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WASHINGTON, Sept. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The Teamsters Union applauds California Attorney General Jerry Brown for filing of lawsuits today against trucking companies that service the Ports of LA and Long Beach and engage in the misclassification of port truck drivers to circumvent state employment taxes and deny the workers their basic rights and protections as employees, including disability and worker's compensation.

Two lawsuits, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, are the first round of what Brown has pledged to be a series of similar suits against trucking companies that have allegedly gained an unfair advantage over competitors in the industry by treating their haulers as "independent contractors" instead of employees.

"By unlawfully labeling the port drivers independent contractors, these trucking companies exploit the system to deny workers and their families their right to benefits and fair compensation," said Jim Santangelo, Teamsters Western Region International Vice President. "Attorney General Brown is doing the right thing by standing up against these trucking companies who cheat the harbor communities out of good middle-class jobs."

A recent study by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research found that only 9 percent of the 16,800 drivers that work out of the Ports of LA and Long Beach are directly employed by a trucking company. Nearly 88 percent are called independent contractors, but are often denied the freedom to haul for more than one company. Truly independent contractors might be expected to have multiple clients, however, five out of six drivers only work for one trucking company at a time (84 percent), Greenberg found.

"This is an exploitive practice that exists in every port across the country," said Chuck Mack, International Vice President and Director of the Teamsters Union Port Division. "It is our hope that these lawsuits will be the beginning of the end of this independent contractor scheme."

Recently the Port of Los Angeles adopted a new environmental program that would require companies to only hire employee drivers so companies could assume responsibility for clean and alt-fuel trucks that will be required at the terminals.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.