Vaccine mandate for truckers the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’

As the United States braces for The People’s Convoy, set to kickoff March 4 in Indio, Calif., some in the trucking community believe that other issues – on top of vaccine mandates – are fanning the flames.

On the Feb. 9 edition of “Live From Exit 24,” OOIDA Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh said he’s not surprised to see the industry pushed to its breaking point.

“All I’ve seen our industry do is be overregulated and a cash cow for every little town, every state, everybody’s got their hands out to take it off the trucker. Maybe this is the inevitable straw that broke the camel’s back,” Pugh said. “Right, wrong, or indifferent – you can only kick a dog so many times. I hope lawmakers are starting to listen.”

While supply chain issues continue to persist – shining light on the importance of drivers to the country’s day-to-day operation – Pugh continues to be surprised by how few give truckers the credit they deserve.

“I love trucking. It’s the greatest job in the world, as far as I’m concerned. But it is the most thankless job there is,” he said.

Driver retention, detention time, and truck parking have been persistent issues within the industry for many years. Despite the best efforts of OOIDA and others, these problems have continually been set aside in favor of addressing others. Pugh said the industry deserves to be heard and have these long-standing issues rectified.

“Truckers haven’t got a break from the government in the entire time I trucked. Uncle Sam hasn’t listened,” Pugh said. “Just look at the billions and billions of dollars they gave away in this last highway bill, and we couldn’t even give truckers some parking. And that’s a bipartisan-supported thing. … We couldn’t even give the men and women – who were out there delivering supplies and keeping this country going – we couldn’t even give them a place to park safely. We can fund all this other special interest crap, but we can’t even give a trucker a thing?”

According to the group’s official Facebook page, The People’s Convoy’s mission is “to bring back our freedoms, our civil liberties, and bring an end to all unconstitutional mandates. This is about our rights, as well as the freedom of future generations. It’s not about political parties, but more so about a government that has forgotten its place and has no regard for our founding fathers instructions, the Constitution.”

OOIDA has been vocal with their opposition to government vaccine mandates, asking U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to exempt truck drivers from the countries’ cross-border vaccination requirements.

While vaccine mandates from the federal government are at the core of the complaints, there are many issues in the trucking community that continue to go unaddressed. For Pugh, this constant distraction from the real issues is what is most frustrating.

“We have carriers and all these people preaching this driver shortage bullshit and all this other stuff out here – and they wonder why truckers are mad. I get mad too. I get it,” Pugh said.

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

Past episodes are archived on the show’s website.

‘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 wants truck drivers to fill out a survey to let the Association know how they are liking the show so far. The survey can be found here. LL