parts of the L.A. port concession plan and highlighted the ban on independent owner-operators as one element that was an especially egregious violation of the rights of citizens.
In addition to this there are many errors and misstatements in this article; some were made by the union people, but some are not attributed.
The ATA has supported the Clean Truck Programs in Los Angeles and Long Beach, but sued successfully to halt parts of the program that are illegal, unconstitutional, and have nothing to do with clean air.
Clayton W. Boyce
V.P. of Public Affairs and Press Secretary
American Trucking Associations
UPDATE:
Last July, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop the plan. In the meantime, they asked for an injunction to halt implementation of certain provisions of the plan, in particular, the one that requires trucking companies to stop using independent contractors and hire all drivers as employees.
On March 20, three Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals judges urged U.S. District Court Judge Christina Snyder to grant ATA’s request. The three-judge panel deemed the provisions in question unconstitutional for they “denigrate small businesses and insist that individuals should work for large companies or not at all.” Judge Snyder is expected to rule on April 27.
The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) had also called for an injunction. The program, they claimed, will reduce competition and cause irreparable economic harm by decreasing services and raising rates. But, on April 15, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon rejected the FMC’s request, concluding that there was insufficient evidence to substantiate these claims. Leon also deemed the clean-truck program likely to succeed on merits when it eventually goes to trial.
