Am I crazy or is this some past issue that’s since died?

I think believing in a free market is silly, because the entire concept is a cypher. A truly free market would include slaves, drugs, porn, insider trading, influence peddling and all sorts of things that are less hyperbole but just as dodgy. There is no free market. Maybe in Somalia. Even then, the powerful meddle and obstruct.

If a group or individual has the power to control or regulate market forces to their advantage, they’ll do it. They are always free to try. Their opponents are always free to try to undo them. That’s your free market.

In the long run the Port itself would rather deal with union truck companies, esp. if the increased costs applies to similar rules at L.A. and Long Beach ports. Afterall every other tenant/vendor at the marine terminals is a union shop, what’s one more? As long as it doesn’t put the Port of Oakland at an cost competitive disadvantage to other west coast ports. One concern is once a rule is in place is that shortly, consolidation will occur amongst the trucking companies. In fact a Port consultant will be researching that and related questions very soon.

R. Kaplan – as for improving air quality by reducing wait times, already all trucks are required to abide by anti-idling laws, which are largely ignored an unenforced. My guess is that despite elaborate policies to ensure terminal dispatchers are even handed in assigning loads, independent operators get the short shrift and therefore wait in long lines to gain a (perceived?) advantage back. Earlier this year CARB did an air quality study on the risk of cancer from particulate matter at the marine terminal/rail yard/I-880. Gate idling is a tiny miniscule compared to other sources
http://www.arb.ca.gov/ch/communities/ra/westoakland/documents/appendixa031908.pdf

The truck drivers, now called “independent contractors,” are paid by the load, not by the hour. So, there is no incentive by those with the power to do so, to reduce the hours spent by truck drivers idling while waiting in line. The current system, in which drivers spend hours waiting line, is incredibly economically inefficient, while at the same time causing excess diesel exhaust, and thus, damage to human health and the environment.

So, everybody suffers from the current system. As the price of diesel fuel rises, the system becomes more and more costly and wasteful. But, the “waste” is externalized onto the truck drivers, (who have to pay more for fuel, and lose money due to waiting in line), and is externalized through the pollution and health impacts onto others.

Everybody would be better off with a change that provided not only cleaner-burning engines and/or cleaner fuel, but also a better system for pick-up and delivery, which eliminated wasteful idling. If an employer were paying the truck drivers as employees by the hour, (and costs like fuel), it would immediately become obvious that the financially wise choice would be to fix the pick-up and delivery system to have less wasted time, and thus, less wasted fuel and less pollution.

So, in this case, the “worker status” issue does connect to the environmental impact.

Trains are also an important piece of the Port’s future, and I certainly support expanding rail freight. Because of the range of places where deliveries need to go, trains alone won’t solve all the problems, so, while working on expanding rail-based solutions, we will still need to improve the efficiency of the trucking pickup and delivery systems.

It’s not about ‘forming a union’– they are incorrectly classified as independent contractors, and, therefore, the people who actually profit off of the trucking industry (huge corporations) shield themselves from any accountability– since they can just blame the ‘independent contractors’…

I know Nadel has talked about a co-op of drivers. Needless to say, the status quo is unacceptable for everyone.

I still believe in the free market. If it cost more, then they should be able to charge more. If some can’t afford it, then, yes, they go out of biz, causing a shortage, thus driving up wages.