A few surveys have indicated that drivers, mainly over-the-road haulers. Will quit, not because they are getting paid less than what they deserve. But, because they cannot be sure how much money they will get weekly or monthly. Without realizing the amount, they will bring home, that makes it hard to budget. It is particularly hard for drivers whose loads are hit and miss. The driver’s deliveries depend on the weather, and road conditions and the clients who have set loading and unloading times.
STORY BEGINS IN THE 1930S
The story began in the mid-1930s when the United States was moving on from the Great Depression. The farms were again creating a significant amount of food. And the nation needed a lot of trucks to move the produce and meat to customers, customers who were just starting to get back at their feet. There were no refrigerated trucks to move the produce so that the truckers would drive as fast and as far as they could before the food spoiled.
There were very few guidelines at that time, so the drivers would drive as many hours as they could. Some would be utterly exhausted before pulling over to sleep, it would only be a short nap, and then they would get back on the road. Truckers were paid by the mile, but they liked it since they would get more cash flow then if they were paid the lowest pay permitted by law, which went along with President Roosevelt’s New Deal in 1938.
1938 FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT
In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act, otherwise called the Minimum Wage Law, ordered that representatives, with a couple of exemptions, would be ensured the lowest pay permitted by law every hour. This would help put cash in shoppers’ pockets, shield laborers from deceitful bosses. Most importantly, it would put some money back into the struggling economy.
During the 1930s, there weren’t the same number of cars out and about, as today. FDR favored it because there was an impoverished country to sustain. He needed, however, as many trucks out and about as could be expected under the circumstances. The trucking organizations were content with the situation. Since they only paid when the driver delivered, which brought down their business hazard and expanded their benefits. Nothing in the guidelines disallowed transporters from paying consistently, and some chose to do as such.
NEW HOURS OF SERVICE FOR DRIVERS
Quick forward to 1980, when, in a domain of deregulation. Congress passed the Motor Carrier Act which got rid of the Interstate Commerce Commission. (framed initially in 1887 to direct railroad transportation among states) and deregulated the trucking business. Notwithstanding, with this deregulation Congress didn’t expel trucking’s exclusion from the Minimum Wage Law. New Hours of Service rules, which went along as a major aspect of the Motor Carrier Act and ensuing increments. Basically put a top on how much a truck driver could procure by constraining their driving hours. What’s more, that is the place it stands today.
24 HOUR CHANGES FOR DRIVERS
The Interstate Commerce Commission proclaimed, the primary government long stretches of-administration guidelines in the Motor Carrier Act of 1935. The instructions remained, to a great extent, unaltered from 1940 until 2003, except for a significant correction in 1962. Preceding 1962, drivers long stretches of-administration directions depended on 24 hours from early afternoon to early afternoon or 12 PM to 12 PM. A driver could be driving close to 15 hours in a 24-continuous hour time span. In 1962, among other principle changes, the 24-hour cycle was thrown out, and supplanted by at least taking break periods. A driver could “restart” the estimation of their driving and on-obligation constraints after any time of at least 8 hours enjoying some downtime.
Drivers argue that they should not get penalized for conditions beyond their control. They cannot control the weather or the traffic, and those are 2 of the biggest things that slow them down when making deliveries. Business examiners fight, as did Adam Smith, the ‘Father of Capitalism’ in his 1776 book Wealth of Nations. Workers are not so much offering their work to a business, but their ability to give work when called on.
SHOULD THEY PAY FOR NON-DRIVING
Transporters battle that they shouldn’t need to pay a driver for non-driving. Trucks cannot drive if out fuel, but some don’t get their fuel paid for by their company. That has changed for specific drivers as of late with compensation. For example: detainment pay. Bearers additionally fight that in an industrialist economy, laborers are allowed to work where they please and that no one has to drive a truck if they don’t wish to. They say that the working conditions, and pay-by-mile are not information someone considers when finding out about the business before they start driving.
Here it is 85 years later, and they are still paid by the mile, (with most companies is only 50cents a mile). Some companies pay for fuel, and some do not. The hours are regulated, mostly by a Qualcomm system. Mandatory 30-minute break, most hours driven in a day in 11, but usually they will average 8 to 10 hours a day with 70 hours a week.