The Los Angeles Harbor Commission broke ranks with the city of Long Beach by approving a plan in which 17,000 truck drivers entering the Port of Los Angeles will be required to become employees of licensed motor carriers. That means independent truckers will be phased out over the next five years. The plan now goes to the City Council for final consideration. Opponents say the new employee mandate will violate free trade laws by banning independent owner-operator truck drivers from the port. The commission's decision "will undermine efforts to implement a workable clean truck program for the L.A.-Long Beach port complex," said Curtis Whalen of the American Trucking Association. (Daily Breeze, LABJ)