Independent truck drivers gather to delay the entry of trucks at a container terminal at the Port of Oakland, during a protest against California's law known as AB5, in Oakland, California, July 18, 2022.
Independent truck drivers gather to delay the entry of trucks at a container terminal at the Port of Oakland, during a protest against California's law known as AB5, in Oakland, California, July 18, 2022. Reuters / CARLOS BARRIA

Protesting truckers brought traffic at a Northern California port, one of the busiest in the United States, to a halt on Wednesday as they demonstrated against a new state labor law that makes it harder for independent truckers to operate.

Drivers picketed gates and blocked other truckers from hauling cargo in and out of the port. The protests in Oakland began on Monday and have grown larger and more disruptive with each passing day.

The protesters worry that California's "gig worker" law, which could soon be put into effect, will impose hefty costs on them that will wipe out their incomes.

SSA Marine, which manages the largest terminal at the Port of Oakland in the San Francisco Bay area, closed operations due to the protests, port spokesman Robert Bernardo said.

The other marine terminals in Oakland are effectively shut for trucks, said Bernardo, adding that some vessel labor operations are under way.

SSA and Everport terminal managers sent International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) dock workers home for safety reasons, a source familiar with the situation said Wednesday.

TraPac on its website said its terminal would be closed for the first shift because protests were interfering with the entrance gate. Terminal representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The new law, formally called AB5, sets tougher standards for classifying workers as independent contractors.

Trucking industry legal challenges delayed enactment of the law for more than two years, but the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case on June 30, clearing the way for it to go forward.

Backers, including the Teamsters and the ILWU, say AB5 aims to clamp down on labor abuses and push companies to hire drivers as employees - which would enable them to join unions and collectively bargain with employers.

Some 5,000 truckers work at the Oakland port, which is a major hub for agricultural exports including almonds, rice and wine.

The protests in Oakland followed actions last week at the nation's top two seaports, at Los Angeles and Long Beach in Southern California.

The three California ports handle about half of the nation's container cargo volume. The trucker protests come as the ILWU, which represents dock workers at those and other U.S. West Coast ports, is in high-stakes contract talks with terminal operators that employ them.

Protest organizers say their actions will continue until they get an audience with Governor Gavin Newsom, who did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

On Monday, the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development said: "Now that the federal courts have rejected the trucking industry's appeals, it's time to move forward."