A move is afoot to mandate that trucking companies pay their drivers for the time they spend on-duty, but not driving.

U.S. Congressman Donald M. Payne (D-N.J.) has agreed to sponsor a bill supported by the truck driver rights organization, the American Reform Association. The Fair Wage Act, as the legislation will likely be called, is expected to cover non-driving tasks truckers have to do every day for their job, such as filling out log books, waiting to load and unload their trucks, fueling up and inspecting their rigs.
Press secretary Kerry McKenney says Payne hopes to introduce the bill next week. She says while no co-sponsors of the legislation have been secured, he hopes to gain them before the legislation is introduced in Congress.
The measure is not the first proposal that would require truck drivers be paid for their non-driving tasks they perform. Other similar proposals have died early on in the legislative process. Currently, about the only truckers that are given such pay are union truck drivers.