The ranking republican on a House transportation committee looking into the effect of the Southern California ports’ trucking programs on Wednesday, blasted the Port of Los Angeles’ attempts to bar independent owner-operators from servicing the port.

House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit member Rep. John Duncan, Jr. of Tennessee said during the hearing that he and many others have concerns about a requirement of the Port of Los Angeles truck plan that calls for all drivers serving the ports to be per-hour employees, instead of per-load independent owner-operators, a status shared by more than 80 percent of the port’s current drivers.

From Pacific Maritime Magazine, Thursday, May 6, 2010