The Cunningham Report Long Beach Port Accused Of Enticing Port Drivers Into Bad Debt 08/20/2008 The Port of Long Beach continues to feel the political heat over its decision not to require trucking companies servicing port terminals to use employee-drivers instead of independent owner-operators as required in the Clean Trucks Program at the adjacent Port of Los Angeles. As part of its program, the Port of Long Beach plans to make financing available to independent truckers in the form of a lease-to-own program administered by Daimler/Mercedes Benz. A coalition of minority-rights, labor, and consumer groups today accused the Port of Long Beach and the German-based company of setting up a "predatory lending scheme" that would hoodwink the drivers into risky debt. Activist members of the groups held demonstrations at the German Embassy in Washington D.C. and at Daimler's U.S. offices in the Detroit area, where they simultaneously delivered a report to company and government officials entitled: "Foreclosure on Wheels: Long Beach's Truck Program Puts Drivers at High Risk for Default." The report - jointly issued by the Consumer Federation of California, the NAACP, the League of United Latin American Citizens, and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy - compares the Long Beach truck financing plan to the subprime mortgage situation. It predicts that the low-income drivers will be pushed into a long-term commitment to an asset they may not be able to afford. If implemented, the plan can be expected to lead to bankruptcy and economic pain in poor and minority communities, the report claims. The majority of the port truckers are Hispanic. The groups urged the port to follow the same Clean Trucks Program approved at the Port of Los Angeles, which requires that trucking companies servicing the port phase in an all employee workforce over the next five years. Of all the provisions being required under the Los Angeles port's program, the employee-driver mandate is the most controversial. Port trucking companies have accused the Port of Los Angeles board of being more interested in helping the Teamsters organize the industry than in cleaning up the air.