Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/391783
20 | Overdrive | October 2014 Logbook The innovative and one-of-a-kind show trucks produced by the Men- dez family at the Texas Chrome Shop in Atascosa have caught the eyes of truck show attendees and Overdrive's Pride & Polish judges in recent years. Now the family and the shop's custom truck builds are the subjects of a new documentary-style show on Discovery En Español. "Texas Trocas," with Spanish dialogue, premiered Sept. 15. Raul Mendez, co-owner of Triple R Diesel and the Texas Chrome Shop, said each episode shows the transformation of a custom truck from start to finish. The other ele- ment of the show is the family's in- teractions during the custom builds. "Texas Trocas" features Raul and his brother, Roland, along with their families. In each episode, a customer presents ideas to the shop, and the shop builds the rig. This first season's nine episodes air Sundays at 10 p.m. ET. – James Jaillet Hub Group converting drayage contractors to employees Facing a pair of lawsuits over worker misclassification, inter- modal giant Hub Group Inc. will be converting its drayage drivers in California from independent contractors to employees, the $3.4 billion company reported. In an investor filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Oak Brook, Ill.-based company stated that its California contract drivers were classified properly. None- theless, noting that lawsuits are "expensive, time-consuming and could interrupt our business operations," the company also reported it has made offers to settle lawsuits against subsidiary Comtrak Logistics, now known as Hub Group Trucking. The report comes on the heels of a federal appeals court ruling that independent contractors working for Fe- dEx Ground in California and Oregon should be classified as employees. The company does not believe similar issues currently exist in other jurisdictions, said Mark Yeager, Hub Group vice chairman, president and chief operating officer, speaking at a conference in Las Vegas. "Cali- fornia's a unique situation for a lot of reasons, and it's partic- ularly unfriendly toward this distinction between owner-op- erators and company drivers," he said. Hub Group estimates the settle- ment offer, if every driver accepts, will come to $9.5 million, with another $1 million for associated legal and transition costs. Stifel analyst John Larkin, in a note to investors, said the change "leaves the company at a much higher risk for union- ization ... especially considering drayage drivers come to work at the same facility every day and have a better ability to commu- nicate and organize." – Kevin Jones The Mendez family and their Texas Chrome Shop are the subjects of the new "Texas Trocas" docu-reality show on Discovery En Español. Customizing shop focus of TV series Courtesy of Discovery En Español A FLORIDA WOMAN was indicted in a scheme in which the Justice Depart- ment said she cheated truck owners out of $248,000. Elisa Christina Avila Jackson of Tallahassee was arraigned Sept. 2 by a federal grand jury and faces a Nov. 3 trial for five counts of wire fraud and one count of possession of counterfeit Internal Revenue Service stamps. Avila allegedly set up a fake permitting and licensing company. TANGO TRANSPORT became the latest trucking company to sue Navistar International over the truck and engine maker's exhaust gas recirculation-only MaxxForce engines built between 2008 and 2012. The Shreveport, La.-based carrier said it bought or leased 455 trucks with defective engines from Navistar. Tango's suit follows others brought in recent months with similar claims, some of which are class-action suits. AN EXEMPTION from the 14-hour work cap placed on drivers' daily hours of service limits was requested by the American Moving & Storage Association last month. The group asked the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to allow driving as much as another 75 miles or 90 minutes beyond the 14th hour. FMCSA was accepting public com- ment on the request until Oct. 9.