Commentary: Drayage disturbance

   Something for every shipper to keep their eyes on in California — aside, you know, from crippling port congestion — is the state’s legal position on whether drayage drivers are considered employees or independent contractors.
   Recent case law suggests the state sees these drivers as employees, while the current system relies almost entirely on them being independent owner-operators.
   Adding opacity to the situation is the fact that many drivers, according to the intermodal and drayage operator Hub Group, prefer to be considered owneroperators. That mentality is particularly acute in Southern California, where Hub said in a recent conference that more than half of its drivers left to remain owneroperators over driving company trucks.
   This runs counter to the posture of groups attached to the Teamsters, which have been organizing protests over what they consider lost wages owed to independent drivers from drayage carriers. The protests center around the fact that drivers are paid by the load and not by the hour and are thus susceptible to factors outside their control that limit them from making a living wage.
   What’s clear about the situation is that not much is clear at all, including who is accurately representing the majority of drayage drivers’ interest, how case law will affect future decisions, and whether drayage costs for shippers will be affected.