Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/269152
Voices 10 | Overdrive | March 2014 With President Obama advocating for a $10.10/hour federal minimum wage and some states having raised the minimum wage as high as $15 – Washington, namely – Overdrive readers showed fairly even division on the issue. While interstate truck drivers wouldn't benefit directly from a min- imum wage hike, readers voting Yes to a hike showed support on account of the indirect effects on the trucking business. Rock-bottom wages = less consumer spending = less freight on the hook. "If people are in survival mode," noted Jeff K. Jones, comment- ing on Overdrive's Facebook page, "they can't spend to help the overall economy." In the more pointed words of a company owner commenting under the above poll at OverdriveOnline. com: "I've built my company from the ground up and have people working for me. I would be ashamed to pay anyone $7.25 an hour!" Hardliners against a wage hike generally were more vocal. A hauler commenting under the same poll disputed the notion that a hike would show an economic benefit. "Raising the minimum wage will do nothing but raise the cost of goods, which will mean [those with that extra wage] won't be any better off. Companies are only going to pass on the increased cost of doing business to consumers. The only entity that will profit will be the government through additional taxes." Those who'd rather not live with the 34-hour restart limitations and 30-minute mandatory break hoped for favorable results from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's long-awaited real-world impact study of the hours of service changes. Its release in January disappointed many, to say the least. "The ones who really need to be held compliant for keeping proper log doc- umentation are our elected officials or legislators who dream up these schemes," wrote Jim Stewart under news about the study when it came out in late January, channeling the ongoing frustration of opponents of the hours changes. One congressman, Richard Hanna of New York, sponsor of the TRUE Safety Act legislation to roll back the hours changes pending an independent impact study, apparently hears drivers' concerns well enough, wrote William McKelvie. "Hanna is right" to call the study virtually "worth- less," the owner-operator said, but FMCSA "does not listen to him either." Hanna, whose bill had 60 cosponsors at press time, vowed to continue the push to get a more independent look at the real-world impact of the latest hours rule from the Government Accountability Office "so we can get a credible ac- count of what this rule will truly mean for the safety of truckers, commuters and businesses." Would FMCSA listen to GAO? It bears asking. Following the hours study release, GAO unveiled its look at the enforcement inconsistencies associated with the Compliance, Safety, Accountability enforcement program, many of which Overdrive has detailed in depth. FMCSA's initial response was merely to reiterate posi- tive aspects of the program, arguing that it is basically performing as it should. For more detail on both reports about CSA, see Page 14. Hot Buttons Readers skeptical of hours of service study Should the $7.25/hour federal minimum wage be raised? OverdriveOnline.com poll I don't know 3% Yes 53% To $15 or more/hour 8% To between $12 and $15/hour 12% To between $10 and $12/hour 22% To somewhere less than $10/hour 11% No 44% WAGES WAGES Division over minimum hourly pay "If FMCSA has made changes to the hours of service that improve safety, then why did the National Transpor- tation Safety Board recommend Con- gress audit their entire program?" — James Getten, commenting on FMCSA's hours impact study via Overdrive's Facebook page. Weigh in yourself via facebook.com/OverdriveTrucking. Voices_0314.indd 10 2/26/14 9:43 AM