Hundreds Rally to Support Solution on Dirty Port Trucks

Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports Press Contacts:
Barbara Maynard:  (213) 387-0780 or (323) 351-9321 (cell)
Sarah Massey: (202) 445-1169

Los Angeles (March 29, 2006)  More than three hundred residents and port drivers are expected at a 6 PM rally in Wilmington, joined by regional politicians, and influential activists, in support of a new plan to bring fundamental change to the port trucking system.  At a phone news conference this morning, the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports - a coalition of port-area residents, environmental, labor, and religious leaders - unveiled an innovative solution to lower port pollution while addressing concerns of drivers and residents.

The problem: Today's broken port trucking system accounts for a significant amount of the air pollution plaguing port neighborhoods, endangers children by contributing to asthma and other serious illnesses, sentences more than 16,000 drivers-mostly immigrants-to lives of peril and poverty, and threatens L.A. and Long Beach Ports' desired expansion, which are vital economic engines for the region. The Coalition proposes a comprehensive fix by creating accountability at the ports.

One glaring symptom of a grossly inefficient system: Up to 50 percent of drivers' time is spent waiting at the ports to transfer containers-while engines idle and pour diesel fumes into the air. Since drivers are paid by the load, not the hour, there is no incentive for trucking companies that hire drivers to move them through port terminals quickly, thus boosting driver income and reducing dirty air.

Port driving is like laboring in sweatshops on wheels. Because drivers are misclassified as independent contractors, trucking companies can evade responsibility for Social Security, unemployment insurance, or workers' compensation. There is no workers' comp for all-too-common injuries; if drivers are killed on the job, Cal-OSHA, the state work-safety agency, will not even investigate. A largely immigrant work force earning poverty pay cannot afford to buy or maintain newer, more environmentally-friendly trucks. Meanwhile, many drivers' children and others in low-income communities near the ports are victims of breathing polluted air from port trucks. That pollution is a key barrier to port expansion.

The solution: Under the model premiered Thursday by the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports, the ports would issue contracts only to trucking companies that agree to honor basic environmental, labor, and national security standards, thus creating a new mechanism of accountability at the ports.  Coalition members will urge L.A. and Long Beach port commissioners to adopt this new model to clean up the air, reduce elevated incidents of asthma, and improve driver working conditions.

Who:  
Area residents, port truck drivers, environmentalists, labor and religious leaders, and port officials: S. David Freeman, President, LA Harbor Commission, Jerilyn Lopez-Mendoza, Vice President, LA Harbor Commission, and Mario Cordero, Vice President, Long Beach Harbor Commission. Speakers to include L.A. City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, L.A. County labor leader Maria Elena Durazo, and environmental activist Rafael Pizarro.

What:
Rally to support comprehensive solution for broken port trucking system.

When:
TODAY: Thursday March 29, 2007, at 6 PM.

Where:  
Neptune Field, corner of "C" St. and Neptune Ave., Wilmington.

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Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports * 1714 Franklin St., Suite 325, Oakland, CA 94607

The Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports is committed to working with Port stakeholders to develop a lasting solution to the crisis in port trucking. The Coalition includes environmental, labor, faith, public health and community organizations that are promoting sustainable economic development at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

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