I'm glad you're following this.

I'm glad somebody's picked the story back up again after all these years, but the Paris Commune style you've got starts creaking when you paint it on so thick.

Not only do they have to pay for fuel, truck maintenance, etc, but also both halves of their Social Security and Medicare. They have to pay for their state disability and unimployment premiums. The 'subcontractor' ruse is a scam a bunch of employers would like to pull. The practice was mostly stopped by the IRS and state officials when it started to take off. It's just another method for unethical businesses to avoid paying their fair share, and another nosedive in the slow motion flight that is the 3rd-worldization of the US economy.

Let me get this right. According to the press release from enviros, public (taxpayer funded) officials are lobbying against this long list of groups and political leaders? What the heck are our elected port commissioners doing about this? Don't they need the support of these groups for their elections?

SEATTLE:
Cascade Chapter of the Sierra Club
Community Coalition for Environmental Justice
Council on American-Islamic Relations, Washington Chapter
Church Council of Greater Seattle
International Longshore & Warehouse Union, Local 19
Martin Luther King County Labor Council
People for Puget Sound
Puget Sound Sage
One America
Seattle/King County Building and Construction Trades Council
UFCW, Local 21
Unite Here, Local 8
Washington Community Action Network

NATIONAL:
Honorable Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City
Honorable Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark
Honorable Antonio Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles
Honorable Ronald Dellums, Mayor of Oakland
Honorable Stacy Ritter, Mayor of Broward County (home to Port Everglades)
Honorable George Miller and 23 CA members of Congress
Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, U.S. House of Representatives
Bay Area Air Quality Management District (CA)
Change to Win
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Natural Resources Defense Council
Sierra Club
Port of Los Angeles
Port of Oakland
Port Authority of New York & New Jersey

Thank you for covering this story.

Did you know McBee Strategic Consulting is the firm where former Airport Director Gina Marie Lindsey (after whom the Gina Marie Lindsey Arrival Hall at Seatac is named) worked after Seatac?

And did you know McBee is the firm where Micky D (Mic Dinsmore) arranged for an internship of the daughter of Congressman Norm Dicks? This was mentioned in the Seattle Times a few days ago.

Tay should stay away from McBee if he wants to avoid being another Micky D.

@7 - I know I shouldn't bother responding to the moronic can't-use-a-consistent-name trolls, but...

Older trucks are held to far less stringent emissions requirements than newer ones, especially those built since 2007. For some pollutants, the new standards are at least an order of magnitude tighter than for trucks built in the late '80s and early '90s. Here's a summary I found in maybe thirty seconds of searching.

Under what law is it independent for contractors to organize?

That stinks of unconstitutional.

Independent contractors cannot organize; this includes my profession of freelance writing. It's price fixing. Because we are not employees, we have no right to collective bargaining. If we organize to discuss any terms of our work--including pricing and such--as opposed to the work itself, we could be prosecuted. True for truckers as well as photographers, writers, etc.

The trucker situation is basically a way for the ports and shippers to earn money by exploiting the truckers. There's no second issue here. The truckers can't improve their earnings because the ports set fees unilaterally. When fuel costs skyrocketed, the port was able to have truckers absorb that. When truckers have to idle for hours because of security issues, the port lets truckers absorb that.

Eventually, either it will be unaffordable for people to be truckers (it sounds marginally better than McDonald's now with worse hours and worse benefits and worse working conditions), or the cartel of ports has to be broken, and the law changed.

When that happens, shipping costs will go way up, which is fine, because they are artificially subsidized by the truckers (and our too-low gas taxes in this country). The reason that China and other countries have "cheap import goods" is partly because of how they control currency in their countries, not allowing them to float; partly because of the US demand for selling debt to finance our unsustainable way of life; partly because big businesses, including the ports, have juryrigged the system so that the real cost of delivering goods (including environmental impact) is offloaded on to other businesses and to taxpayers.

The problem isn't while the trucks dwell in the ports, it's the surrounding Seattle neighborhoods impacted by them.

I live in Long Beach right by the port and I really am pissed at this asshat Yoshitani. It's bad enough port officials here in this LA bedroom city caved to the industry bullies, unlike LA officials who stood up to them, but now this guy is undermining our local clean-air fight as well as screwing people and truck drivers in Seattle? Good for your mayor and commissioner who are on the right side of the debate.

Well, where is the Commission? And not just Holland. Bryant, Albro, Creighton, Tarleton, all of them campaigned on making the Port open. Like on so many issues, that seems like empty talk from the Commissioners right about now. Why are they letting Yoshitani work to strip the port of its ability to set environmental and safety standards on the trucks? And why are they letting him do it under a veil of secrecy?

@15: Larn: They are essentially employees, made into contractors by a loophole, just as been used in some other industries.

The fact is, they cannot set or negotiate fees, are told where and when to do what they do. The only way they are "independent" is that they are required to own their own gear.

As for forming shipping companies, it is to laugh, the naivete. If they formed such companies, the port will simply not hire those companies and hire other drivers who were less organized.

Thanks for bringing this story back up, Jake! This is a Real issue that needs to be addressed! The Port of Seattle commissioners and CEO Tay Yoshitani need to be held accountable for poor decisions being made about the truck drivers, their trucks and the pollution effecting all of the surrounding neighborhoods.. We elect these folks, so lets make sure the right thing is being done. Pay attention King County...just because you voted for these folks doesn't mean they are doing the right thing. Keep the pressure on!

@11 Glen...thanks for that post. You just helped me put this issue into perspective, and opened the application of it to lots of places beyond the Port.

As I understand what you are saying, the move to Independent Contractors, while looking like it gives employees more freedom, actually constrains them in novel ways, such as the inability to organize through price-fixing laws.

Fascinating.

Is the Port of Seattle under Tay a public entity, subject to FOIA?

Ah, it is.

Surely it's time someone ran up a FOIA on all union-busting financials, communications, and memos, and posted them online?

The era of globalization (as we know it) is coming to an end. There is no replacement for petroleum. Conserving remaining reserves will necessitate much less transport in fewer trucks designed for the long haul, much less shipping, air travel and personal driving. (handwriting on the wall)

Action against the misclassification of employees as Independent contractors in New York: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/busine…