Sunday, July 10, 2022

Californicates Your Fruits and Veggies

And while they're at it, they did your Christmas presents, too.

AB5 is a labor classification law that was designed to force gig-economy companies like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash to classify workers as employees, instead of as independent contractors, meaning they’d be eligible for benefits. Of course, lobbyists from those tech giants managed to get their companies exempted....

...Truckers weren’t as lucky as Uber and Lyft, and they now must come into compliance with the law....

So what?

 ...Nearly all the state’s goods are transported by truck, so any disruption to the system is certain to be profound—and likely to spill over into the nation’s supply chain. Truckers aren’t even sure how to proceed. “We have never gotten any good answers from anyone official in California on how this is supposed to be enforced or how our members can comply,” said Norita Taylor, the director of public relations at the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association....

It's about 50-70,000 trucks at stake here, and most of the produce from the San Juaquin and Sacramento valleys (among others.)

Then there are the very important and very large ports-of-entry--also served by trucks.

The Teamsters' Union wins.

Everybody else in the US loses.

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