Los Angeles Port Truckers Forced Into Indentured Servitude, Investigation Finds

NPR

Published June 22, 2017 at 1:40 PM EDT

Trucks wait to be loaded at the Port of Los Angeles in 2012. (Nick Ut/AP)

The shipping containers that come through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach every year would wrap around the Earth two times if you laid them out end-to-end. Those containers are filled with electronics and clothing that are manufactured in places like Asia and then shipped to U.S. retailers.

But there is a dark side to the industry, according to an investigation by the USA Today Network: The drivers who bring those products to nearby rail yards or warehouses are signing lease-to-own contracts for their trucks that condemn them to modern-day indentured servitude.

Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd speaks with the reporter who wrote the investigation, Brett Murphy (@BrettMmurphy).

Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.

Donate

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

Federal funding is gone.

Donate