The Official Newsletter of
Louisiana's Trucking Industry  

January, 7 2022
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
Conference Supporters
Want your company's logo at the top of Truck Talk?

This year LMTA is offering six exclusive sponsorship opportunities, with unique advertising (like Truck Talk) and access for our sponsors!

If your business or organization is interested in building or strengthening your brand to the hardest working membership base in Louisiana, this is the opportunity for you. Act quickly - the deadline to secure sponsorships is Feb. 1, 2022.

THIS WEEK:

Want your company's logo on the top of Truck Talk? LMTA Annual Sponsorship Program - 2022

LMTA in the News
RADIO NEMO:
“Amar and Nemo discuss the pressing issues for the trucking industry. Listen in below to hear more about the DRIVE Safe Act, workforce shortage, and lawsuit abuse..." 
WVUE MORNING EDITION:
"Amar emphasized the heightened safety precautions this new act requires of the driver such as extra safety equipment in the trucks. We feel like we are losing a part of the generation that we need on the road to help fill our workforce shortage..."
LMTA on WWL First News - Tommy Tucker

LMTA's Renee Amar will also be joining the WWL First News with Tommy Tucker next Tuesday, January 11 at 8:15 am.

Amar will be weighing in on the workforce shortage and how industry leaders are working to get more drivers behind the wheel. We hope you will listen in!
2022 Louisiana Truck Driving Championships
Competition & Registration Information
The Louisiana Truck Driving Championships (TDC) is a competition of professional truck drivers hosted each year by the Louisiana Motor Transport Association (LMTA) and acts as the regional qualifications for the National Truck Driving Championships hosted by the American Trucking Associations (ATA). 

This year's competition is being presented by the LMTA Foundation - with all registration fees waived due to funding allocated by the Louisiana Trucking Research & Education Council (LATREC). 

Each driver is graded in three tasks:
  1. Written examination
  2. Pre-trip inspection test
  3. Driving skills test

COMPETITION CLASSES:
Straight Truck
  • REQUIRED: Class B CDL
Three-Axle Tractor-Semitrailer
  • REQUIRED: Class A CDL
Four-Axle Tractor-Semitrailer
  • REQUIRED: Class A CDL
Five-Axle Tractor-Semitrailer (Tank)
  • REQUIRED: Class A CDL - (N) Tank or (X) Combined Endorsement
Five-Axle Tractor-Semitrailer (Van)
  • REQUIRED: Class A CDL
Five-Axle Tractor-Semitrailer (Flatbed)
  • REQUIRED: Class A CDL
Five-Axle Tractor (Sleeper Cab) - Semitrailer (Van)
  • REQUIRED: Class A CDL
Twin Trailers
  • REQUIRED: Class A CDL - (T) Twins Endorsement
Step Van
  • REQUIRED: Driver's License


SAFETY AWARDS:
The LMTA in partnership with the LMTA Foundation and Great West Casualty Company, are proud to offer the following awards programs to those throughout Louisiana's trucking industry. These awards are dedicated to safety professionals and professional drivers for improving safety and the image of our industry every day.

Please see each award's specific form for details and notes for consideration:
DATES AND DEADLINES:
JAN. 5, 2022
__________

JAN. 6, 2022


__________

FEB. 8, 2022


__________

FEB. 18, 2022
__________

MAR. 3, 2022
  • TDC Mandatory Planning Meeting
__________

MAR. 4 - 5, 2022
  • 2022 Louisiana Truck Driving Championships
Reptile Theory - Tactical Training for Litigation Defence
LMTA Exclusive Training Seminar - March 23 & 24

Join us for our Winter Management Summit, at the Hotel Bentley in Alexandria, LA to help us plan for 2022. 
 
We will be joined by Dr. Bill Kanasky, Vice President at Courtroom Sciences, to learn about the Reptile Theory and how you can defend your trucking business from snakes and their snake oil. 
 
You won’t want to miss this seminar with limited space available! Registration will open next Wednesday, January 19.
LMTA Safety Management Council (SMC) Meeting Notice

Webinar & meeting for Truck Driving Championships next Monday, January 11.
Open Road Magazine
Issue 2 | December 2021

COVER:
  • David Newman of Newman Transportation (2020-2021 Chairman of the Board)
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
  • Relieving Some of the Pain, Update on Streamlining Sales Tax
  • LMTA's Seafood Gala
  • Ready to Serve, How the trucking community united after Hurricane Ida
  • Putting the Smackdown on Smashers, Trucking and Staged Accidents
  • The Road to Revitalizing Trucking's Image, LMTA Foundation's public image campaign
  • Ahead of the Curve, Louisiana dedicates over $1 trillion of federal funding to infrastructure
  • LMTA's Annual Convention
  • 2021 Safety Award Recipients
Trucking & CDL Scholarships - LMTA Foundation
Through all Louisiana Community & Technical College System schools.

This scholarship program is dedicated to students and prospective students interested in a career in Transportation and Logistics. This scholarship is intended to assist students in their pursuit of a high value credential while learning necessary skills to earn employment in the transportation and logistics industry.

Requirements:
  • Applicant must be enrolled or planning to enroll in a Transportation and Logistics program with emphasis on CDL programs.
  • Applicant must be at least 18 years old.
  • Applicant must plan to participated in a minimum eight (8) hour ride along with a trucking company. A ride along is defined as: Eight hours in one day spent as a passenger (observer) with a motor carrier, which is defined as a vehicle used to transport passengers or property for compensation.
  • Applicant must be a prospective student making an application to a LCTCS college.

