The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMSCA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) asked for the public comments on brokers’ rulemaking on the Federal Register.
The comments need to be submitted by October 19, 2020.
Such a step to transparency is an achievement of the record-breaking “MayDay” trucker protest in Washington, DC, in May 2020, which intention was to send a distress call from the trucking industry to President Donald J. Trump.
During the Mayday 2020 Movement, the Make Trucking Great Again Association established to demand transparency and no double or co-brokerage. The leader of the association, “CJ” Sergey Karman, is the founder and CEO of Ezlogz company.
On May 20, “CJ” Sergey Karman and Mike Landis, representative of the United States Transportation Alliance (USTA), were hosted as trucking representatives at the White House. During the meeting with Mark Meadows, White House Chief of Staff, and Jim Mullen, the Acting Administrator of the FMCSA, and the plight of independent owners/operators was revealed.
Today, the sector represents around 90% of the average 3.5m truckers that work in the US. And the meeting’s main goal was to discuss the solution of problems, such as freight brokers transparency, and FMCSA actions to make transparency rules enforceable; double and co-brokerage; and also, the topic that appeared during the COVID-19 pandemic – price gouging.
After the meeting, “CJ” Sergey Karman said: “We broke it down to them about transparency, and what it’s about, what exactly we want, how do we see it,” to the protesters.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) had begun two investigations after the White House meeting:
- DOJ Antitrust Division is working on federal disclosure requirements under 49 CFR § 371.3 (c) by freight brokers.
- Craig Carpenito, the New Jersey US Attorney, has opened an investigation into freight broker price gouging.
The complaint about “systemic” circumvention of federal disclosure requirements under 49 CFR § 371.3 (c) by major freight brokers was filed by DLA Piper on behalf of Ezlogz.
Since May, MTGAA, with “CJ” Sergey Karman’s leadership, is fighting on behalf of the trucking industry, and especially truck drivers. The FMCSA believes that taking this action would provide a means of engaging stakeholders in assessing the need for a rulemaking.
We want:
1.Broker Transparency: The requirements of 371.3 should be made non-waivable, and the required information should be required to be produced to the prospective carrier and or driver before the load is booked. (We believe this how 371.3 already reads, but that should be clarified/enforced.)
2.Broker Collusion: The FMCSA should work with appropriate authorities to investigate price-fixing and other collusion between the large brokers.
3.Double-Brokering: Rules should be enacted to prohibit the act of “double-brokering” where loads are brokered from one broker to another before reaching the drivers.
Follow the link for the instructions on how to send comments on FMCSA requests.
