Action Needed to Shift Responsibility of Maintaining Clean Trucks to Trucking Companies

LOS ANGELES (June 13, 2013) Today, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Port of Los Angeles may not implement two provisions of its Clean Trucks Program: its “off-street parking” and “placard” requirements. The heart of the Port’s environmental program adopted in October 2008 – the concessions approach – remains intact. The Port of LA may continue to require that cleaner, less polluting trucks serve the port, and that the trucks be properly maintained. The Port of LA remains able to bar trucks that do not comply with the landmark environmental program, which has widely been credited with reducing toxic truck emissions by more than 90 percent.

“We are pleased that the basic framework of the Clean Truck Program (CTP) remains intact,” said Jessica Tovar of the Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma. “The CTP has led to a dramatic improvement in the air quality in harbor communities, allowing children afflicted with asthma to breathe easier. Now we need the trucking company owners – not the drivers – to take responsibility for the maintenance of the trucks so that the air stays clean.”

The misclassification of port truck drivers as “independent contractors” stands at the root of the problem that affects the quality of air at our nation’s ports and neighboring communities. As many as 90 percent of America’s port truck drivers are misclassified as “independent contract drivers,” beholden to a single trucking company, paid by the load, but saddled with lease payments and operating costs for trucks they don’t own, and high self-employment taxes. With no ability to control the fees drivers receive for the containers they haul, there is rarely money left at the end of the month to properly maintain the trucks. This results in trucks that are poorly maintained and are more likely to produce malignant fumes that affect the air quality in the ports and the neighboring communities.

“We can’t afford to maintain the new trucks we drive,” said Salvador Miranda, a misclassified port truck driver. “We just aren’t paid enough to buy diesel, insurance, and tires, and to maintain our trucks to clean air standards. These rigs are pretty new, but they are already falling apart because we can’t afford to fix them. Something has got to change.”

Independent Contract Drivers coast-to-coast are filing “Wage and Hour Claims” with the government agencies charged with enforcing labor laws. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in judgments have already been levied because drivers have been found to be employees – not independent contractors – against companies that have inflated profits by pocketing payroll taxes, denying benefits, and pushing maintenance costs onto the drivers.