Trucks World News

Jun 26, 2017

TRUCKERS' MISTREATMENT * USA: On California's Ports

* California - Investigation uncovers enterprise corruption and mistreatment of hundreds of truckers

(Video from USA TODAY NETWORK, by Scott Hall - An investigation found a predatory scheme that ensnared thousands of immigrant truck drivers at the port)

--- On two major California ports, the network-wide investigation, details the mistreatment of poor, immigrant truckers on the West Coast. Murphy’s work uncovers how hundreds of workers based out of two key ports in California, ports that serve as the entry point for more than half of America’s imports, are indebted to their employers and work up to 20 hours a day for pay that can drop to pennies per hour... And big box retailers such as Amazon, Wal Mart, and Best Buy heavily depend on the performance of these truckers. Retail giants often hired trucking companies that had been accused of labor violations and spent millions to fight lawmakers that tried to pass worker protections... The problem arose a decade ago when a state environmental law designed to clean up dirty ports backfired and trucking companies passed on the cost of new, cleaner rigs to independent truckers themselves... Drivers, many of them immigrants, are now forced into lease-to-own schemes, an arrangement that experts called a modern form of the outdated sharecropping system... While both state and federal officials are fully aware of the situation, they are often either unable to stop it or simply do not bother to try...
Los Angeles & Long Beach, California, USA - USA TODAY - 19 June 2017

* California - Port truckers don’t want clean air rules to eat up their paycheck

... The ports were often the last stop for road-wearier vehicles, helmed by penny-pinching owner-operators who needed to cut expenses and squeeze extra years out of their gear to make a living... Sure, short-haul trucks were often older and dirtier, but they got the job done, he recalled... The new, high-tech, cleaner-burning trucks can top a half-million each — not a figure that most freelance drivers keep in the glove box... Unions and trucking companies have grappled for decades, amid bitterness and strikes and lawsuits, over the employment status of today’s trucker. That’s not going to get easier as the skies get clearer... Drivers say some transit companies, which force them to buy or lease their own equipment and pay their own expenses, are robbing them by categorizing them as independent contractors. They say they’re getting boondoggled out of overtime and medical benefits... But company officials say contractors are not employees meriting such benefits because they set their own schedules and choose their own gear — and that many appreciate the freedom this affords them... Truckers say they want clean air — but not at their expense...
(Photo - Port truck drivers in the Port of Long Beach) -- Long Beach, CAL, USA - Long Beach Press Telegram, by Rachel Uranga - 17 June 2017

Labels: independent port truckers debate, truckers' complain, trucking industry news USA

May 25, 2015

TRUCKERS' MISSCLASIFICATION at Los Angeles Ports * USA

* California - L.A. County Supervisors to consider proposal to aid port truck drivers

-- The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to consider a number of actions to help truck drivers who work at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach they believe have been misclassified as independent contractors and as result have lost wages... Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas introduced a motion requiring county staff to report to the board in 60 days on program that would: Conduct outreach and workshops for truck drivers and employers; allow the county Department of Consumer and Business Affairs to conduct investigations of complaints and give advice to workers who are filing complaints; explore implementing a policy that would prohibit the county from entering into contracts with companies that have had wage law violations; and support state legislation that addresses the issue... The majority of the 16,000 truck drivers who service both ports are classified as independent contractors rather than employees and do not qualify for minimum wage, overtime pay, unemployment benefits or workers compensation, according to a report by Brian J. Stiger, director of the county’s Department of Business and Consumer Affairs. Trucking companies also can deduct business expenses from the drivers pay, such as fuel and maintenance costs... By example: Daniel Linares, a driver for Pac 9 Transportation, testified Tuesday that he had a gross income of $1,345, but after deductions taken by the company, he took home only $438. “Can you imagine working like this hauling valuable cargo?” he said... The California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement ruled last year that Linares was misclassified as a independent contractor, he said...
(Photo: San Pedro Bay, Los Angeles Port) -- Los Angeles, CAL, USA - The Los Angeles Daily News, by Sarah Favot - 19 May 2015

Labels: independent port truckers debate, truckers complaints

Jun 12, 2013

* USA - INDEPENDENT TRUCKERS as TRUCKING EMPLOYEES

* New York - Truckers say bill will drive them out of business

(Photo by Donna Abbott-Vlahos - Truck at Port Albany)
Albany,NY,USA -The Business Review, by Haley Viccaro -Jun 11, 2013: -- Independent truck drivers in the state are criticizing a proposed bill that they believe would put them out of work and drive business out of New York. The legislation, called The Fair Play Act by supporters, seeks to label “misclassified” independent contractors as employees... Kendra Hems, executive director for the State Motor Truck Association, said the bill doesn’t correctly define independent contractors and would therefore hurt the trucking industry... Dave Baker, an independent contractor for FedEx, said the bill would force independents out of business and halt large companies like FedEx who won’t be able to afford a surge of employees and costs for trucks... Individuals who are independent contractors work as stand-alone small businesses, owning their own trucks and hiring their own workers. The contractors are then hired by a company and given a scheduled route... The bill refers to a Cornell University study that claims more than 40,000 employers misclassified 700,000 employees between 2002 and 2005. The legislation argues that misclassification leaves individuals “deprived” of benefits and forced to pump their salary into new equipment and trucks...

