Oakland to vote to ask for truck regulatory exemption

Oakland to vote to ask for truck regulatory exemption    The Port of Oakland Harbor Commission on Tuesday is to discuss a proposal to amend federal transportation law that limits local regulation of interstate transportation and grant an exemption for port drayage hauls of less than 50 miles.
   The exemption would pave the way for the port to require that drayage drivers meet strict new air pollution guidelines set forth by the port and California's air regulatory agency.
   But in a statement Monday, the American Trucking Associations called the proposal misguided and motivated by Teamsters who want to ensure that drayage in Oakland is handled by large trucking firms and not the owner-operators who predominantly shuttle containers from the port to nearby distribution centers and warehouses.
   'Unions and their supporters are wrongly claiming that banning independent owner-operators from the Port of Oakland is necessary to clean the air,' said ATA Vice President of Public Affairs Clayton Boyce. 'The recent experience in the Port of Los Angeles, where clean air efforts are far ahead of schedule even though the L.A. ban on owner-operators has been enjoined, has shown that claim to be false.'
   Boyce was referring to recent decisions by the U.S. Court of Appeals and a U.S. District Court that knocked back a part of the Port of Los Angeles' ongoing Clean Truck Program that would have required drivers to be salaried company employees. That drive was also seen as being led by Teamsters.
   ATA, citing a Port of Oakland economic analysis, said that drayage drivers are earning wages comparable to non-drayage drivers (a greater percentage of whom are salaried and employed by large companies). ' Eric Johnson