Port Lawsuit
Two environmental groups have sued the Port of Long Beach for reaching an agreement with the trucking community allowing drivers hauling cargo in and out of the port to be independent operators and not trucking-company employees. The suit, filed Dec. 29 in Los Angeles County Superior Court and announced Jan. 4, was initiated by the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council against the port and American Trucking Associations, which has pushed for independent drivers. The environmental groups maintain that Long Beach violated city and state law when it did not get public comment on the settlement or an environmental review. Long Beach’s policy differs from that of the Port of Los Angeles, which requires that truck drivers calling at the docks be company employees.
