U.S. Representatives Napolitano (D-CA) and Nadler (D-NY) Announce Legislation to Address Badly Flawed Employment Practices and Empower Local Ports to Reduce Pollution and Congestion Washington, D.C. – Joined by port truck drivers from the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, and New Jersey, along with leaders from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, U.S. Representatives United Grace F. Napolitano (CA-32) and Jerrold Nadler (NY-10) today announced two bills that will empower local ports to reduce environmental pollution, mitigate traffic congestion, improve highway safety, and improve efficiency – without putting the burden on the backs of the truck drivers. The legislation is designed to address a broken employment system that forces thousands of port truck drivers into illegal lease-to-own contracts that require drivers to work under severely unfair working conditions, often around the clock. Rep. Napolitano’s bill, the “Port Drivers’ Bill of Rights Act of 2017,” would create a taskforce to review the broken system and crack down on bad actors, while Rep. Nadler’s “Clean Ports Act of 2017” would modernize federal trucking rules to empower local ports to require ports address truck pollution and congestion at such facilities. “For years, port truck drivers across the country have been forced to work long hours, often exceeding maximum hours of service set by the U.S. to keep America safe, in order to pay the company to lease and maintain their truck,” said Fred Potter, Vice President-at-Large at the Teamsters and Director of the Teamsters’ Port Division. “Rep. Napolitano’s bill would create a taskforce to review the broken system and crack down on bad actors.” The bills are being introduced following a  USA Today exposé into illegal subcontracting schemes that exploit truck drivers at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach -- America’s largest port complex.  The requirements called for in the legislation are long overdue, said Teamsters Local 848 Secretary-Treasurer Eric Tate: “In the current inefficient port industry, drivers are often forced to idle for hours at marine terminals in trucks spewing filth into the air,” he said. “The ports need the ability to clean up harbor communities with the ability to own the retailers, not the drivers, accountable for necessary changes that would clean the air.”  Among the drivers in attendance were those profiled in USA Today’s “Rigged” series, including Rene Flores, who was fired the day after the story appeared in USA Today, and Guillermina Velasquez, who filed a claim for wage theft with the California Labor Commissioner on October 20, 2017. “This affects my home and it affects my family, because I don’t bring home a decent wage. I just want to have a decent life, but I can’t do that without decent wages. We want to make a living, and we work hard, but I don’t have social security, medical, or disability – just because of this label of “independent contractor.” said Daniel “Seko” Uaina, a port truck driver at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach who is misclassified as an “independent contractor” by Chinese government owned Intermodal Bridge Transport.  “The ports belong to the people. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has the power to make sure that lawbreaking companies do not do business at our ports. The Labor Commissioners, the California Employment Development Department, and the superior courts have all determined that we are employees. We deserve justice.”  “Sometimes we have to wait up to 10 hours to start work, and we don’t get paid for that,” added Carlos Orellana, a port truck driver at the Port of New York and New Jersey. “When we ask what’s going on and why we can’t just pick up our load, we don’t get a straight answer. Often, we make so little that we can’t take anything to take home to our families.”