Port of Oakland in Northern California has resumed full operations after truck drivers protesting against the new “gig-work” law AB5 had blocked access to the port for five days.
Terminals restarted operations over the weekend and cargo was now moving normally, the Port of Oakland said on Monday July 25th. However, port spokesman Robert Bernardo said that it would probably take some weeks to reduce the backlog created by the protests.
The blockade resulted in the shut-down of the port’s largest marine terminal, SSA Marine Inc, for at least three days last week. Three others had to close for trucks at some time. About 450 dockworkers were unable to report for work.
The port said that the disruptions affected the shipping of goods that included medical supplies, agricultural products, livestock and industrial parts.
Last week the port’s executive director, Danny Wan, urged drivers to move to newly designated “free speech zones” and to “cease any further protest activity that disrupts port operations.”
The port has also established a working group composed of port executives and independent drivers, and has promised to act as a liaison between protesters and the administration of Governor Gavin Newsom.
Bill Aboudi, president of trucking company Oakland Port Services, said in an interview on July 25th that police officers had threatened arrest to people who blocked the terminal gates.
Protests had begun across California on July 13th after the State Supreme Court last month refused to review a case challenging the application of Assembly Bill 5 to truckers. The law had been passed in 2019 and in a way the truck drivers’ problems are an unintended consequence, as all the publicity was about Uber Drivers and the extent to which they were their own bosses. AB5 requires workers to satisfy a three-part test to be considered independent contractors; if they fail, they will be seen as employees who are entitled to job benefits.
However, independent truck owner-operators, of whom there are about 70,000 in the state, do not want the job benefits – they want to remain independent contractors.
Until now they have had the flexibility to operate on their own terms, and they think that AB5 will restrict their freedom and cut their earnings, while giving them a “job security” that the neither want, nor feel that they need.
