THE Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) opposes the confirmation of Julie Su as US Labour Secretary, reports New York's Journal of Commerce.
Independent truckers stated their livelihoods would be jeopardized if Ms Su were confirmed as US Labour Secretary and uses the same policies she did as California's labour chief.
"Make no mistake, if Ms. Su were to advance the same policies that she championed in California, it would force hundreds of thousands of truckers to change their business model and put their livelihoods in jeopardy," said OOIDA.
Ms Su's nomination, announced by President Joe Biden on February 28, requires Senate approval.
If confirmed, she would replace Marty Walsh, who will leave later this month to head up the National Hockey League Players' Association.
AB5, which went into effect last summer after the US Supreme Court upheld it in late June, ended the independent contractor model in California.
That means truckers cannot operate as contractors but rather must become direct employees of trucking companies, which limits their independence in how they operate.
The owner-operator model dominated harbour drayage in the US for decades.
In its March 3 letter, OOIDA expressed concern that Ms Su's support of AB5 while California's labour secretary showed a lack of understanding of the owner-operator trucking model and "demonstrates she would pursue policies that threaten our members' ability to use a business model they have properly and beneficially used for decades."
The Department of Labour is currently working on an updated worker classification rule that could affect classification at the federal level.
"There is certainly misclassification in trucking, but there is no one-size-fits-all solution to address the problem," said the OOIDA.
"But we believe that Ms. Su's confirmation would make it extremely difficult to fix these issues in a way that benefits America's truckers."
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