The Informal Economy: Port Drivers Fight for Fair Wages | Link TV
The Informal Economy: Port Drivers Fight for Fair Wages
For five years, Daniel “Seko” Uaina has been a truck driver at the Port of Los Angeles, which combined with the Port of Long Beach is one of the business container port complexes in the world. He loads the cargo distributed by Walmart, Amazon and many other major retailers. Yet he doesn’t have medical, social security, disability benefits. Sometimes he gives as much as half of his paycheck back to his employer.
While California is called the fifth largest economy in the world, many people like Uaina are working hard but having trouble making ends meet.
Uaina’s employer is one of many formal company that hire workers informally as independent contractors. Since 2011, more than 890 misclassification claims similar to Uaina’s have been filed with the California Labor Commission. The large trucking companies shift the costs of insurance, leasing of trucks, and more to the drivers. In some cases, drivers owe money at the end of their pay period. While these employees are under tight legal scrutiny to keep their licenses in good standing, the large trucking companies and their corporate clients are not held accountable for breaking labor laws with workers.
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California is the world's fifth largest economy — yet, hiding in plain sight are workers who labor off the books, unprotected and unregulated. Follow four California workers organizing to find pathways for legalization and protection.
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Clips & Segments
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As an independent contractor, Daniel “Seko” Uaina drives merchandise for some of the largest corporations in the world yet he struggles to make ends meet.
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For decades, many immigrants — primarily women — have been criminalized for supporting their families with street vending income.
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In Eastern Coachella Valley, Santos and Juana Barajas discuss immigration policy that funneled them into low-wage jobs and the challenges they have faced as entrepreneurs.
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In Oakland, where residents are still recovering from the crack epidemic and disinvestment that hit the city in the 1980s, formerly incarcerated residents struggle to establish sustainable careers to sustain their families.
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Working informally is challenging for birth workers and herbalists, but they are an important part of community care that is lacking within mainstream healthcare systems.
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Many women immigrants are often forced into informal jobs that take advantage of their precarious situation, yet their contributions often go unrecognized and their labor is exploited and undervalued.
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An organization based out of a community health clinic in Oakland has pioneered the way for safer conditions for nail salon workers.
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Since April 2014, port truck drivers have held 16 strikes at the L.A./Long Beach ports, often demanding to be reclassified as regular employees.
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Measuring the nature and impact of the informal economy is difficult due to the lack of a common understanding of its meaning.
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