Gov. Newsom: Not bowing down to trucker protesters’ demands

The governor of California is speaking out against the ongoing trucker protests at the Port of Oakland.

Governor Gavin Newsom says he is not bowing down to protesters’ demands.

“Although it has been the subject of litigation, AB 5 was enacted in 2019, so no one should be caught by surprise by the law’s requirements at this time,” said a spokesman for the Governor’s office.

He says truckers should focus on supporting the transition to new employment law, even as shippers warned it would not hurt their businesses. Owner of Avanti Nut Co., a family-owned walnut processor, Nina Solari, told Dow Jones, “if this carries on, I don’t know what we’re going to do. We will literally be sitting on the last of our 2021 crop and not being able to ship it.”

Truckers did break from their protest on Saturday after port operations slowed to a crawl, but they plan to start back up again today.

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Story via Paul Berger with Dow Jones