Women of Trucking Advisory Board wraps up discussion, prepares for next task

The Women of Trucking Advisory Board has completed its final meeting with a topic of discussion, and now the group will move toward its next task.

On Thursday, Oct. 26, WOTAB held its fifth meeting with the task of “examining ways in which trucking companies, nonprofit organizations, training and education providers, and trucking associations may coordinate functions to facilitate support for women pursuing careers in trucking.”

During the meeting, representatives from organizations with apprenticeship programs shared their insights with members of the board.

One of those groups was ANEW – which stands for Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Employment for Women. According to its website, the group is “dedicated to improving the access and advancement of women in nontraditional career pathways such as construction and manufacturing.”

Currently, ANEW offers 17 different apprenticeship programs and plans to begin a new CDL program in February that will help students obtain a Class-A or -B commercial driver’s license.

Karen Dove, executive director of ANEW, said that apprenticeship programs are a critical component when it comes to successfully increasing the number of women interested in joining the trucking industry.

“These types of programs offer women a supportive network of peers and mentors who can provide guidance and advice as they navigate their careers in a traditionally male dominated industry,” Dove said. “You have to see people that look like you in these career pathways succeeding and leading in order to attract more individuals into these career pathways.”

OOIDA offers comments to the board

Prior to the meeting, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association submitted formal comments to the board offering its support and commending WOTAB for the work it has done.

“Fostering an inclusive trucking workforce will result in a safer, more efficient and sustainable industry,” OOIDA said in comments signed by President Todd Spencer. “We believe WOTAB has already played a pivotal role in addressing several critical issues pertaining to the recruitment, retention and safety of women in trucking and will continue providing recommendations that improve the well-being for everyone across the industry.”

While the Association applauded the board for aiming to help the industry appeal to women – a group OOIDA believes is “underrepresented in today’s trucking workforce” – it contends that a number of issues in trucking hinder the retention of both male and female drivers.

“We must alleviate longstanding workforce barriers such as inadequate compensation, lack of accessible truck parking and personal safety risks so that women will not only be welcomed into trucking but remain in the industry long term,” the Association said. “With turnover at or exceeding 100% in some trucking sectors, it is imperative that stakeholders embrace solving these systemic industry failures.”

In fact, many of the topics discussed by the board as ones that discourage women from joining or staying in the industry are ones OOIDA already has a keen interest in. Some of these advocacy issues the Association says “could enhance and expand opportunities for women in trucking” include:

• Training standards
• Restroom access
• Truck parking
• Detention time
• Fair Labor Standards Act overtime exemption
• Misclassification

WOTAB final report

Mandated by Congress as part of the 2021 infrastructure law, the Women of Trucking Advisory Board is tasked by FMCSA to “review and report on policies that provide education, training, mentorship and outreach to women in the trucking industry and identify barriers and industry trends that directly or indirectly discourage women from pursuing and retaining careers in trucking.”

With the board’s final discussion in the books, the next step will be for its Final Report Committee to compile all recommendations into a concise report for FMCSA Administrator Robin Hutcheson. That meeting is scheduled to take place Nov. 13, with Hutcheson expected to attend briefly.

Members of the Final Report Committee include:

• Joyce Sauer Brenny, founder and president, Brenny Transportation, Inc. and Brenny Specialized, Inc.
• Dianne McNair-Smith, CEO, 3 Girls Trucking Academy
• Kellylynn McLaughlin, professional driver, Clean Harbors, Inc.
• Sharae Moore, founder/president, SHE Trucking Foundation
• Nicole Ward, co-founder, African American Women in Trucking Association
• Soledad Munoz Smith, vice president of operations, Munoz Trucking

According to the board’s statutes, FMCSA will have one year after receiving the report to submit its own report to Congress detailing the findings of the board, along with “any actions taken by the Administrator to adopt the recommendations, or an explanation of the reasons for not adopting the recommendations.”

FMCSA’s final report will be filed with the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. A copy also will be made publicly available on the agency’s website. LL