There is a bill currently before Congress that would make a world of difference for truckers across the U.S. The bill, introduced by Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI), seeks to end a pay disparity between America's 3 million truck drivers and every other wage worker in the country. You may not know this, but though we truckers form the main artery of the economic system that sustains us all, most of us do not receive overtime pay.
Truckers, those essential workers who keep the country fed and keep the material economy moving, are a caste apart from all other wage workers when it concerns overtime. Overtime pay was originally mandated by law for anyone working over 40 hours a week by the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, but the act had an exemption for truckers. The exemption was thought by some to increase driver safety by disincentivizing drivers from working too much. And truckers used to be covered by other labor laws that ensured they were among the highest paid blue-collar workers in the country.
But those other laws were crushed in the 80s along with a host of other Regan-era deregulations, leaving truckers working many more than 40 hours a week and not receiving any overtime pay. Many truckers aren't paid hourly but by the mile or by a percentage of the load, which means that in addition to not getting overtime, we don't get paid for the hours we spend loading and unloading. It's resulted in a situation where truckers like me often work 60- or 70-hour work weeks—for an average...
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