Hangdog Report

The Hangdog Report:

In days gone by, the general public looked upon truck drivers as "knights of the road." Those big and burly men (women truck drivers were almost unheard of back then) were quick to stop and help a motorist who might appear stranded. Motorists, in turn, looked for the roadside diners where the "big trucks" stopped, assuming, often correctly, that the food inside must be good.
That was yesterday. Today, the media portrays truckers as the Mad Maxes and Maxines of the highway; out to terrorize the public in thundering, smoke-belching instruments of destruction -- "killer trucks." The former knights of the road have become demons, the old highway cowboys, outlaws.
In the past, I have been quick to defend the trucking industry and truckers against such attacks, but now my experience dictates "coming clean."
In reality, there are very few killer trucks on the road today, but there are many killer truck drivers. They travel at speeds well over the posted limit. They weave in and out of traffic and follow less than a car length behind autos, using intimidation in hopes that the smaller vehicle will move. They cheat on their logbooks, drive when over-tired and fill the CB airwaves with language that would cause a barroom dog to drop its bone.
There was a time when such drivers would have been rejected by the trucking industry before they ever got behind the wheel.
Why the change? To understand what has happened, let's look at a little recent history.
Prior to1980 trucking was classified, not as an industry, but as a utility and, as such, was heavily regulated by the federal government. As a designated utility, trucking had developed into an honorable, sought-after career in which the wages were good, the life-style hard working, but relaxed, and the future secure. Well-qualified persons stood in line waiting for an opening to occur.
In 1980, the federal government ended trucking's utility status by deregulating the industry. Free market forces were immediately released and began a feeding frenzy on the fledgling industry, which now found itself completely without protection.
In fairness to the Carter administration, it must be said that it did have enough forethought to imagine market forces creating competition based solely on overworking employees. To head this off, lengthy studies were initiated, and new rules and safety regulations were proposed. However, these new rules failed to be fully enacted during Carter's administration.
Later, the Reagan administration--armed with a cost-benefit analysis that claimed the costs of the new rules and safety regulations outweighed the benefits -- tossed the new rules and regulations out.
One must wonder if Reagan's cost-benefit analysis eases the grief of the mothers and loved ones of those killed on our highways. They must live with the results of our government's decision to reject increased safety because "the costs outweighed the benefits."
Because the trucking industry had -- until 1980 -- always been regulated as a public service, it enjoyed an exemption from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
In 1981, during the confusing early days of deregulation, the Minimum Wage Study Commission (MWSC) reviewed and recommended a continuance of this exemption. Their recommendation was based on the erroneous proposition (garnered from old, out-of-date information) that 80 percent of all over-the-road drivers were covered under union contracts and thus benefited from standards that exceeded the FLSA.
The true facts were as clear then as they are now: union organization in the truckload sector of the industry -- the largest sector -- is, and always has been, next to nonexistent. Whether this was an honest error on the part of the MWSC or a means of arriving at a desired conclusion is left to speculation.
Once government opened the floodgates, changes came thick and fast. New companies, formerly limited in number by tight regulation, sprang up overnight. Unbridled competition, hoped by many to have a cleansing and beneficial effect, became destructive. Freight rates fell, bankruptcies skyrocketed and wages plummeted. Research shows that without the protection of either the union or the FLSA, wages of drivers in the non-unionized truckload segment of the industry fell as much as 30 percent to 50 percent between 1980 and 1997.
In a desperate attempt to maintain some semblance of a middle class lifestyle, drivers were forced to work much longer hours for the same take-home pay.
Faced with this new reality of extremely long hours and substandard pay, many professional drivers began leaving the industry just as the new companies began adding thousands of trucks to the competitive free-for-all. Drivers, who had been standing in line waiting for a good job, disappeared as trucking became a job of last resort.
In a frantic attempt to find new drivers, trucking company recruiters significantly lowered their expectations and requirements. The resulting "scraping of the barrel" exacerbated the downward spiral. It is estimated that the current turnover rate among nonunion drivers is 100 percent.
While loudly crying about an ever increasing "driver shortage," truckload carriers make no real attempt to address the serious issues that have created the shortage. Spurred on by competition run amuck, they continue to hire the lowest wageworkers, available from wherever they can find them. This drives wages further into the dirt, compounds the skilled driver shortage, and spills more blood on the highways. Is it too much to assume that if the pay and working conditions were addressed, the driver shortage might evaporate?
In his book, "Sweatshops on Wheels," Michael H. Belzer -- an assistant research scientist at the University of Michigan Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations -- cogently analyzes the effects deregulation has had on the trucking industry. According to his analysis, deregulation has resulted in fierce competition; extremely low wages, killing hours and a never ending struggle to maintain safety in such an environment.
