Some truckers say the industry’s restart in Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina is being stifled because truckers are taking temporary, higher-paying jobs offered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency instead of returning to their old employers.
Instead of hauling their usual loads, many truckers are being paid by FEMA to haul waste and debris out of New Orleans and to haul recovery supplies back into the city.
Camille Carnaggio owns Belmont Lumber, about 35 miles outside New Orleans, and his son, Eric Carnaggio, hauls for him. Both have heard of truckers being paid triple and double by FEMA to haul into the Big Easy.
“You can haul a roof out of Texas that is bound for Louisiana, and that is normally about $550 a load, and from what we understand is that FEMA is paying them $1,500 a load,” the elder Carnaggio said. “Our suppliers tell us this.”
Truckers are working for the government because the pay “is higher than the jobs these drivers had for local motor carriers,” said Curtis Whalen, executive director of the American Trucking Associations’ Intermodal Motor Carriers Conference.
“And they are giving them free fuel,” Whalen added. “It seems to be an unfortunate policy difference, where drivers are in short supply, and they aren’t going back to their jobs. They are going back to FEMA.”
Many local hauling companies could deal with the pay increase alone, Whalen said. The offer of free fuel, however, is one that local companies can’t match and that truckers can’t pass up, he said.
