LBJ . . we have the Washington State sitchyation . . two companies being sued from two sides over CPM vs. fair labor and overtime. We have the Swift class action thing that has suddenly found new life. There are two California issues fermenting: The port rules, which the Teamsters are hand steering and the recent recognition that "all employees" working in the State (includes Drivers) are entitled to enjoy the rules and benefits of CA labor laws . . the tide IS turning.

Still, we have the knuckle draggers who think CPM is wonderful, free labor and unpaid wait/ready/idle/breakdown/layover time are great and any sacrafice "I" can make is still the coolest thing on earth.

Soooo . . I'm going to start a survey thread and i'm looking for input.

What do you (anyone . . not just LBJ) think are the top 3 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 19, etc, motivations for leaving things as they are?

Like:

My Dad (Mom, Granny, Cousin drove truck . . put 17 kids through 3rd grade!)

I don't like anyone and I prefer to be left alone.

The Waltons of the world deserve all the money and laborers be damned!

Heck . . anyone can drive a truck! Takes a real craftsman to change a tire.

CPM/percentage advocates: Please list your top (insert number) motivations for whoring yourselves out . .

I'll build the survey from there. Thanks

I dunno LBJ. The Gary, IN T/A might (probably does) top Carney Point? I hadn't thought about that shitehole in quite a while. Because I don't have to anymore. Thank goodness. Yet another shining reason to go local. Leave all of that silliness to the diehards!

Heh heh heh. Couldn't have said it better myself. They're gonna love you for this timba. :lol:

Can't you people post anything without all the name calling? You don't seem to understand that you undermine your credibility when you constantly result to name calling and belittling most of those who are on this board. If you have valid points then it should not be a problem to defend them without the constant name calling. By the way, labor laws, such as minimum wage, are established at the Federal level. Federal law supersedes state or local laws. The more states throw additional laws at companies the more they will move out of their states. California has seen a mass exodus of business to Arizona and Nevada in recent years. It has been primarily due to high taxes and costs of doing business in the state because of over regulation. You all are always so negative. It would be refreshing to see something positive from you.

That place is truly a dump, belpre. I'd say it's the wost truckstop I've ever been to. One of our drivers got stuck there b/c a shootout ocurring while he was fueling his truck. The cops stormed in and shut the whole place down...nobody in or out for 6 hours.

Why is trucking exempt from the FLSA provision regarding overtime? It's BS. You should be getting time-and-a-half after 8/40 hours on the job.

Trucking isn't the only exemption. When you enter a particular field it's YOUR responsibilty to understand how it works. Some people are only capable of understanding and/or succeeding in an hourly world, others are quite successful being paid based on what they accomplish. Different strokes...

And, some people could not hold onto a job with a chain and padlock if it weren't for the UNION backing them.

I believe that I addressed this in an earlier post, LeBron. However, it bears repeating. If you travel across states lines you come under the jurisdiction of interstate commerce. That is regulated by the Federal government. Since drivers can do other things other than work during those times, they are exempted from the Fair Labor Standards Act. In other words, they cannot be supervised. Drivers would be paid for playing video games, surfing the Internet or anything but working. That is why most drivers are paid by the mile or percentage. It is actually better for the carrier and drivers, at least for those who work. It enables those who work harder to earn a bigger paycheck. Those who slack off are not going to be paid for their lack of productivity. The companies benefit by only having to pay drivers for their productivity. A local driver can punch a clock and be under supervision. One who stays out over night cannot. The company has no way of knowing for sure who is working and who isn't. Mileage and percentage pay benefits those drivers who manage their time and are productive. There is no incentive for the hourly wage earner to be more productive since they are paid the same whether they work or not. They could drive or sit in a truck stop and they would be paid the same money. I would not want to limit my income by being paid by the hour.

Im a tad bit confused on your stand point here Bigtimba.Werent you the one who was advocating swift in another thread? Now you're so anti cpm and swift? Not attacking you,maybe im mistaken.Just wanting to know where you were coming from?

I understand the federal jurisdiction, but I don't think your explanation makes any sense. There are plenty of local companies that run intrastate freight where their drivers run sleeper trucks and are paid by the mile and not supervised. The only difference is that they're not crossing state lines. Not all local drivers are paid by the hour.

So your argument doesn't hold water.

Yeah the slackoffs won't get paid. But neither will the guy who has hours, wants to run, and the company can't find him a load. Which means he sits in the truckstop earning no pay. How fair is that?

And when he does work, he isn't compensated for all his labor. He gets shorted on the miles he drives, he drops/hooks trailers for free, inspecations for free, looking for MT's, checking-in, sweeping/washing out trailers for free, sits in traffic for free, etc, etc, etc, etc...for free.

Not really. The carriers pay layover pay...but it's after 24 hours. So the OTR guys are getting paid to sit around and play video games. Same deal with breakdown pay and detention pay.

Are you serious? Most fleets use qualcomm or other computer-assisted dispatching. They know where the truck is, how fast it's going, whether it's on or off, idle time, overspeed, etc...that's like having a boss over your shoulder 24/7.

Yeah, all those UPS package car drivers sitting around doing nothing LOL! You ever see those guys run from their package car to your house? I have.

There is an incentive...it's called getting fired from a good job.

Yeah, I have lots of time to sit around truckstops with 22 stops to do in 8-9 hours. :roll:

This doesn't make sense, either. Both the hourly and .cpm driver are limited by the HOS...neither one of us can work more than 70 hours in a week, nor drive more than 11 hours, nor work more than 14. Being paid hourly has nothing to do with it.