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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRigged: Forced into debt. Worked past exhaustion. Left with nothing.
By Brett Murphy
June 16, 2017
Los Angeles Samuel Talavera Jr. did everything his bosses asked.
Most days, the trucker would drive more than 16 hours straight hauling LG dishwashers and Kumho tires to warehouses around Los Angeles, on their way to retail stores nationwide.
He rarely went home to his family. At night, he crawled into the back of his cab and slept in the company parking lot.
For all of that, he took home as little as 67 cents a week.
Then, in October 2013, the truck he leased from his employer, QTS, broke down.
When Talavera could not afford repairs, the company fired him and seized the truck -- along with $78,000 he had paid towards owning it.
more
https://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/news/rigged-forced-into-debt-worked-past-exhaustion-left-with-nothing/
Bayard
(21,806 posts)How's that happen?
Flaleftist
(3,473 posts)office supplies, toilet paper, etc. etc. Some end up owing money.
malaise
(267,845 posts)seriously - man to man is so unjust
You don't know who to trust.
Who the cap fit, let them wear it.
(Thanks to Bob Marley!)
dchill
(38,324 posts)As I was turning into a hippie liberal. I was already a musician (guitar), so it wasn't a giant leap. "Who the Cap Fit" might not have been my favorite song on the album, but it's turned out to be the most memorable.
malaise
(267,845 posts)I think Crazy Baldhead wins for me, but I love Who the Cap Fits, War and Rat Race.
My favorite album is Survival
panader0
(25,816 posts)malaise
(267,845 posts)There was a time when I played that CD in the car every single morning on my way to work
"...we've got to face the day, come what may..." from So Much Trouble in the World - used to replay that track over and over.
Docreed2003
(16,817 posts)malaise
(267,845 posts)bagelsforbreakfast
(1,427 posts)DK504
(3,847 posts)Where is the lawsuit???? This is the daily horrors Americans are dealing with, along with the housing market become the cutthroat deadly procedures again.
Useless in FL
(329 posts)Omigod, this is where we are headed, if we're not already there, total suppression and .... slavery! This is very scary.
dchill
(38,324 posts)Lots of lawsuits before a state regulatory agency.
Article takes pains to blame the industry. Problem goes back to 2008. Independent contractors had old trucks that polluted. State said to stop using them. Now, this was 2008. Trucking companies had used contractors, couldn't afford billions for new trucks. Contractors couldn't get loans for new trucks. The result of a hard-hitting regulation and an economic downturn led to this. The solution sucked; but a lot of workers wound up with their own trucks.
A bit more state involvement would have set up a way to make the loans portable, or set up a state loan system. Or just not ordering people to decommission vehicles without looking at the consequences of the regulations on people and how to mitigate them.
It was a problem that these were workers with few resources and no other recourse.
Lindsay
(3,276 posts)Thank you for posting the link, and kudos to USA Today for bringing this to public attention.
delisen
(6,039 posts)Undocumented immigrants are being paid very low wages by construction companies and have no where to turn for justice.
If you live in a state with lots of immigrant labor and you buy a house or have renovations or repairs done there is a good chance you are part of the chain of exploitation.
MichMan
(11,790 posts)With the large number of undocumented immigrants working in construction and landscaping, how in the hell does a contractor that is paying a living wage, workman's comp, FICA and benefits supposed to compete when getting underbid for every job?
delisen
(6,039 posts)I've found in getting renovation done it is best to avoid the licensed general contractors who depend upon undocumented workers because those contractors cut corners in other ways too, don't provide good supervision, and then blame the undocumented workers for the bad outcomes.
Freethinker65
(9,935 posts)Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)There are Freight Brokers who rip people off all the time. People thinking they can make it as a Independent Trucker get sucked into these deals daily. Get a Haulage Contract,okay,how about that Tractor setting over there,low miles good rubber. Oh by the way,I can finance that for you. What I will do is hold back so many dollars from your settlement checks to cover the Payments and the fuel you use.
Seen this type of deal many a time. Have had Guy's beg for a Twenty in order to get a Burger and a cot at the local Truck Stop. Even had people abandon their rigs in our yard and hitch a ride back to their home town.
So many scams out there,so many people wiped out.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,321 posts)"Seen this type of deal many a time. Have had Guy's beg for a Twenty in order to get a Burger and a cot at the local Truck Stop."
When? How long ago?
I've been driving OTR for almost 30 years and the last time there were "cots" available at truck stops was in the 70's.
None of the major truck stop (now "Travel Centers) chains offer beds of ANY kind, let alone cots.
And in 30 years of driving I've never come across even a mom and pop truck stop that had sleeping accommodations.
The last chain that did so was the Union 76 truck stops but they were pretty much out of business by the early 90's and their room rental business had shut down in the mid 80's
So.....unless you were in the business back then, that little snippet of your story doesn't ring true
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)Do remember a Truck Stop about four or five blocks south of our Distribution Center that had a Bunk Room. And that was in the early eighties. It was still going a couple of years ago when we drove by it.
CanSocDem
(3,286 posts)Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)that just plain bailed. Even had a few who ran out of Fuel waiting for a Dock Door,had someone from our Shop Crew put enough fuel on-board for the Guy to Spot his load and unload to get some type of Revenue.
CanSocDem
(3,286 posts)I remember the days when husband mortgaged the house, bought a truck and soon had his wife and kids living in the truck with him. Big companies have these "independent owner-operators" by the short and curlies with just enough cash to get to their next load. That's why there is always a McDonald's near the truck stop if not right inside.
.
mfcorey1
(10,997 posts)almost a month and left him to find his way home from Georgia to Florida. A lot of other truckers told him of th same thing happening. Unfortunately, he could not afford a lawyer.
mountain grammy
(26,573 posts)Organize!
mn9driver
(4,412 posts)It's hard to believe something like this is possible.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)7962
(11,841 posts)I know a handful of drivers & they make great money. They also dont drive 16 hrs a day. Thats ILLEGAL; along with a lot of other things this company was doing. They're in BIG trouble.
These drivers should be able to get well paying jobs elsewhere if they have CDLs.
shanti
(21,672 posts)are probably Teamsters. My brother, 58, was a truck/independent contractor and said Teamsters are the only ones making any money. He ended up quitting the trucking business and working for a legal mm facility. He's much happier now!
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)misanthrope
(7,405 posts)Isn't that what we've heard all our lives? The poor have no one to blame but themselves and busting your tail is always rewarded?
PatrickforO
(14,516 posts)And, you know what?
There, but for the grace of God, go all of us.
Think about that a moment, and then become PRO UNION.
benld74
(9,889 posts)miyazaki
(2,221 posts)Sorry to say.
Zing Zing Zingbah
(6,496 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)What can be done? This can't go on. It is inhumane.
hunter
(38,264 posts)Any business that depends on these businesses doesn't deserve to exist.
NickB79
(19,114 posts)You were paid with company script instead of real money, and basically spent it all at the company-owned general store for overpriced supplies, or to pay rent at company-owned housing. And if you tried to leave without paying off your debts, you might end up in debtors prison. It was fucking slavery then, and its slavery today.
duncang
(1,907 posts)TEB
(12,716 posts)The business agents from union hall need to get these men organized.