SIGN THE PETITION!
The Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commission is currently overseeing a major revitalization and beautification of the L.A. Waterfront and Ports O’Call that includes retail shops and restaurants, new walkways, lighting, fountains, and other public facilities. But behind these improvements is a façade of the conditions in the Port’s terminals – where hard working truck drivers are forced to wait in long lines for hours outside and sometimes inside the terminals. Drivers have limited access to sanitary restroom facilities and are often left to their own devices to handle “when nature calls.”
Join us in urging the Port of Los Angeles to provide SAFE, CLEAN and ADEQUATE bathroom facilities for ALL port truck drivers INSIDE AND OUTSIDE the terminals.
CLICK HERE to sign the petition!
Contribute to the Justice for Port Drivers Hardship Fund
Courageous port drivers still need your help. In their fight to achieve a basic civil right – to be classified as an employee instead of as an independent contractor, turning the trucks they drive into sweatshops on wheels – drivers are facing untold retaliation and even being fired for standing up for their rights. In protest, drivers took the bold step of calling an indefinite strike on July 7, which dramatically impacted three of the ports’ leading drayage firms, clogged truck traffic, and delayed cargo at terminals at the nation’s largest port complex.
Already scraping by day to day, drivers went a full week without pay before LA Mayor Eric Garcetti brokered an agreement between the drivers and their employers that allowed them to return to work without further retaliation and without being forced to sign away all future rights in new truck leases. On Monday, drivers returned to work on their regular shifts, while Mayor Garcetti and his staff investigate the serious injustices the drivers presented to the LA Harbor Commission.
Meanwhile, the fight to end illegal misclassification continues and drivers need your help. Please contribute to the Justice for Port Drivers Hardship Fund today online via PayPal at www.laborcommunityservicesla.org.
“We are grateful to LA Mayor Garcetti for meeting with us and hearing our concerns. We have accepted his request for a “cooling off,” but if the companies retaliate against us again, we will immediately go back on strike,” said Carlos Martinez driver at TTSI.
“I am grateful for the support and solidarity that we received this week from other workers and the community,” said Byron Contreras driver at Green Fleet Systems. “We are no longer alone in our struggle for dignity and respect.”
Watch how support for port drivers is growing.
“This week, with the support of my family, I walked the picket line to show that a handful of workers really can make a difference. Never again will we be silent and accept the harassment and indignities that our bosses inflict on us. We will not be intimidated. We will not be silent in our fight for our families and our dignity,” said Daniel Linares, a misclassified “independent contractor” at Pacific 9 Transportation.
Remember; as manufacturing leaves this country, port drivers haul practically all the clothes on our backs and shoes on our feet. Please contribute to the Justice for Port Drivers Hardship Fund today online via PayPal at www.laborcommunityservicesla.org.