Port Trucking, Trade and Freedom

It is a core principal of the policy positions embraced by the International Warehouse Logistics Association that our members are first and foremost dedicated to removing the barriers to free and efficient trade and commerce. Sometimes that means opposing these barriers before they are erected.

A perfect example of this is legislation recently introduced in Congress by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY) euphemistically called “The Clean Ports Act of 2011,” which would ban truck owner-operators from U.S. ports with the stated intention of cleaning up the air. IWLA has joined all of the other major logistics industry associations representing both customers and service providers in opposing this misguided bill.

Whether you choose to believe in climate warming or not, we all want cleaner air. It is an established fact that ports and those who work in them have invested heavily in time and resources to speed the switch to cleaner trucks. Notable results have been achieved at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, where the industry has already spent more than $1.2 billion on truck replacement. Since these plans have been implemented by the Ports, over 11,000 trucks have been replaced to meet or exceed 2007 U.S. EPA emissions rules and this program has reduced air emissions by 90% a full two years ahead of schedule.

The same goal is being pursued at other U.S. ports, including Oakland, Seattle, Charleston, Virginia and, most notably in regard to these New York senators, the Port of New York/New Jersey. So, the question inevitably arises, why did these well-established Democratic senators choose to introduce this particular bill at this time?

For years the Teamsters union has been trying to organize port drayage drivers. Because many of these drivers own and operate their own trucks as independent businesses, antitrust laws prevent them organizing under the auspices of a union to set prices. The Teamsters solution is to ban truck owner-operators from port drayage, only allowing company-employed drivers into those facilities who are easier to organize.

The Port of Los Angeles sought to do just that a several years ago, only to see a federal appeals court knock down their plan as a violation of the federal pre-emption of local and state regulation of interstate and foreign commerce. It is this stumbling block to the union’s ambitions that real reason these two senators chose to introduce their bill.

This is one more attempt by labor to gain through regulation and legislation what they cannot achieve by fair and legal means, this time at the expense of small businessmen and women. If enacted into law, this bill would void the enormous investments already made by the port owner-operators in new equipment and put them out of work. The real goal of this legislation is to handcuff private business owners into adopting a business model that only union business agents would find acceptable.

Allowing state and local regulation of motor carrier rates, routes, and services creates an inconsistent patchwork that stifles interstate commerce for the sake of enlarging the pool of drivers that may be organized is dangerously short-sighted. It also would add unnecessary costs to the supply chain and make American goods less competitive in international markets at a time when we are struggling to sustain and extend an economic recovery.

This seems to be another component of a conscious election-year political strategy. Over the past year the National Labor Relations Board majority made up of Obama recess-appointed members has staked out extreme pro-union positions to mollify the President’s union allies who were unhappy over the inability of President Obama and an earlier Democrat-controlled Congress to pass card check legislation.

It is time for the Administration and Congress to stop creating cartels and picking winners and losers in the marketplace, both on the business and labor sides, and instead act to encourage private enterprise and the free flow of trade and commerce.