Hopes remain on hold in the nation's largest seaports as truck drivers, environmentalists and their allies await an April court hearing that may decide the fate of clean truck programs at ports across America.

On the heels of a New York Times piece about the plight of contract truck drivers and their struggle to pay for expensive new rigs mandated under port anti-pollution programs, Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa lauded L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa during a dinner this week in Washington.

Hoffa's speech, covered by the Huffington Post, outlined the reasons behind his union's alliance with environmentalists and others concerned that the costs and burden of the various clean-truck plans will fall almost exclusively on "independent owner-operators" - who, according to research by Rutgers University and other economists and academics, earn about $10-$11 per hour but are responsible for trucks costing $75,000 to $100,000.

An estimated 90-95 percent of local port drivers fall into the category of "independent owner-operators," so-called self-employed small businessmen who Rutgers Professor David Bensman found have suffered severely under 30 years of deregulation in the trucking industry.

"If you visit any of the leading ports in the United States...you will hear a story of exploitation that illuminates how neo-liberal globalization and America's thirty year old deregulation policy have combined to create destructive competition in low-wage labor markets," Bensman writes.

New diesel rigs cost $75,000-$100,000, not including insurance, registration, tax and other maintenance plans. A hybrid, natural gas or electric truck can cost in excess of $200,000.

Currently, a mix of federal, state and local taxpayer monies and port profits are being used to subsidize drivers, but the funds aren't guaranteed forever, prompting Hoffa and others to seek long-term solutions, including requiring trucking companies doing business on port property to own and maintain the rigs they dispatch to the waterfront.

That plan is being challenged in federal court by retailers and the trucking lobby, who claim it violates the spirit of the deregulatory Motor Carrier Act of 1980.

"Poverty is another byproduct of the ports," Hoffa said. "Truck drivers are paid by the load, but not much. They're called 'independent contractors,' so they bear the cost of their own taxes for Social Security, Medicare and workers' compensation. If they're hurt or sick and can't work, they go without pay. Their trucks have been called sweatshops on wheels."