Lawmakers had their naïveté put on full display after a trucking industry lobbyist blasted them for throwing money at the perceived supply chain crisis.
A group composed of 60 members of Congress are attempting to — once again — employ a Washington, D.C., solution to adding upwards of 80,000 qualified CDL holders to the workforce. Although that figure has been widely adopted, based on the expert due diligence conducted by the American Trucking Associations, other industry insiders have advocated for solutions that go to the heart of the problem. Despite nuanced suggestions, lawmakers decided to garner headlines by using the easiest tool at their disposal — tax dollars.
“Trucking has emerged as one of the two most critical bottlenecks in the persistent freight backlog, the other being long delays at loading docks and seaport terminals. A truck driver shortage in the United States coupled with a global economy emerging from the pandemic, has resulted in an uneven economic recovery for millions of American families. Unless we exhaust every possible avenue in which to address this crisis, we risk worsening supply constraints for manufacturers and rising prices on consumer goods,” a letter sent to the U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh reportedly states. “To address these concerns, we urge the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) within the Department of Labor (DOL) to prioritize Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) grant applicants looking to become truck drivers.”
The well-meaning letter could, in fact, draw people hungry for good-paying jobs into the trucking trades. But the fact remains that driver retention has been a persistent problem. Attracting new hires who will quickly experience why so many leave the trucking industry only perpetuates the cycle. That’s largely why Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association president Todd Spencer let lawmakers have it with both barrels.
“What they’re proposing here is using tax dollars to provide training to people that realistically will not pursue this as a career. It will be something that they will try, and many will burn out quick. If you’re going to use tax dollars — somebody else’s money — to make an investment in somebody, you want it to be an investment that pays off long term, and this simply won’t. To use words others might, this is little more than corporate welfare,” Spencer reportedly said. “The reality is, if the job that you’re offering sucks, is the solution really go find more suckers, or should you improve the job, so people will come and stay?”
Spencer has consistently taken the position that industry pitfalls such as detention times and lack of truck driver infrastructure are needed to improve the freight hauling profession. His arguments also involve the high volume of uncompensated hours CDL professionals log away from home. In Spencer’s estimation, there is no significant truck driver shortage. The current supply chain bottlenecks are largely due to inefficiency and logistical dysfunction.
Although the 60-member congressional group prefers to throw more taxpayer dollars at the issue, recent testimony by MIT trucking and logistics researcher David Correll supports Spencer’s position. Cleaning up industry inefficiencies and adding less than one hour of actual drive-time each day could vastly improve the supply chain using the current truck driver workforce.
Sources: marketwatch.com, newschannel5.com
I was one of those new trainees. I quit after a few months because of the exact things written and quoted in this article. The trucking company I chose was especially dysfunctional and had a culture of lies and mistreatment to the drivers.
Mr. Spencer is right, you know. But every time you involve the government (and tax dollars) nothing ever gets better. Why look for solutions to come from people who have no earthly conception of what it is like to BE a trucker? We keep telling everyone and anyone who is willing to listen what we need, but either they don’t care or they can’t comprehend what we’re saying. Congress falls into the latter. But Congress does like to keep us in the industry “under their thumb”, all the while thinking that we are the dumbed-down People we are not.
Well said sir
I am a life time member of OOIDA, and I agree 100% with Mr. Spencer. I retired early because of government intervention. I think Congress should run ELDs, not to control how they work, but see to , how many hours that they don’t, and get paid accordingly!
I can’t agree more. I’ve been a CDL holder since the mid 90’s. The last time I used it was 2000. Sure I made better money than making a local job, I was also working 180% of the hours of a local job, plus sleeping in a truck and being micro managed. I came to the conclusion that I could get a factory job, work 70 hours a week, make way more money, AND sleep in my own bed at night.
Government intervention is the problem. Deregulate and see the industry start to come back. We have too much government, plain and simple.
