September 8, 2010: The Obama administration has defined the misclassification of employed workers as independent contractors to be an important problem resulting in workers losing legal protections and benefits, and governments losing tax revenue and insurance contributions from employers. Yet at the very same time, the administration's agencies are supporting and encouraging misclassification in at least two sectors of the trucking industry -- port trucking ("drayage") and ground express delivery.

Drayage is that part of the trucking industry that hauls containers from ports to railroad yards, warehouses, and distribution centers, where containers are broken down and the goods repacked for delivery to retail stores. The industry "employs" more than 110,000 drivers at seaports on the West Coast, Gulf Coast, and the Atlantic seaboard as well as at large inland ports such as Chicago.

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