USA TODAY International Edition
Trucking companies accused of abuse
L.A. lawsuits say worker exploitation ‘has to stop’
The city of Los Angeles filed three lawsuits against some of the busiest port trucking companies in the country Monday, demanding they stop systematically exploiting their workers in the wake of reports by the USA TODAY NETWORK.
“This abuse, this disgraceful exploitation has to stop,” City Attorney Mike Feuer said at a news conference Monday, citing the network’s “scathing” coverage of the industry.
Feuer alleged CMI Transportation, K&R Transportation and California Cartage Transportation Express represent industry leaders that knowingly violate state labor laws with “devastating practices” meant to increase executives’ bottom lines while driving their workers into debt.
“We’re trying to create systemic change and we’ll continue to investigate other companies as well,” Feuer said.
The three companies are part of the California Cartage family of outfits recently bought by New Jersey-based NFI Industries. Those companies helped spearhead the lease-to-own contracts that became pervasive.
“Denying workers fair wages and benefits to pad profit margins is unacceptable,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement. “We will not stand for it in Los Angeles.”
The lawsuit seeks penalties, restitution and a prohibition against practices that lead to worker exploitation, according to the complaints.
Representatives at NFI and California Cartage did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday about the suits filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
“I would question the standing or merit of this lawsuit, but that is for the courts to decide,” said Weston LaBar, chief executive officer of the Harbor Trucking Association, who called the state’s history of judgments in favor of port truckers “completely one-sided.”
The USA TODAY NETWORK previously reported that more than 1,100 California port truck drivers have filed labor complaints in civil court and with the state labor commissioner since 2008. That year, a new California environmental law required trucking companies serving state ports to replace old trucks with new, cleaner rigs.
To avoid the cost, many firms pushed their independent drivers into lease-to-own contracts that they could not afford.
When drivers got sick or fell behind on payments, trucking companies fired them, seizing their trucks and tens of thousands of dollars they had paid toward buying them.
Monday’s legal action is the latest in a wave of changes affecting the port trucking industry following USA TODAY NETWORK’s coverage.
Since the Network began reporting last spring, drivers have filed 23 new California Labor Commissioner cases and six civil lawsuits, including three class actions, against port trucking companies. Companies exposed in the Network’s reporting have lost business. State and federal agencies have launched probes into potential worker exploitation and lawmakers have introduced bills to curb labor abuse.