The 20th century saw those dins of human exploitation and misery called "sweatshops" legislated out of existence. Could it be that the sweatshops of the last century have been replaced by thundering, rolling versions of the same thing?
My hangdog look is the result of knowing that Belzer is correct in his assessment: the "new" truckload carrier industry has created sweatshops that enslave many more individuals than the sweatshops of yesterday ever dreamed of.
Unbridled competition, coupled with no wage protection for its drivers, has sent the truckload segment of the trucking industry into a death spiral. While the public wants, and has every right to expect, safe highways and a reliable transportation system, drivers, under pressure to deliver quickly and at low cost, are being forced to push far past safety parameters.
The federal government, in an attempt to improve trucking safety, has issued a new Hours of Service (HOS) rule, which, barring any last minute court challenges, will take effect October 1, 2005. But as the waters around the new HOS rule continue to roil, out on the horizon, like a small wave gathering strength and momentum as it rolls toward the beach, drivers are beginning to demand economic and social justice in addition to safer working conditions.
Can a nation that is so dependent upon its vast transportation network continue to deny basic employment rights to those who keep the network running smoothly?
It is indeed time for change and a good place to begin is to have Congress repeal the trucking industry’s absurd exemption from provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Such a repeal will grant truck drivers the same overtime rights and protections currently enjoyed by the great majority of American workers while creating jobs and discouraging carriers from overworking their drivers.
There is strong opposition in the business community to such action. Those with a financial stake in keeping men and women shackled to rolling sweatshops argue that since the Department of Transportation already regulates a truck driver’s hours of service, further regulation under the Fair Labor Standards Act amounts to overkill.
They confuse apples with oranges.
Whereas the FLSA affords minimum protections regarding pay and overtime, the HOS rules set maximum hours for the purpose of safety. For example: Although airline pilots are protected under the FLSA the FAA tightly regulates pilots’ hours for the purpose of public safety. Such regulation has never been referred to as “overkill”.
So long as motor carriers are allowed to disregard the FLSA they will continue to compete solely on the basis of low wages. Such competition encourages negative efficiency among carriers and shippers while contributing positively to the continued bloodshed on our highways.
Pay by-the-mile and percentage pay must also be outlawed and replaced with pay-by-the-hour. Drivers must be paid for all time worked, including loading, unloading, fueling, wait time, breakdowns, etc. Without this change in the status quo, removal of the FLSA exemption will be meaningless. Transport companies will simply circumvent the requirements of the FLSA by continuing to pay drivers on a piecework basis. Drivers currently paid in this manner (this includes most of the drivers in the truckload segment) find they must work the maximum amount of hours allowable (and then some) to maintain their position in the lower middle class. Armed with such a strong economic incentive it is easy to understand why so many drivers continue to falsify their logbooks and work beyond the limits of safety.
If the new HOS rule was coupled with pay by-the-hour for all work performed and full protection under the FLSA, drivers would see their paychecks increase, their working conditions greatly improve and the American public would find the highways a much safer place.
Enforcing the HOS while preventing drivers from bilking their companies will require the employment of technology (black boxes, EOBRs). Although much of the industry argues vehemently against such technology being mandated, they are at the same time rapidly outfitting their trucks with tracking and recording devices.
The new HOS rule is a workable one. Not only will it help prevent carriers from using overwork as their main competitive edge, but it also goes a little way toward removing truck drivers from their rolling sweat shops and allowing them to enjoy a modicum of the fruits of their labor. Hopefully, the new rule will accomplish this while energetically and forcefully addressing its prime objective—safety. To work so hard at formulating a rule like the new HOS and then continue to base compliance on driver maintained paper logbooks is tantamount to polishing an apple and then storing it in a manure pile.
These changes will not come cheap. Although much of any increased cost will be born by increased efficiency of both transport companies and shippers, some will have to be passed on in the form of increased freight rates with the consumer paying a share. The payback to consumers in terms of increased highway safety will be great. The motoring public is currently paying in blood and sorrow for maintaining the status quo. How much are safer roads worth?
As I write this, good men and women are leaving the trucking industry in droves. The take-home pay of the American trucker, plummeting since 1980, continues its downward plunge. Too many persons are dying in truck related highway accidents. It is my most sincere hope that the federal government will somehow find the fortitude to put this once noble industry back on target. Left to its own totally unregulated devices, trucking, as it is known today, will self-destruct in a few short years. Market forces are, even now, forming a new creation in the bowels of the current unrest. The American public will not like this new creation. I believe they should fear it. I do.

Category Posted: General