July 15, 2022 – Hundreds of port cargo truckers are protesting California’s Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), a law that requires owner-operators to be classified as employees of the carriers for which they haul loads. While it’s designed to improve working conditions, benefits, and compensation, it poses a significant threat to the 70,000 owner-operators who will no longer be able to operate as independent contractors for trucking companies.
In an interview with Supply Chain Dive, Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said “We planned for this days ahead to make sure that these protests were peaceful and organized. We gave them the breadth and depth of space they needed to voice their opinions, but [we] kept this cargo moving through the port complex, and these drivers are very respectful of just that.”
Initially, organizers had planned for a 24-hour demonstration, but the turnout was much larger than they expected. Cindy Perez, one of the organizers, said she would continue leading protests as long as drivers continue to show up. “Our goal is to get exempted from [AB5], to get carved out from it, just like other industries,” she said. “And if we’re not, we at least want to know why.”
While it’s too early to determine how the potential supply chain effects of the AB5 law will play out, this new bill could cause thousands of drivers to get pulled off the road.
“It is clear that a very large contingent of truck owners have taken recent developments regarding AB5 as a direct threat to their livelihoods,” Harbor Trucking Association CEO Matt Schrap said in a statement Wednesday. “The frustration with the total lack of regard by the state of California for a business model that has provided thousands of men and women an opportunity to build and grow a business is now blatantly obvious.”