Most of the goods that our society buys from overseas comes in through the nation's ports, and then is transported -- mostly by trucks -- to warehouses and then around the country. Last month, Franklin and Little told the story of a long haul driver and difficult it is for them to make ends meet.
Franklin and Little now go on to tell the story of the drivers who pick up the products from the ports and move them to warehouses, generally less than 50 miles away. Over 90% are hispanic. On average, they earn less than $30,000 a year for working days that stretch past 11 hours. They're driving aging, decrepit trucks that pollute the air.
Many of the drivers are undocumented immigrants -- which will soon become a problem for American consumers as well as the drivers themselves:
They may soon find themselves out of work. So, too, freight may begin backing up across the country.The exploitation the drivers has roots in a development that is common to a number of formerly high paying industries in this country:
That's because the federal government, in its drive to boost port security, is on the verge of issuing guidelines for checking identities of the nation's 750,000 port workers, including 110,000 or so who work as haulers.
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Shippers could transfer their cargoes to ports other than Los Angeles and Long Beach or the New York area, where it is estimated that most of the undocumented drivers work. Trucking companies, already struggling with high turnover rates and a dearth of drivers, could be forced to pump up their pay to find new drivers.
Not so long ago many port drivers in Southern California were Teamster union members with pay and benefits. When the government deregulated the industry in 1980, small, non-union companies flooded in. Rather than hiring employees, however, they turned to mostly independent operators.But there's always hope:
Fierce competition between the workers, and the companies that hire them, has kept wages depressed.
"I've been working here for 17 years and I can't even buy a house," said David Mendoza, 42, who was taking a break at the spot where treads were being carved in bald tires. Though safety officials say only some tires can be grooved, and only by professionals, drivers contend that it's safe to use their cheap roadside system, and it's the only method they can afford with their stagnant wages.
Mendoza, who drives a 1976-model truck that he bought 10 years ago for $12,000, pulled out one company's rate sheet and compared the rates to those from a sheet several years old: There was little difference between the two.
If anything, the quoted rates are often the ceiling price. Firms often whipsaw haulers against one another, pushing wages much lower. Many haulers are no different than day laborers who gather on streets and bid on jobs, except that they have trucks.
"[Drivers] have tried to organize walkouts to get higher wages, but they can never get enough drivers to agree to anything because somebody else always comes in and does the work," said Art Wong, a spokesman for the Port of Long Beach.
In the closely-knit Latino communities near the ports it is also a matter of people helping each other to get into the business, and then to survive.Fraudulent Trucking Licenses
One of these is Salvador Abrica, 35, who served eight years as a U.S. Marine ready for combat in Somalia and other places around the globe.
Not long after his military service, he began driving a truck at the port, yet he didn't like it and often took work as an over-the-road driver. But he returned to the ports because he preferred not being away from his wife and three children.
Having grown up blocks from the ports and refineries, it seemed natural to Abrica to become a port driver. It was the kind of work done by men from his neighborhood.
He refused to put in the long hours like others, however, and he says he has earned only about $25,000 a year. It was a sacrifice he was willing to make. But it angered him to see friends push themselves into exhaustion or go broke trying to make a living at the ports. As a result, Abrica, a massive man with the physique of a battle-ready soldier, recently decided to become an organizer for the Teamsters.
"I learned in the Marines what it means to defend myself and to stand up for the rights we have," he said.
Franklin and Little then moved on the the disturbing and dangerous problem of unskilled truck drivers with illegal and fradulent licenses:
Commercial driving license fraud has been a growing headache since the industry began to deregulate more than two decades ago. Since 1980, the number of interstate trucking firms has shot up to 564,000 from 20,000. Today there are more than 1.5 million truckers, up 200,000 from 2002, according to trucking industry estimates.And the problem, as we've seen with so many sectors of our economy today, is deregulation:
Lured by the image of good-paying jobs, people have scampered to obtain commercial driving licenses. And entrepreneurs and crooks sprang into action to help would-be drivers sidestep obstacles.
A grasp of the depth of the problem came when federal and state investigators in 1998 began looking into the licenses-for-sale scandal in Illinois.
Ultimately, their work led to a 6 1/2-year prison term for former [Illinois Governor George]Ryan on federal corruption charges, convictions of more than 75 people and the retesting of more than 1,000 truckers. The exams were completed by 2000.
The probe also showed that unskilled drivers were on the highways. At least nine people, including one trucker, have died in crashes involving truckers who allegedly got their licenses illegally in Illinois, according to federal officials.
Commercial driving license fraud has been a growing headache since the industry began to deregulate more than two decades ago. Since 1980, the number of interstate trucking firms has shot up to 564,000 from 20,000. Today there are more than 1.5 million truckers, up 200,000 from 2002, according to trucking industry estimates.As well as privatization of government services:
Lured by the image of good-paying jobs, people have scampered to obtain commercial driving licenses. And entrepreneurs and crooks sprang into action to help would-be drivers sidestep obstacles.
A grasp of the depth of the problem came when federal and state investigators in 1998 began looking into the licenses-for-sale scandal in Illinois.
Ultimately, their work led to a 6 1/2-year prison term for former Gov. Ryan on federal corruption charges, convictions of more than 75 people and the retesting of more than 1,000 truckers. The exams were completed by 2000.
The probe also showed that unskilled drivers were on the highways. At least nine people, including one trucker, have died in crashes involving truckers who allegedly got their licenses illegally in Illinois, according to federal officials.
In 2002 federal investigators warned that nearly half the states were not properly monitoring third-party testing. This is an issue because the majority of states rely on a mix of state and private testers while just a handful use only state employees for testing. There are seven states where all truck licensing is handled privately.
In Macon, Ga., for example, the owner of a truck driving school worked out a deal with a third-party tester to falsify tests for 623 students over several years, federal officials said in 2004. And when Georgia officials retested the drivers who already had been on the roads for several years, it determined that only 142 were qualified to keep their licenses.