Deadline to Apply:
  • March 31, 2022

The Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS) Foundation has been working to provide workforce solutions for the LMTA's membership and the trucking industry as a whole. We want anyone in the trucking industry to share this opportunity through your business and even with your local high schools to help us engage the next generation of truckers!


New Online Permit Prep Course - Sponsored by the LMTA Foundation

SOWELA is now offering day and night courses start December 2, 2021 and are free through February 2022. Classes will be held monthly on every second and third Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
Learn about CDL rules and regulations from the experts! Experienced, live instructors are ready to guide you through the CDL Manual.
  • Realistic Practice Tests
  • Firsthand Information on Louisiana Trucking Jobs
  • First 10 Seats Guaranteed for Louisiana Motor Carrier Companies

This program has been sponsored by the Louisiana Trucking Research and Education Council and the LMTA Foundation. For more information, contact Jonnika Boutte at jonnika.boutte@sowela.edu or (337) 421-6987

LCTCS: Commercial Vehicle Operations Professional Development Day 

LCTCS will be hosting a Commercial Vehicle Operations Professional Development Day, January 19, 2022 at SOWELA Technical Community College. We invite all carrier companies to attend from 9:00am -11:30am. Valuable updates and industry information will be shared we feel could assist our members. An agenda of the day's events can be found here.
Louisiana Trucking Research & Education Council (LaTREC) Meeting - Jan 13, 2022 (11:00am)

LaTREC (Louisiana Trucking Research & Education Council) Chairman John Austin has scheduled the first Council meeting of 2022 for Jan. 13, 2022 at 11:00 am.

The agenda, virtual meeting link and call in number can be found on the LMTA Foundation's website. The meetings are open to the public and the Council invites input and comments.
ATA Update: Supreme Court's Oral Argument
 
January 7, 2022 | From our national partners at the American Trucking Associations:
The Supreme Court just wrapped up oral argument in our legal challenge to OSHA’s vaccine-or-test Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) a few minutes ago. It is always hard to predict what a ruling will look like based on oral arguments, but we’re confident that we made strong arguments that will compel the Court to agree with us that OSHA overstepped its authority in promulgating this emergency temporary standard.

With the compliance deadline looming, we hope the Court will hand down a ruling quickly—or quickly enter another administrative stay of the upcoming enforcement deadlines—so that employers are not faced with any more uncertainty than they already are.
OSHA COVID-19 Testing/Vaccination Mandate
From E. Fredrick Preis, Jr
Senior Partner - BREAZEALE, SACHSE & WILSON, L.L.P.

Those employers who are covered by the OSHA Emergency Temporary Standards mandating COVID-19 vaccination or testing which is currently under review by the U.S. Supreme Court should be taking a number of steps towards compliance to be ready if the Court allows the Standards to become effective.
  
First, a policy is necessary. Certain policy provisions will be required while others can be tailored to an employer’s locations, number of employees, culture, and State/Local Laws. (This would include items such as possible payment of the cost of the test, payment for the hours spent in being inoculated or tested, actions to be taken if an employee refuses to comply, use of any paid time off, etc.)
 
Second, employers should be prepared with a procedure to track vaccination and testing.
 
Third, a process should be developed to assess any requests for accommodation due to such exceptions as a sincerely held religious belief or medical disability
 
Fourth, a program should be in place to encourage voluntary vaccination through education, incentives, and easing the process of being inoculated 
 
Finally, an assessment should be done to determine what positions might become vacant and how management will staff those vacancies 
 
Please feel free to reach out to the LMTA for our contact at BSW, LLP if you want to discuss this or need assistance in preparing for possible enforcement of the Standards.
ATA 2022 Events:
February 6-8, 2022 | ATA Executive Committee Meeting
  • Austin, Texas
March 7-9, 2022 | ATA Moving & Storage Conference Annual Meeting
  • Orlando, Florida
March 7-10, 2022 | ATA Technology & Maintenance Council & Exhibition
  • Orlando, Florida
May 14-18, 2022 | ATA Mid-Year Management Session (MYMS),
  • Scottsdale, Arizona
June 6-8, 2022 | ATA National Accounting & Finance Council (NAFC) Annual Conference & Exhibition
  • Austin, Texas
July 10-13, 2022  | ATA Litigation Center’s Trucking Legal Forum
  • Austin, Texas
August 16-19, 2022  | ATA National Truck Driving Championships (NTDC)
  • Indianapolis, Indiana
September 14-16, 2022 | ATA Safety Management Council (SMC) and Transportation Security Council (TSC) Policy Conference
  • Alexandria, Virginia
September 25-29, 2022 | ATA Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) Fall Meeting & National Technician Skills Competition (SuperTech)
  • Cleveland, Ohio
October 22-26, 2022 | ATA Management Conference & Exhibition (MCE)
  • San Diego, California
November 16, 2022 | ATA Wreaths Across America Gala
  • Washington, D.C.
Save the Dates:
2022 Louisiana Truck Driving Championships
March 4 - March 5, 2022
2022 Winter Management Summit
March 23 - March 24, 2022
2022 LMTA Seafood Gala
April 23, 2022
2022 LMTA Annual Convention
July 21 - July 25, 2022
Trucking News:
FOX BUSINESS:
"Senior national correspondent Rich Edson highlights the vaccine mandate debate and what to expect as the Supreme Court gears up to hear oral arguments...."
FREIGHTWAVES:
"Researchers at the New York Federal Reserve have a new way to measure the logistics chaos that’s being partially blamed for consumer price inflation: the Global Supply Chain..." (READ MORE)
TRANSPORT TOPICS:
"An all-volunteer effort is working with educators to help raise awareness of truck driving careers among students. A key goal of the Louisville, Ky.-based initiative, called the Next Generation in ..." (READ MORE)