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Class-Action Lawsuit * USA - Alleges Sun Pacific Trucking Inc Committed 'Wage Theft'
Another Case Against Port Trucking Firm Underscores Widespread Industry Abuse, Disregard of Labor Laws, Teamsters Charge
Los Angeles,CAL,USA -PRNewswire/USNewswire -June 30, 2010: -- Southern California port drivers today filed a class-action suit against their employer, Sun Pacific Trucking, Inc., and Pacific Green Trucking, Inc., that alleges they were denied minimum wage, meal and rest periods, among other violations rampant in the deregulated industry. According to the driver's attorneys Sun Pacific and Pacific Green Trucking are nothing more than "alter egos" of the same enterprise and both are liable for the violations... The suit serves as only the latest example of widespread wage theft and other abuses by port trucking companies: It comes just as a powerful U.S. Congressional transportation committee has launched an investigation into questionable truck leasing practices that House representatives called "serfdom," and amid an ongoing California attorney general crackdown on misclassification... In February, California Attorney General, Jerry Brown, received a fifth legal judgment against port trucking companies who misclassify their workers and deny them the Social Security, Medicare and workers' compensation benefits to which they are entitled under state law...* Driven to Poverty: The Seattle Port Truckers. In the port trucking industry, you are called an independent contractor, but your working reality is far from independent
Seattle,WASH,USA -The Retiree Advocate, by Rev. Monica Corsaro & Erica Garrecht-Williams -July 4, 2010: -- Imagine for a second being an independent contractor. You’re free to work for whom you choose, you negotiate your rates, you work as much or as little as you want. Sounds pretty good, right? ... Wrong. In the port trucking industry, you are called an independent contractor, but your working reality is far from independent. You wake up before dawn, work overtime and make less than minimum wage. You can only haul for one company and they can pay you whatever they want. You have no health insurance and you pay for all your expenses out of pocket. On top of that, you spend countless hours waiting in traffic inhaling toxic diesel fumes... Who loses? The drivers who actually move the goods... While Wal-Mart might pay the trucking company around $350 dollars per delivery, the drivers only see about $40 of that money, a rate that hasn’t changed in fifteen years. Drivers also have to pay all the expenses of maintaining their trucks: gas, insurance, tonnage fees and all repairs. Since they are technically classified as “independent contractors,” they are not paid an hourly wage, have no benefits, and can’t legally organize a union. Their pay amounts to about $400 a week after expenses... After years of pressure from community and environmental groups, the Port of Seattle passed a plan to ban the oldest trucks from the Port... However, trucking firms are lobbying hard to keep things the way they are...
Labels: independent port truckers debate, lawsuits
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