AB5 Protest Moves to Oakland
On July 18, protesters blocked the Port of Oakland, as a response to Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), resulting in a 95% decline in operations.
Owner-operated truck drivers make up 90% of the Bay Area port operations, but that quickly came to a halt when protesters blocked trucks from getting into the port.
The original protest was scheduled to last three days, but Bill Adoubi, President of the Oakland Port Service Corp told the Wall Street Journal that protesters are, “digging in for a whole week.”
Reports said protesters can be seen deep-frying food and feeding those on the picket line, as well as setting up tents.
Many terminals in the port closed down early on Tuesday due to congestion caused by the protesters.
How many protesters were there?
Different sources will tell you different numbers as to how many protesters there were. Port officials reported 100 to 130, another news source reported there were more than 100.
However, multiple reports show that numbers grew on Tuesday reaching nearly 1,000 drivers blocking SSA, TraPac, and Everport terminals on the port.
Protesters made a deal with the local police to allow 10 trucks into the port every half-hour. TraPac told the Wall Street Journal protesters to let in trucks at a rate of three trucks per half-hour.
Is anyone doing anything else to help?
The National Labor Relations Board and the Federal Trade Commission are working together to, “promote fair competition and advance workers’ rights.”
“Workers in this country have the right under federal law to act collectively to improve their working conditions. When businesses interfere with those rights, either through unfair labor practices, or anti-competitive conduct, it hurts our entire nation,” said NLRB General Counsel Jennifer A. Abruzzo.
Jason Rabinowitz, President of the Teamsters’ Joint Council 7, told CBS that AB5 is about unionizing truckers. He goes on to say, “Every worker, every driver deserves the right to have a union and all the benefits that come with that.”
Conclusion
AB5 has been a topic of conversation for a very long time, hopefully, after these impactful protests, some change is made.
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