Trucker protests forces California Port to shut down and Gavin Newsom doesn't care

Protests rage on for a third day in response to a bill that will cause truckers to be sidelined indefinitely.

Assembly bill 5 is at the heart of the indignation gripping the Port of Oakland today. Passed in 2019, it requires employers to provide additional information regarding the status of a given worker. A three-pronged test is utilized to prove that they are indeed an independent contractor, and not just an employee designated as such by a company to avoid paying out benefits required by law. Not to mention all the administration costs and paperwork associated with it.

The added red tape imposed by AB-5 has put many companies and contractors in a bind, and it threatens to sideline as many as 70,000 truckers who would fall under this law.

The reason that the truckers are now in a fury is because of the recent lifting of a two-year legal stay after the Supreme Court declined to hear a case that might've given truckers legal exception to AB-5. This will force them to either start their own corporations, or to become full-fledged employees for a certain company instead of being able to do work for any company they choose. Added costs no one wants to take on, least of all someone who is already subject to California fuel prices curtailing their profit margins significantly.

The Port of Oakland is the eighth largest port in the United States, with an estimated 2,100 trucks going in and out of the terminals every day to haul goods imported from a myriad of countries. This isn't going to help our supply chain issues, needless to say. But hey, it gives something else for Joe Biden to pass the blame on if this becomes a more widespread issue. Nothing is ever his fault.

Protesters have closed off access to the terminals for three days now, causing all four marine terminals to shut down for another day as there seems to be no end to this stand-off any time soon. This will have a ripple effect that will be felt for a while, since stores won't be receiving their usual shipments, so the goods these trucks carry might be out of stock until this issue is resolved. Goods like Australian wine, furniture from China, and many other goods will likely run out before long, with no timeline as of yet on when they will return.

This whole situation should be alarming to Gavin Newsom - one of the vulture candidates looking to replace Joe Biden in 2024. He has already given any debate opponents enough ammunition against him for multiple elections to come, this is just one more shot they can fire at him.

Newsom’s response to this crisis was as you’d expect - a canned response from his office. According to CNBC, the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development Director Dee Dee Myers passed the blame to the Supreme Court and essentially told truckers to suck it up. Her response: “It’s time to move forward, comply with the law and work together to create a fairer and more sustainable industry for all.”

Imagine this situation on a national scale. After only 48 hours of a nationwide trucker strike, everything we take for granted would start running out. Gas stations would run empty. Grocery store shelves will be left bare. ATMs would run out of cash. The ice cream man's supply of Spongebob ice cream would be nonexistent. If that doesn't sound like the apocalypse, I don't know what does.

On a more serious note, trucks also deliver life-saving medical supplies and keep hospitals going. Many need daily medications, such as insulin, to survive. Those who harped incessantly on people wanting to 'kill grandma' during covid also voted for people like Newsom. You stand a good chance of killing every grandma, if such a case comes to pass.

If you've ever seen the Mad Max movies, it'll probably get a lot like that in a hurry. People don't merely sit on their hands when they're desperate and hungry, they start looking for who has what they want and taking it from them by any means necessary.

Truckers are the lifeblood of this nation, if they stop, the country stops. I'd rather not live in a Mad Max scenario if I can help it. Leave them the hell alone.