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New Study * USA - Shows Need For New Regulations For Clean Air, Worker Safety, And Economic Stability
Washington,DC,USA -Common Dreams -July 21, 2009: -- As the United States Congress considers the Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009, which aims to establish national regulatory reforms for American ground transportation, a newly published study details the widespread failures of port trucking deregulation. Port Trucking Down the Low Road: A Sad Story of Deregulation, published by Demos, a national public policy research center, chronicles the industry's downslide since the Federal Motor Carrier Act of 1980. Key findings of the report include:
* Highway travel has become more hazardous since port trucking deregulation: 77.8 percent of New Jersey port truck drivers reported receiving an unsafe chassis in the last 12 months; on average, 40 percent of containers at Miami's port were overweight in 2006, and in some weeks that figure reached 70 percent.
* The port trucking system has not kept pace with advances in clean truck technologies, creating an increasing environmental crisis: Diesel emissions, especially from older trucks, cause significant harmful health impacts, releasing particles into the air that are carcinogenic and dangerous to the environment and the health of nearby residents.
* The quality of jobs for port truck drivers has decreased substantially: Drivers are on the job five days a week, from 10 to 12 hours a day, earning an average annual income of $28,000 in 2008. As "independent contractors", they do not receive health care or any contributions to a retirement fund and are responsible for all collateral maintenance, taxes, insurance and other costs.
* Deregulation has shifted significant costs to the public, costs previously shouldered by the shipping industry: Diesel emissions cause significant harmful health impacts, estimated by one study to cost the state of California $20 billion annually. More than 25 percent of New Jersey port drivers surveyed rely on public clinics or emergency rooms for health care.
* The goods movement system in the U.S. has become increasingly inefficient. Business logistics expenses for the port trucking industry increased for a fourth straight year in 2007, by $91 billion over the 2006 total. The system does not incentivize warehouse companies to build facilities closer to ports or distribution centers, and a poor communications infrastructure hinders incoming and outgoing container movement.
* The failure of the deregulated port trucking system has also been recognized by three separate North American port agencies that have taken some action to mitigate the problems caused by the Federal Motor Carrier Act of 1980.
Port Trucking Down the Low Road includes a series of reforms and policy recommendations, including:
* Improve quality of trucking jobs by cracking down on employer abuse of misclassifying port truck drivers as independent contractors in order to avoid compliance with employment laws;
* Improve air quality and reduce public health hazards and associated costs by establishing stricter federal diesel emission standards;
* Protect the driving public by enforcing highway safety standards, including weight restrictions and the new 2008 chassis standards for container trucks.
"As demonstrates, re-regulating the terms of port trucking could reverse the vicious circle. Raising standards and certifying only carriers that met them could turn the drivers back into regular employees and create incentives for carriers to modernize their equipment," said David Bensman, Professor of Labor Studies and Employer Relations at Rutgers University... And Bensman added that "as Congress and the Obama Administration debate the timing and contours of updating our nation's laws and policies governing goods movement, this new study identifies key areas in desperate need of regulatory reform to ensure we create a modern, efficient, sustainable, and equitable freight transportation system for the 21st century"... (Picture from media-cdn.tripadvisor, by B&B Nahuel, Ushuaia, Argentine: View down the street)
Labels: clean ports
posted by Unknown @ 10:24 AM
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