These politicians are clueless. You can tell them what will and won’t work and they still find a way to waste tax dollars. Example, parking shortage. Their solution? Pay a panel of “experts” millions of dollars to study the issue then propose to spend millions on electronic signs telling how many spaces are available ahead instead of paving paradise to put up a parking lot.
As usual, anything the government touches turns to crap. EVERYTHING! All these do-nothing desk jockeys constantly making rules about all kinds of things they know nothing about. The answer is always throwing more taxpayer dollars into the mix and getting nothing in return. Especially when it comes to trucking.
My complaint has been there aren’t nearly enough facilities for parking. Most of the truck stops in Michigan seem to have reasonably adequate parking there just aren’t enough of them especially in places like Oakland County north of Detroit. They want us to deliver their stuff, they just don’t want us parking there. How many times do I end up shutting down sooner than I really want to because I just don’t have enough time to make it to the next parking facility? That could mean I get this load delivered sooner and I get another load sooner and make more money. Detention is another big problem, the receiver wants you to show up on time but they don’t mind making you wait three hours to get unloaded. That’s why, even though I get paid more for live loads, I really prefer drop and hook. Go in, deliver my load, grab an empty and get out of there.
The life style sucks, parking availability sucks. The money sucks, the customers suck, and truck drivers suck. It’s a filthy way of life. Truckers are rude and disgusting and inconsiderate. I can’t think of one good thing about driving a truck. If you have a wife that you can’t stand, you may be the only person who appreciates trucking.
I am not a driver, but I am in an industry that deals directly with drivers every day, sometimes all day. I am in a position to over-hear discussions, as well as ask questions pertaining to various trucking/driving topics. After roughly 30 years in my industry, I have gotten to know a great deal about the freight industry, driving, and drivers. I have to also agree with Spencer that the solutions are NOT going to be found in ANY government involvement, other than to say that pulling government involvement out (at least in certain areas) WILL help solve the problem. As has been pointed out, the current bureaucratic rules concerning driving hours do NOT work, and are very much a part of the problem. We do NOT need a flood of even more inexperienced drivers creating a nuisance and hazard on our roads! Give the experienced drivers (5 years plus) more freedom to judge whether they can safely drive longer hours in a given situation.
If these drivers knew how much power they had if united it’d be scary. Very sad. I made more in wages and benefits as a Teamster port driver (employee) 30 years ago than employee drivers make now-pretty sure the owner-operators make even less when all is said and done.
PORTS OF L.A., LONG BEACH
Teamsters: Trucking system ‘rotten’
Union blames driver shortage on independent contractor hiring, while companies point to ports’ proliferation of empty containers
By Donna Littlejohn
dlittlejohn@scng.com
Look no further than the trucking system now serving the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as a key reason for the current driver shortage, Teamster union officials said Wednesday in discussing the supply chain problems that have gripped the nation this year.
In a Zoom presentation, officials from the Teamsters and others placed the blame for many of the problems that have led to a shortage of drivers serving the ports on those workers being classified as independent contractors by companies, though the Harbor Trucking Association pushed back on that notion.
“The problem is the way the trucking industry in the port area is done,” Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said. “It’s being done on the terrible, terrible basis of misclassification.”
The system, he said, is inefficient and unfair.
“It’s rotten to the core,” Hoffa said, “and that’s why truckers are not showing up. I don’t blame them.”
The hourlong presentation led by the union, which has been trying to organize port truck drivers for years, included comments from port workers, attorneys and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, an advocacy organizations for working families.
The problem isn’t too few drivers, Hoffa said, but rather a system in which drivers must bear much of the financial burden themselves, including paying for trucks and fuel — while having none of the regular employee benefits, such as sick pay or health insurance.
But Matt Schrap, CEO of the Harbor Trucking Association, said Wednesday that the supply chain problems are much more nuanced and complex. Still chief among the issues, Schrap said, are too many empty containers clogging port terminals.
Schrap’s organization represents trucking businesses that use both independent contractors and employee drivers represented by the Teamsters.
