During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) asked Teamsters President Sean O' Brien about conditions for employees in the trucking industry.
00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman, very much. According to CBS analysis of federal data, Amazon's delivery truck contractors consistently have higher safety violation rates compared to the rest of the industry.
00:15From 2019 to 2024, Amazon's contractors had a violation rate roughly double the industry average. Because of Amazon's nefarious corporate practices of misclassifying workers and shirking its joint employer responsibilities, Amazon itself has not been held accountable by regulators for the performance of its fleet.
00:38Each individual subcontracted delivery truck company faces consequences when something goes wrong. Companies like Amazon can use this subcontracting scam to wash their hands of responsibility for the overall performance of their operations.
00:55An operation the size and scale of Amazon's lacking a comprehensive safety record for which the company can be held accountable is dangerous for drivers and other motorists and unfair to companies that play by the rules.
01:10Mr. O'Brien, do you agree that Amazon's trucking model shields the company from accountability for its safety record?
01:16It absolutely does.
01:17And in your view, maybe you can expand, does Amazon structure its operations this way to avoid accountability?
01:25Yes, I testified earlier that, you know, they use a lot of these independent contractors, these smaller companies that have their own individual DOT numbers, which it's tough to point to saying Amazon's responsible and Amazon will say, well, they're not direct employees of ours, they're subcontractors.
01:42So it's a game, it's a scam, and you look at an employer like United Postal Service that is similar in nature, where they have all direct employees, they have a proven track safety program in place collectively administered by the union and by management, where we do the same exact work, the same neighborhoods, and we've got a stellar record in safety because of the training and the cooperation and the work collectively by both.
02:09Now, if you, I'll give you a prime example, and everybody sees Amazon in their neighborhoods, if you look at an Amazon truck in your neighborhood delivering, you look at the shape that that truck is in, you look at the condition it's in, and then you look at the condition that a UPS truck is in, that'll tell the story right there.
02:26Yep, and so as a result, safety just falls into a regulatory black hole.
02:31Well, who's responsible, you know, so that's the issue.
02:34Mr. Chairman, I have a letter from the Truck Safety Coalition that I would like to enter into the record.
02:42Without objection.
02:45In Mr. Spears' testimony, he discusses at length an argument.
02:50We often hear, Mr. O'Brien, from the trucking industry.
02:53The government should weaken safety regulations, such as lowering the minimum age to hold a commercial driver's license from 21 to 18 to address the trucking industry driver shortage.
03:06Trucking is a very dangerous industry.
03:09Any argument to lower safety standards deserves close scrutiny.
03:13So let's examine the so-called trucking.
03:15The word shortage, the pool of qualified workers, is too small.
03:19But two million people hold commercial driver's licenses in the United States, and hundreds of the licenses are issued every single year.
03:28All these qualified drivers are competing for about 900,000 long-haul trucking jobs.
03:35And while there are plenty of qualified drivers available, many trucking companies struggle to retain these drivers.
03:43In fact, about—this is an incredible number—90 percent of truck drivers leave their job after one year.
03:50Ninety percent.
03:51This high level of turnover suggests the issue might not be whether there are enough drivers, but whether existing drivers are getting enough out of the job.
04:01So before we take more actions to make trucking less safe, Mr. O'Brien, do you believe that a 90 percent turnover rate in the long-haul trucking is the sign of a healthy industry?
04:10No, I think long-haul trucking is a very difficult job.
04:14I think we can all agree to that.
04:15It's a lot of time away from your family, a lot of sacrifice.
04:19But if you have a 90 percent turnover ratio, then there is something wrong in the industry.
04:25When you look at unionized carriers who have 10 to 15 percent turnover ratio, that's significant because that means people are happy with their wages.
04:37They're happy with their benefits.
04:38When you have a race to the bottom and people keep leaving jobs after 12 months or leaving the industry, and I think the number we have, there's four to six million people in this country that hold CDL licenses.
04:50And I believe 3.5 million are actually on the roads today.
04:53So there is definitely a breakdown somewhere.
04:56And we know for a fact that when people aren't making the highest wages, when they're not getting the best benefits, they're not going to stay at a job.
05:03So when wages are too low, you're obviously going to have massive turnover.
05:08And a 90 percent turnover rate shows workers are not thriving.
05:13And any argument that says that they are is just not credible.
05:16My father was a truck driver, sat at our kitchen table every night, every morning.
05:21I'm a senator, but he got paid a living wage.
05:25And so truck drivers are hardworking people.
05:28My father was 6'1", 265, and you can just see what that truck driver looked like.
05:33They had good diners back then, sir.
05:37Excuse me?
05:37They had good diners at the truck stops back then.
05:39The times have changed, and we're going to have to build in protections to make sure that those people who could put three children through college and law school have protections, benefits that fit the hard work that they put in every day.
05:53I thank you, Mr. Sean.
05:56Well, thank you, Senator Markey.
05:58And thank you to all of our witnesses.
06:00This has really been a terrific hearing.
06:03We've appreciated all of your testimony.
06:06Senators will have until the close of business on Tuesday, July 29th to submit additional questions for the record.
06:15And the witnesses will have until the close of business on Tuesday, August 12th to respond to those questions.
