The fight at the ports has long been a righteous struggle. The workforce—composed almost entirely of people of color, most of them immigrants—is emblematic of many low-wage industries in Southern California, where workers have organized to win dignity, respect, and better wages and working conditions. The ports also have the potential to build worker power across the supply chain—from trucking to rail, warehousing, and retail—as they are a pivotal chokepoint in the global flow of goods. And unveiling the fiction behind the “independent contractor” label and organizing misclassified workers can benefit workers in other industries, as misclassification pervades more and more sectors, including under the guise of the so-called “gig” economy.
