Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach – After five days of active picketing that dramatically impacted trucking companies and the marine terminal operators that continued to allow the trucks of struck companies into their yards, misclassified “independent contractor” drivers from XPO Logistics, Intermodal Bridge Transport (IBT), and Gold Point Transportation have ended their strike. Drivers from Pacific 9 Transportation remain on strike indefinitely. Amazon warehouse workers employed by Wilmington-based California Cartage also ended their strike with the support of the Teamsters.  “It is obvious to us that the retailers and the terminals that are supporting low road trucking companies that illegally misclassify their employees as “independent contractors” by doing business with them have little regard for workers rights. We call on the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, America’s retailers, and the terminal operators to stop doing business with law-breaking companies. The Teamsters are committed to stopping the misclassification of workers, and will continue to support the port truck drivers on the front lines of ending wage theft.” -- Fred Potter, International Vice President and Director of the Port Division, International Brother of Teamsters Friday morning, 14 new drivers filed “wage and hour” claims valued at $3.5 million with the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE); including one driver at RPM Transportation who presented evidence of $450,000 in wage theft over a three-year period. There are an additional 19 DLSE claims in the process of being completed and filed. Prior to this new development, the DLSE was reporting: - 705 wage and hour claims filed with DLSE. - 155 orders, decisions, or awards (ODA) in such claims. - Of these, all unappealed claims readily available (113 of the 155 ODAs) were deemed misclassified by the DLSE, which ordered a combined total of $12 million in back wages and penalties. - Average award per driver: $110,000. - Estimated potential liability: $60+ million for the 550 pending claims. Further, there are at least 21 pending class action lawsuits covering 3,000 current and former misclassified port truck drivers, and both the U.S. Department of Labor and the California Attorney General have filed misclassification lawsuits against major California port trucking companies. The National Employment Law Project (NELP) estimates the total annual industry liability for misclassification of port truck driver in California alone is nearly $1 billion per year. The strikes ended with a victory at Los Angeles City Hall, where the City Council unanimously adopted a resolution that calls on all companies who conduct business at the San Pedro ports complex to “comply with federal and state employment and labor laws and provide them with the same wage and benefits protections afforded to all employees in our city,” and encouraged “all vested parties to resolve any labor issues proactively to avoid any work stoppages at the Port of Los Angeles.” Additionally, a delegation of striking drivers delivered more than 27,000 petitions to L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office (the petition is also aimed at Long Beach Mayor Eric Garcia and delivery will take place next week).