Sacramento, Calif. – On June 1st, 2021 the California Senate passed Senator Lena A. Gonzalez’s (D-Long Beach) Senate Bill (SB) 338 Protecting Port Truck Drivers. SB 338 helps protect essential supply-chain workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. SB 338 adds trucking companies to an existing Division of Labor Standards Enforcement “bad actor” list if those companies do not provide required health and safety protections and benefits to their workers or have outstanding serious health and safety violations. Customers who contract with bad actors on this list are then jointly liable for future violations, incentivizing those companies to contract with good actors, rather than bad ones. The bill also requires bad actor trucking companies to prove that they have fixed the underlying violation to get off the bad-actor list, and specifically targets repeat offenders that systemically deny workers rights as part of their business model.

"I am pleased to share that SB 338 has passed out of the California State Senate today," said Senator Lena Gonzalez. “This bill will help improve working conditions for port truck drivers. SB 338 will hold shippers and retailers accountable under labor, employment, health and safety laws. As the bill moves forward in the legislative process, I urge my colleagues in the California Legislature for their support so that we can help make these much needed changes a reality. Port truck drivers deserve to have fair wages, disability insurance, paid sick days, PPE and sanitized equipment to perform their duties at work, and we must continue to stand in unity with these workers and speak out loud and clear against the injustices that we see.”

“Misclassification of port truck drivers traps workers in indentured servitude and prevents them from joining together to improve their working conditions,” said Ron Herrera, Director of the Port Division, International Brotherhood of Teamsters. SB 338 will help us bring accountability so that the wealthiest companies in the world can’t exploit immigrant workers who are the backbone of our economy. We thank Senator Gonzalez for leading the fight to protect drivers and we thank members of the California State Senate standing up for fairness.

###

Senator Gonzalez represents the 33rd Senate District, which includes the City of Long Beach and portions of South Los Angeles and Southeast Los Angeles including the cities of Bell, Bell Gardens, Cudahy, Huntington Park, Lakewood, Lynwood, Maywood, Paramount, Signal Hill, and South Gate. Senator Gonzalez lives in Long Beach with her family.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is America’s largest, most diverse union. The Teamsters are known as the champion of freight drivers and warehouse workers, but have organized workers in virtually every occupation imaginable, in the private and public sector. For more than a century, the Teamsters have been a public voice for the rights and aspirations of working men and women and a key player in securing them.