U.S. truckers, who work to exhaustion for little to no pay, may be today’s indentured servants, according to USA Today. The news outlet conducted a four-part investigative report which  showed the incredible hardships encountered some truck drivers in the nation, many of whom are poor immigrants and who speak little English.

The first part of the series revealed that truckers are often forced to work long hours against their will. Some companies even put up gates to keep drivers at work, or refuse to pay them until they finish shifts, taking care to falsify records to fall within safe driving hours. The second part of the series alleged that the retail giants that use trucking companies don’t hire the workers directly and therefore claim they are not attributable for these labor abuses. The third part examined how drivers are cheated out of fair wages by having to pay for truck expenses. Sometimes at the end of the week, they owed money to their employer rather than the other way around.

The fourth and final part of the series explored how truckers, worked to the point of exhaustion and well past federal fatigue limits, are effectively impaired on the road. “They dispatch truckers for shifts that last up to 20 hours a day, six days a week, sometimes with tragic results,” reported the article.

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