Shippers ready to fight truck driver overtime pay bill in Congress

From Freight Waves.

Legislation aimed at ensuring overtime pay for truckers is getting close scrutiny from a major shipper group that plans to fight hard against it if the bill starts to gain steam.

The Guaranteeing Overtime for Truckers Act, introduced in April by Rep. Andy Levin, D-Mich., would repeal the motor carrier exemption in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), an exemption that excludes many drivers from overtime pay protections.

“Truck drivers across the country face brutal working conditions marked by inadequate pay and long hours,” Levin commented when he introduced the bill.

“Despite their tireless work, truck drivers do not receive overtime pay for overtime hours. As a result, the trucking industry faces an extremely high turnover rate as truckers cannot keep up with the thankless demands of their work. We all stand to benefit when truckers are paid what they’re owed.”

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and the Truck Safety Coalition (TSC) are major supporters of the bill, which currently has eight co-sponsors — seven Democrats and one Republican).

The National Industrial Transportation League (NITL), whose member companies are major customers in the trucking industry, does not believe the bill will gain much momentum. However, “if something were to happen on it I’m sure we could move pretty quickly to mitigate it on Capitol Hill,” said Ann Warner, who leads government affairs for NITL, speaking on Tuesday at the group’s transportation summit. “We’ll continue to monitor it and act on it if we need to.”

See the complete article from Freight Waves online.