* Washington - History of the Trucking Industry

(Video from Youtube, by Aki Peterson)
Spokane,WASH,USA -Wikipedia -June 2013: -- George R. Nethercutt, Jr., ex U.S. House of Representatives for Washington's 5th. District, has founded The George Nethercutt Foundation, in Spokane, Washington. The Foundation is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization in the United States dedicated to fostering civic involvement. The foundation accepts applications from college students who aspire to be Nethercutt Fellows. The Nethercutt Fellowship involves, among other things, a trip to Washington, D.C., where fellows have the opportunity to see the inner-workings of the United States government...

* DC - Feds tee up rule to eliminate 'defect-free' vehicle inspection reports

Washington,DC,USA -Land Line, by David Tanner -11 June 2013: -- Acting on a White House directive to cut red tape, the FMCSA wants to eliminate the need for carriers to keep post-trip inspection reports if no equipment defects are found. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration estimates the elimination of defect-free reports will save the trucking industry more than $1 billion per year... Currently, motor carriers with more than one truck are required to keep driver-vehicle inspection reports, or DVIRs, on file, regardless of whether the reports, which are filled out by the drivers, show any vehicle defects. One-truck operators are not required to file DVIRs... The FMCSA has teed up a notice of proposed rulemaking to eliminate the need for DVIRs if no vehicle defects are found...

Labels: independent port truckers debate, trucking industry news USA

Mar 5, 2012

Reclassification of Truckers * USA

* New York - Latest state to pursue on

New York,NY,USA -Land Line, by Keith Goble -29 Feb 2012: -- A battle from coast to coast over reclassification of drayage truck operators and parcel drivers is underway in yet another state... New York lawmakers are pursuing an effort to classify owner-operator truck drivers as company employees. Similar efforts that focus on port operations have come up in neighboring New Jersey and along the west coast in Washington and California... The New York version would go one step further to address the perceived “misclassification” of truck drivers. It would cover all owner-operators... OOIDA and the New York State Motor Truck Association are opposed to the reclassification... Joe Rajkovacz, OOIDA director of regulatory affairs, said the legislation would create many problems for truck drivers doing business in the state...

Labels: independent port truckers debate

Jul 6, 2010

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

Jul 25, 2007

Importing injustice * USA - How deregulation and Wal-Mart poison the Port of Oakland's neighbors and force poverty wages on truckers

Under the present system, there is no way to track the independent port truckers...

Oakland,CAL,USA -The San Francisco Bay Guardian, by Joseph Plaster -July 17, 2007: -- ... Beyond the environmental and economic benefits of making truckers employees of the companies, the change also might improve port security. The federal Transportation Worker Identification Credential program, expected to be implemented in the fall, will check the identities of the nation's 750,000 port employees, 110,000 of whom work as truckers... Employees are easier to track, and they are also better for port security in other ways. Among low-paid port truckers, turnover rate is extremely high, according to the ATA... Well-paid truckers also would lead to safer ports. In a 2005 report trucking expert Michael Belzer, an economics professor at Wayne State University, showed that "a substantial fraction" of independent operators actually loses money each year, resulting in "a high risk of unsafe operations among those earning the least money"... Driving past another long line of trucks idling outside a gate after lunch break, Doug Bloch the coordinator for the coalition in Oakland, pointed out one truck. A placard on the back of the rig read, "End sweatshops on wheels"... The current port system "just heaps abuse and abuse on these truck drivers and this community," Bloch told us. "The big businesses like Wal-Mart don't pay the cost of polluting Oakland. It's the truck drivers and the community that pay the cost. People pay with their lives"... The coalition places the blame for the current situation squarely on giant retail shippers such as Wal-Mart and Target and is calling for them to be held accountable for the full environmental and labor costs of the cheap goods they sell — a call the corporations are strenuously resisting... Bloch says the coalition's target is the shipping companies, not the trucking companies. "The shippers are hiding behind the trucking companies," he told us. "On the one side there are the giant shipping companies, like Wal-Mart and Target, huge global companies that demand low prices from trucking companies. On the other side are tiny trucking companies, immigrant truckers, and communities of color. Wal-Mart's slogan is 'always low prices,' but 'always low prices' means one out of five children in West Oakland with asthma and drivers making $8 an hour who can't support their families"... "You can't fix the environmental problems without fixing the problems of the driver," he said. "And now you have labor and the community coming together, and that's powerful"...

* Truckers, activists 'storm' meeting for safe work conditions - Low pay, poor maintenance means more smog, group says
Oakland,CA,USA -Inside Bay Area, by Erik N. Nelson -18 July 2007: -- A group of union and community activists led independent truckers on an orderly, polite "storming" of the Oakland Port Commission on Tuesday, saying the only way to reduce truck exhaust now choking West Oakland is to require strict working conditions for truckers... A new work arrangement would mean trucking companies would own and maintain fleets of trucks, thereby reducing emissions that come with poor maintenance. Many of the trucks currently serving the port are maintained by the truckers themselves who activists say can't afford to properly maintain their vehicles...