Trucking Industry, Unions Clash Over Driver Classification in New Jersey

By ROBBIE WHELAN

June 8, 2016

Port trucking companies back an Assembly bill that would make it easier to hire drivers as contractors. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters wants drivers classified as employees.

The trucking industry has won a round in an ongoing bout with labor unions over whether truck drivers at the East Coast’s busiest port are employees or independent contractors.

The New Jersey Assembly had been considering legislation that would have forced port trucking companies to use mainly employee drivers, and raised penalties for improperly hiring contractors. However, the Assembly’s transportation committee last month merged that bill with an industry-friendly measure that would keep the penalties but broaden the definition of independent drivers to include most port truckers.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which backed the original bill, has withdrawn its support. A vote before the full Assembly hasn’t been scheduled.

The Teamsters are leading efforts to organize drivers who haul loads from the docks to nearby rail yards and warehouses at the nation’s ports, including the 7,000 truckers operating at the busy terminals around New York Harbor. Employee classification has emerged as a key front, as most port drivers operate as independent contractors, who cannot be unionized.

In Los Angeles and Long Beach, the country’s two biggest ports, hundreds of drivers have sued claiming they were improperly hired as contractors. Some trucking companies have filed for bankruptcy protection or left California, citing the costs of settling driver lawsuits or the greater expense of hiring employee drivers. FedEx Corp. and Uber Technologies Inc. have settled with drivers as a group to end similar disputes.

“New Jersey’s been a long-running issue. It’s the country’s third largest port, and that’s their last big bastion of truckers who are not unionized,” said Curtis Whalen, executive director of the Intermodal Conference of the American Trucking Associations.

Unions have failed to make headway on the issue in New Jersey, where the bulk of the region’s port trucking takes place but labor laws favor the industry. In 2013, Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a measure that would have stiffened penalties for misclassifying drivers.

“The key to this whole equation is enforcement,” said Fred Potter, head of the Teamsters’ port division. “Who is going to force companies to enforce labor practices? There isn’t really proper enforcement being done by the New Jersey Department of Labor.”

The new legislation allows trucking companies to claim drivers are contractors if they own their own business, own or lease their own truck or can accept jobs from multiple trucking companies. That would include the vast majority of drivers at the port.

“What we want to do is set up specific rules as to a guy who owns his own vehicle, licenses the truck, washes the truck. He’s an independent contractor,” said Tom Adamski, who runs a port truck depot in New Jersey and is a member of the intermodal council of the New Jersey Motor Truck Association, which lobbied against the Teamster-backed bill.

Sarah Leberstein, a senior staff attorney with the National Employment Law Project, a labor advocacy group, said the industry-supported definition is “not just a loophole, it’s an enormous cavern for employers to walk through.”

The union-backed bill endorsed a standard that would classify more drivers as employees, and called for stricter enforcement of wage and benefit violations. For example, drivers who own their trucks would still be employees - and able to unionize - if they drove for companies that specified what time shipments needed to be picked up.

Opinion: Unions holding Ohio back

John Morris 

February 28, 2016

Ohio State is on a three-game losing streak. First was Indiana, then a surprise loss to Michigan, followed by West Virginia. Kentucky is next.

What I am talking about? Perhaps I should not have written Ohio State, as you are now likely thinking about a collegiate sport. But I needed your attention. It is not Ohio State University but the state of Ohio that is losing to its neighboring states. Ohio is now in a virtual tie with Illinois as the most unfair, uncompetitive and unfriendly state in the Midwest for workers’ rights. West Virginia just joined Indiana and Michigan in passing right-to-work legislation, and Kentucky will likely soon do the same, leaving Ohio dwelling in the cellar.

When presented with facts, not propaganda and lies, only three small groups are against passage of right-to-work (workplace freedom) legislation. These are unions who have failed to modernize in 60 years, legislators bribed by unions in exchange for doing nothing, and advertisers. Purveyors of billboards and Ohio legislators-for-hire, Rejoice! You are about to get a new windfall. Those who cherish truth in advertising and elected officials who do what is right for workers, prepare (again) to be aggravated. Unions all across Ohio will soon be doubling their propaganda campaigns and campaign contributions in an effort to ensure Ohio gets left behind.

An overwhelming majority of Ohioans support passing right to work. A recent survey showed that 68 percent of households with a union member support workplace freedom. This is because right to work accomplishes two things: It guarantees workers the right to unionize while concurrently making sure the union actually works for them. It is simple – with right to work, a union must deliver value to workers or the worker will choose to not pay dues.

Most of today’s union workers never voted to belong to the union that takes dues from their check every week. Rather, their union was formed by workers from generations before, who worked in environments that existed before the EPA, OSHA and aggressive litigators became watchdogs over industries. Those unions worked for safety and other worker rights.

Unfortunately, over the past 60-plus years, unions have simply become high-paid lobbyists disconnected from workers. Households with union workers support right to work because it guarantees value for their dues. Union bosses oppose right to work because they would much rather “wine and dine” elected officials than serve workers.

Wherever right to work has passed, none of the union propaganda lies have been realized. There are not increased deaths from unsafe conditions, nor do schools replace good teachers with cheaper ones. Instead, the number of union workers and average wages have grown along with the number of overall jobs.

In December 2015, local union boss Carolyn Park stated, “It is time that politicians here in Ohio and in Washington, D.C., got the message: Americans are tired of policies that benefit the wealthy few at the expense of everybody else.” She is absolutely correct. Not passing right to work is bad policy since it only benefits a few wealthy union bosses and lobbyists. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average Ohio union leader annual salary exceeds $125,000 plus benefits. Their pay has risen every year while workers’ net pay and benefits have gone down.

Passing right to work would mean union bosses (the 1 percent) would stop benefiting from decisions made years ago and go back to working for their members. It is time for right to work to come to Ohio. Hard-working union members deserve the freedom to choose. 

John Morris is president of the Associated Builders and Contractors, Ohio Valley and Northern Kentucky chapters.