“Marine terminals are drowning in empty containers,” Schrap said in a telephone interview. “There were 123,000 empties as of this morning.”
Trucks aren’t being dispatched because there aren’t enough chassis available, he said — they are being used to house empty containers.
But there is a shortage of drivers, a problem the state recognized recently when they expanded the number of DMV locations that offer commercial driving tests.
“At the bottom of the supply chain are port truck drivers,” said Mike Muñoz, research and policy analyst for the advocacy group LAANE, calling the system “a sweatshop on wheels.”
Truck driving, he said, “used to be a respected job.”
But since deregulation, he said, it’s been a “race to the bottom.”
Wages, Muñoz said, have declined some 30% since the 1980s as trucking companies shifted costs “onto the backs of the truck drivers. They have to pay for everything.”
“It’s created a wild west situation,” he said. “There currently are over 18,000 drivers registered to work in both ports, 12,000 of which make regular-to-infrequent trips. This suggests there is no actual (driver) shortage, but a surplus of drivers.”
There is, however, a shortage of good jobs, Muñoz said.
But Schrap highlighted the benefits of being an independent contractor, including being able to set your own hours and decide when and where to work.
“There are many independent contractors who have no desire to be employees,” Schrap said,.
Still, he said, there are employee truck driver positions readily available now, he said — often with perks.
“Drivers are in such high demand right now,” he said.
This is not a new battle. Over the past several years, pickets have conducted actions against port companies and more than 1,000 port truck drivers have filed claims in civil court or with the California Department of Industrial Relations’ enforcement arm. Judges have largely sided with drivers, who have argued they should have employee status. The city of Los Angeles in 2017 voted to explore blocking companies that used truck drivers classified as independent contractors from doing business at the Port of Los Angeles.
A series of city actions resulted from the resolution, Muñoz said, that put pressure on the companies and included investigations into three companies who were among the offenders. The port also began enforcing concession agreements against the companies on a list of “bad actors,” Muñoz said.
But the current backlog and surge in cargo has put a renewed focus on the problems.
Attorney Julie Gutman Dickinson, another participant on the Zoom call, said the supply chain focus provides more opportunity for additional pressure.
“It is high time for taking stock and using this moment with those we have in power to take action to end misclassification,” she said, “and make sure cargo owners have codes of conduct.”
Noting that the Port of L.A. has reported that 30% of truck appointments are going unfilled for moving cargo from the docks, Muñoz said, there’s an “inability to coordinate” those jobs.
“Drivers wait for hours in long lines and those hours are unpaid,” he said.
Hoffa has spoken with the Biden Administration’s new labor secretary, Marty Walsh, a former union president, and said he’s hopeful something might be done to rectify the situation.
State Senate Bill 338, which will go into effect Jan. 1, could also help, added Jessica Durrum, LAANE’s director of Our People Our Ports campaign.
The law will penalize cargo owners who use companies with drivers who aren’t employees.
Another piece of legislation, Assembly Bill 794, would disqualify trucking companies that don’t follow labor standards from receiving funding for clean trucks.
“It’s a big battle,” Hoffa said. “It’s going to be a battle all the way.”
The government is full of IDIOTS ( just look at the pos mayor pete and all of his lack of common sense) stop electing lawyers and corrupt mouthpieces ( aoc and fake indian fit here), elect people, yes with a sharp tongue and experience like Trump!
We as truck drivers only blame gvnt when in reality it is corporations who lobby their bought, paid for politicians to keep wages, benefits low so stock market investors can keep adding to their bank accts at the benefit of workers. Drivers must unite for the greater cause but they’re too divided, too selfish and too ignorant. Teams win against teams. Groups of divided individuals cannot win. Unless drivers change and unite, this industry and its employees will continue with lousy wages and benefits while keeping this economy afloat.
