A blue ribbon commission looking into problems at Miami ports has recommended that the status of port truckers there be changed from independent contractors to trucking company employees.
The commission was charged with looking into the truckers’ work stoppage that shut down the Port of Miami-Dade last summer.
According to the Miami Herald, the commission also recommended that the port hire more workers to streamline the transit time for the trucks, require terminal operators to upgrade safety on the chassis, and weigh the containers when they arrive to prevent overweight cargo from traveling on the freeways.
The effort to probe the problems last July at the port was spearheaded by Tomás Regalado, chairman of the Miami City Commission.
''Our recommendations are not complicated,'' said panel member Libby Herrera Navarrete, the president of the board of Legal Services of Greater Miami. ``What is complicated is doing nothing.''
The report is not binding but Regalado said he hoped county leaders would take it into consideration to upgrade the air quality, the safety and other problems at the port.