LA Spending Exorbitant Amounts of Tax Dollars to Defend Union Position

The city of Los Angeles has spent over $1 million in lobbying and litigation to defend the union-friendly concession requirements attached to the Clean Truck Program at the Port of Los Angeles, writes Bill Mongelluzzo in his Nov. 13 Journal of Commerce article.

"Los Angeles, in litigation filed by the American Trucking Associations, is defending the clean truck plan's concession agreements with motor carriers, including a requirement that allows only for employee drivers of trucking companies to operate at the port," said Mongelluzzo.

"That effort is supported by environmental and labor organizations, including the Teamsters union, which is attempting to organize harbor truck drivers nationwide." said Mongelluzzo.

The litigation so far involves more than 10,000 pages of legal documents, including 219 filings in federal court in Los Angeles and more than 130 filings with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, where the courts have rejected city arguments and said the concession requirements are a violation of federal law, said attorney Cameron Roberts in the article.

"Also, the city and port have a contract with the Gephardt Group, a high-profile Washington lobbying firm, to urge Congress to draw new limits on federal oversight of interstate commerce and give ports limited regulatory authority over harbor trucking," said Mongelluzzo.

"In light of the unfavorable court rulings, Los Angeles is devoting more effort to amend federal preemption so it will be free to implement the employee-driver mandate. Los Angeles city officials and backers of the effort at other cities would like to attach the change to a new surface transportation spending plan, but a full highway bill is tied up in Congress and likely won't be considered until late next year at the earliest," said Mongelluzzo.