“It’s created a wild west situation,” he said. Wages, Muñoz said, have declined some 30% since the 1980s as trucking companies shifted costs “onto the backs of the truck drivers. Truck driving, he said, “used to be a respected job.”īut since deregulation, he said, it’s been a “race to the bottom.” “At the bottom of the supply chain are port truck drivers,” said Mike Muñoz, research and policy analyst for LAANE, calling the system “a sweatshop on wheels.” Trucks aren’t being dispatched because there aren’t enough chassis available, he said - they are being used to house empty containers.īut there is a shortage of drivers, a problem the state recognized recently when they expanded the number of DMV locations that offer commercial driving tests. “There were 123,000 empties as of this morning.” “Marine terminals are drowning in empty containers,” Schrap said in a telephone interview. Schrap’s organization represents trucking businesses that use both independent contractors and employee drivers represented by the Teamsters. Cargo containers sit stacked at the Port of Los Angeles, Wednesday, Oct. Still chief among the issues, Schrap said, are too many empty containers clogging port terminals. The problem isn’t too few drivers, Hoffa said, but rather a system in which drivers must bear much of the financial burden themselves, including paying for trucks and fuel - while having none of the regular employee benefits, such as sick pay or health insurance.īut Matt Schrap, CEO of the Harbor Trucking Association, said Wednesday that the supply chain problems are much more nuanced and complex. The hourlong presentation led by the union, which has been trying to organize port truck drivers for years, included comments from port workers, attorneys and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, an advocacy organizations for working families.

“It’s rotten to the core,” Hoffa said, “and that’s why truckers are not showing up.