Western Growers is among more than 70 organizations who are asking California Governor Gavin Newsom to provide a short-term pause in enforcement of AB 5 via Executive Order in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court declining late last month to consider a challenge to the law brought by the California Trucking Association.

In a letter to Newsom, the organizations ask for the pause as well as calling for labor and industry to come to the table to negotiate a path forward to preserve small business trucking in the state and prevent further disruptions to the supply chain.

AB 5 was signed by Newsom in 2019 and requires companies to classify many of their independent contractors as employees. It is estimated that there are nearly 70,000 independent truckers in California. Protests against AB 5 have occurred in the past week at the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland.

“Forgoing this narrow window of opportunity for compromise risks and economic and inflationary crisis that the state can ill afford and whose impact will not be unfelt by Californians,” the letter states.

To read the entirety of the letter, please click here.