Goldman Sachs: Impoverishing Truck Drivers

[marmar]

from Dissent magazine:



Goldman Sachs: Impoverishing Truck Drivers
Todd Gitlin - May 7, 2012 11:35 am


Much attention was paid when, in March, a derivatives trading executive at Goldman Sachs accused the investment bank of abandoning its proper mission: serving clients first. When he went to work at the firm twelve years ago, Greg Smith maintained, Goldman’s culture “revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by our clients.” But now, he said, the company sustains a “toxic and destructive” environment. For its part, the company had commissioned a Business Principles and Standards Report that recommended “a constant focus on the reputational consequences of every action we take. In particular, our approach must be: not just ‘can we’ undertake a given business activity, but ‘should we.’ ”

Goldman Sachs is an investment bank, of course, but it is also an owner of enterprises. As its website proudly declares, “Goldman Sachs is one of the largest infrastructure fund managers globally, having raised more than $10 billion of capital since the inception of the business in 2006.” Goldman Sachs Infrastructure Partners owns 51 percent of a company called SSA Marine, which, with its affiliates, operates more container shipping terminals than any other company in the world.

In this capacity, Goldman Sachs is not just an employer of bankers but an employer of truck drivers who drive unloaded goods out of the ports. Except that, in a ruse to avoid paying benefits to these drivers (and taxes to state and federal governments), they are not classified as employees at all—rather, as “independent contractors.” More of the nation’s 110,000 port truck drivers work for SSA Marine than for any other firm.

Since trucking deregulation began under President Jimmy Carter, trucking rates are no longer set by the federal government. They are set by companies like SSA Marine, which are not unionized and which relentlessly cut costs. One way to do so is to avoid paying benefits. This is neatly done if one’s truckers are not classified as employees. ......................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.dissentmagazine.org/atw.php?id=752

[Po_d Mainiac]

1. the vampire squid continues to suck n/t