Early Friday morning, a supermajority of misclassified “independent contractor” drivers at Intermodal Bridge Transport (IBT), a part of the Chinese Government-owned COSCO Logistics Americas network, delivered a letter demanding that the trucking company recognize their right to be represented by Teamsters Local 848. IBT Assistant Vice President Ozzie Zea did not recognize the drivers’ rights, so they are now taking their demands directly Gary Schubert, President of IBT, and Shuyi Du, President of COSCO Logistics Americas. The drivers are also notifying IBT’s key customers, including high-end retailer Michael Kors, Sony, Toyota, General Electric, Target, JC Penney, and Trek Bicycle Corporation, of their demands and ongoing potential for labor unrest. These drivers, many of whom were on strike in April 2015, are plaintiffs in a series of class action and individual lawsuits filed against the company for misclassification. Though their cases are still pending, in January they witnessed their colleagues at Shippers Transport Express succeed in their litigation and become Teamsters through a neutral process. (The drivers at IBT and Shippers are in close contact as their parent companies, COSCO and SSA Marine, are in a joint venture to own and operate Pacific Container Terminals (PCT), a 256 acre marine terminal at the Port of Long Beach.) “Drivers at Shippers Transport Express, who were converted to employees in January and soon thereafter became Teamsters, had to fight through the courts to get their rights. We are hoping to avoid that long and expensive legal process because we know that we are misclassified at IBT – just as they were at Shippers,” said Hector Flores, a full-time port truck driver at IBT and married father of two daughters. “We will fight for as long as it takes and are even ready to go on strike again, but all of that disruption and expense can be avoided if the company simply chooses to do the right thing and recognize our rights as employees and right to become members of the Union.” “We're looking out for each other. We decided we're going to stick together and we're not going to be pushed around like they've been doing for years and years. The petition tells the boss he can no longer treat us like employees and pay us as independent contractors,” said IBT driver Davis Telfilo immediately after he and others delivered their demand for representation. "Local 848 looks forward to welcoming IBT drivers to the Teamster family. It is clearly in the best interest of all parties — the company, their customers, and the professional drivers — to avoid the lengthy, expensive litigation process, and the labor unrest that accompanies that process," said Eric Tate, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 848 in Long Beach, CA. "We support these drivers' noble effort to exercise their right to form a union and will provide whatever support they need on their path to a fair union contract."