Crazy Dreamers? Port Truckers Battle ‘Sweatshops on Trucks’

http://www.labornotes.org/2013/11/crazy-dreamers-port-truckers-battle-sweatshops-trucks

November 19, 2013 / Jane Slaughter



Striking port truckers in Southern California say their conditions are like employees', not independent contractors', and they should be paid that way. Photo: Slobodan Dimitrov.


Drivers who move Asian goods from southern California docks pulled a 36-hour strike ending today, charging three employers with unfair labor practices including retaliation for organizing.

Port truckers in the huge L.A.-Long Beach ports are largely immigrants. Most lease their vehicles from the companies that employ them, with payments deducted from their paychecks. Also deducted are charges for parking, diesel fuel, and insurance, including insurance on the cargo.

“Last Friday I only got less than $200,” striker Daniel Linares said, “for working six days a week, from early in the morning to 4 or 5 in the afternoon.”

Sometimes he makes $400-$500, he said, but even so, “this job is a sweatshop on trucks. It’s a miserable wage, not even close to a living wage. The company is making millions of dollars and giving us crumbles.”

- See more at: http://www.labornotes.org/2013/11/crazy-dreamers-port-truckers-battle-sweatshops-trucks#sthash.e35Vr6D7.dpuf

FULL story at link.