Only problem is that won’t solve the problem it will just get worse UNTIL THE FREAKING IDIOTS START TREATING TRUCK DRIVERS LIKE NORMAL EMPLOYEES AND PAY THEM WHAT THEY ARE WORTH AND COMMIT TO MAKING TRUCK DRIVING A SKILLED TRADE. You have over regulated us until nobody with skills wants to do the job so companies hire heart beats STEERING WHEEL HOLDERS. I am an O/O and I have been crapped on by so many companies over the years I won’t work for another employer in this business. So now when I run it’s on my terms I don’t haul cheap and don’t go places like the East coast or West coast because
Here’s a fine example of shipper/receiver inefficiency. Deliver to Walmart, you CAN NOT be 5 minutes late or you will have to re-schedule, doesn’t matter that you were on time, but by the time you got checked in, because there were trucks in front of you, now your “late”. Usually they take you but I have been made to reschedule. Then you get a door, back in, unhook, pull forward, and 45 minutes later your unloaded and, you guessed it, you wait 4-5 hours for your paperwork AFTER your unloaded. This has happened to me at several Walmart facilities.
Walmart allows you to pull up to gate one hour before appointment. This early arrival allows for line of trucks ahead of you when you arrive. You can check in to receiving as late as an hour after appointment time and still be considered on time.
Totally agree about the government intervention. If you think about it, accidents were actually declining before the introduction of ELD’s and racing the clock for fear of getting a HOS violation for being one minute over.
Add to that more and more “safety sting operations” per year on top hoping they don’t find a marker light out when you go through a weigh station and being randomly pulled over for inspections.
An average person could relate it to feeling like every time you leave the house, there’s a cop waiting on the corner just hoping you make a mistake. After a while, you would be afraid to leave the house.
Yes, I know, that if you do everything you’re supposed to do you got nothing to worry about. That’s not the point. The point is that it comes close to crossing the line of harassment.
There was a time, when truck driving used to be fun. Then we went from paper logs to the tattletale QUALCOMM, to the babysitter ELD’s and both devices go beyond just keeping track of your hours.
I have not driven for six years and I miss it and the money to be honest. But I don’t miss the BS that goes along with it.
Typical old problem there are people out here that are made to be truck drivers because they choose to truck drivers then there are people out here trying to run away from their problems by being a truck driver being a truck driver is not a career it is not a job it is a way of life we are not short on drivers like everybody keeps yelling we are short on the quality of drivers you put mutt behind the wheel and this is what you get a cesspool of idiots behind the wheel my grandfather was a truck driver for 10 years my dad 43 years I have 44 years on my belt younger sisters got 21 years I am nothing but a truck driver that’s all I’ve been all my life I have no trouble bringing down 1000 to $3,000 a week and I am a Company driver not an owner operator but I believe this Spencer guy is partially right the government though needs to let us truck drivers do what we need to do we definitely don’t need Congress running e logs nor do we need state city or county running are e logs. What we need is the government and the media stop trying to run the trucking industry we need the Biden Administration to stop paying people to stay home so they can return to the warehouses manufacturers and work so we can get that supply chain moving we need they to get our manufacturers who went overseas and into Mexico back in the United States we need to immediately stop taxing the buck out of manufacturers to chase companies out of this country and then send the product back at three times the price that is our supply chain problem we don’t have the product because all of its being made overseas and in Mexico I don’t know what is wrong with America the Democrats in this country all want to do is destroy America and there doing a really damn good job at it for the last 4 years I’ve seen nothing but slow Freight not because of Supply chains because there’s no freight here it’s not here because the manufacturers are not here it’s not here because it’s not made in the United States wake up America this is our problem our government over the years have chased manufactures out of our country because of EPA problems because of problems they can’t compete with manufacturers overseas because they don’t have the strict rules and EPA laws the United States has so they moved out of our country because our government is taxing the hell out of them there is no supply chain problem we have a government problem
Mark, you’ve hit the nail on the head! If everyone would stop letting big brother get in our business, we’d be a lot better off. Bring our manufactures back home to the USA, let the truckers, truck; & stay out of our pocket!