Stay up to date with ‘Live From Exit 24’

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Call 317-67-OOIDA (317-676-6432) at 11 a.m. Central time on June 2, to be a part of the next “Live From Exit 24.”

Host Mike Matousek will welcome OOIDA President Todd Spencer, OOIDA Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh, and Bryce Mongeon, OOIDA director of legislative affairs, to discuss the highway and infrastructure bills and where they are in the process.

Every other Wednesday, “Live From Exit 24” – OOIDA’s live, hourlong internet talk show – brings listeners insightful discussions on the regulatory and legislative issues that matter to truckers.

Listeners can tune in to the show on the “Live From Exit 24” website, OOIDA Facebook page or on OOIDA’s YouTube channel.

Past episodes of “Live From Exit 24” are archived on the show’s website.

During the May 19 “Live From Exit 24,” ongoing concerns related to the PRO Act and AB5 were central to the conversation.

Pugh, Mongeon and Land Line Magazine Senior Editor Mark Schremmer joined Matousek to address these pertinent questions, including the future of owner-operators.

“We all know when we lease to carriers they offer a lot of benefits,” Pugh said. “I understand why you would have to do it, but you need to get yourself as independent as you can. The safest is to be your own authority and your own customer.”

Misclassification presents another set of challenges.

“It would give people the opportunity to organize, but that’s not necessarily a good solution,” Mongeon said. “Classification issues we would like to see addressed require a lot more nuance. From our perspective it’s about what’s going to work best in the trucking industry. We just don’t know how this would work. There’s too many unknowns as to how it would work practically.”

Schremmer said that while there are genuine cases of truck drivers being misclassified, particularly in some lease-purchase arrangements, most truckers seem to agree that AB5 takes a “sledgehammer” to a more delicate problem.

“When I talk to leased owner-operators, they don’t want it (AB5),” Schremmer said. “AB5 has been in effect since January 2020, but there’s been an injunction in place for it to not affect trucking. This could ultimately end up in the Supreme Court.”

Ultimately, the problem is just far too complex for the legislation proposed to fix it, according to the panel. “For the people we represent this isn’t a black-and-white issue,” Mongeon said. “We’re trying to improve working conditions for all drivers.”

‘Live From Exit 24’ survey

“Live From Exit 24” launched as a way to expand OOIDA’s communication with members and to hear directly from drivers across the industry.

OOIDA is asking for truck drivers to fill out a survey to let the Association know how you are liking the show so far. The survey can be found here. LL