LONG BEACH >> The International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced a plan Wednesday to aid thousands of nonunion truckers who may lose out on pay if labor strife at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach results in a work stoppage at the harbor.

The union described its plan as the formation of a rapid-response team with members including the union and Pacific Gateway Workforce Investment Network that would be charged with helping drivers obtain unemployment benefits and other aid such as financial planning advice, food, medical referrals and utility assistance.

“The EDD (Employment Development Department) is going to set up shop here at Teamsters Local 848 in the event there is a shutdown of the ports, and we’re going to make sure that each and every truck driver that drives into the port knows that they can come here to Teamsters 848 to get unemployment benefits, even though they are misclassified as lease drivers,” said Eric Tate, principal officer for Teamsters Local 848 at a press conference held at the local’s office in Long Beach.

• VIDEO: Eric Tate of Teamsters Local 848 speaks at press conference

Teamsters leaders remarks were made in the context of two labor disputes happening in Southern California, the more immediate of which is the increasingly strained contract negotiations between the International Longshore Workers Union and Pacific Maritime Association. The impasse between port employers and the ILWU has raised the prospect of a port shutdown that would be harmful to port truckers and countless others at businesses across the United States.

• VIDEO: Rep. Janice Hahn, D-San Pedro, speaks at the Teamsters press conference.

The second issue is the long-running dispute between the Teamsters union, which has sought to unionize port truckers, and employers who usually hire those drivers to work as independent contractors. Drivers cannot decide whether or not they want to join the Teamsters unless they are classified as employees.

As of Wednesday afternoon, however, Teamsters leaders had to walk back from its claim that the state agency that regulates unemployment insurance has determined truckers who work as independent contractors would be classified as employees — and would thus be eligible for unemployment benefits.

“That, as a blanket statement, was a misstatement,” Teamsters port campaign director Nick Weiner said in an afternoon interview. “There are determinations, in some individual cases, that (drivers) were misclassified.”

The California Employment Development Department is the agency that administers unemployment claims. Port truckers and others who lose work due a trade dispute between other parties can apply for unemployment benefits.

EDD spokeswoman Patti Roberts said officials have not, however, decided independent port truckers will be eligible for benefits, nor has the agency answered the broader question of whether trucking companies should hire contract drivers as employees.

“We legally have to be neutral when it comes to this,” Roberts said.

The EDD’s statement came as a relief to Weston LeBar, executive director of the Harbor Trucking Association, which represents roughly two-thirds of all port trucking companies in Southern California.

“That makes me feel a lot better,” said LeBar.

Earlier in the day, LeBar had said a blanket ruling from the EDD could adversely affect companies in litigation over classification disputes and that some drivers, absent the ports’ current heavy congestion, could make more money as independent drivers than as employees.

Nonetheless, Teamsters maintain there are some 10,000 independent truckers that should be classified as employees. The union won a victory earlier this month when drivers working for Shippers Transport Express in Carson voted to unionize after a court determined they should be considered employees, not contractors.

• VIDEO: A port trucker explains why he should be considered an employee.

Weiner said he is confident the union would be able to help drivers obtain benefits if the ports are indeed shut down by strike or lockout.

“We’re going to help other drivers who were misclassified, in our view,” he said.