Yesterday, Senator Bernie Sanders shared a video of his meeting with a group of port truck drivers who say that have been victimized by predatory labor practices.
Port Truck Drivers Share Stories Of Abuse By Predatory Trucking Companies
Sanders wrote in a Facebook post: “Driving for 18 hours a day. Working for two weeks and taking home a paycheck worth nothing. No health care or overtime pay. These exploited truck drivers are living an “American nightmare.” I salute the Teamsters and Justice for Port Drivers for standing up and fighting back against abusive labor practices.”
In the video, Sanders meets with a group of current and former port truck drivers who were classified as independent contractors. The drivers tell Sanders how tough it is for them to make a living as they start out in debt after signing leases to buy company trucks. The truckers detail how they are nickel and dimed — some even say that they are charged to park their trucks overnight on company property or for materials as trivial as toilet paper and office supplies.
One of the port truck drivers allowed Sanders to see his pay stub to show how, even though he worked at least 100 hours a week, he took home next to nothing because of deductions that were taken out of his check. The driver said that he had no idea what some of the deductions were for. A representative for the port truck drivers told the Senator: “The fact is, the way they control their drivers is to keep them in poverty. And one of the ways they do it — they have creative ways — in which they create deductions that [the drivers] have no control over.”
Sanders has called on President Trump to deny federal contracts to companies that engage in abusive labor practices towards their drivers. On November 9, Sanders penned a letter asking Trump to sign an executive order “to end the exploitation and abuse of port truck drivers.”