The International Longshoremen's Union and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union joined the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Thursday in a coalition to organize all North American port workers, including truck drivers.

During the Teamsters International Convention in Las Vegas, port driver Juan Rodriguez described the hardships of working with low pay, long waits without pay and no benefits. Convention delegates adopted a resolution to raise living standards and working conditions of port workers.
The Teamsters are in the process of trying to organize more than 40,000 drivers working at approximately 25 ports throughout the United States. They face an obstacle in the fact that most of these drivers are considered independent contractors, who cannot organize under federal antitrust regulations.
Among the issues that concern port drivers are long wait times (which cut into their pay, which is by the load), poor or no benefits, and unsafe intermodal chassis.