Got a Spare $15K?

**TRUCKS AND BREAKS… **Nigel Maclaurin had some concerns, so he wrote to us…

Hi Everyone,

As some of you will know, the logbook rules for truck drivers have recently changed. I feel it necessary to voice my concerns to all of our truck drivers in the film industry regarding the new Half-hour Break Rule.

As the rule states: ‘Drivers are required to have a break of not less than 30 minutes every five and a half hours of work time.’

As truck drivers are on the clock from when they first get into their trucks (as the law states), their day starts prior to crew call. (See Blue Book clauses 12-1 and 17-1.)

Mornings are usually okay, as breaks are normally taken within 5 hours of crew call. But often truck drivers are required to leave their respective lock-ups more than 30 minutes prior to crew call, thus taking them over the 5.5 hour limit – and if lunch is delayed, then they are definitely in breach of these laws.

Afternoons are a different situation, as we all know. Our next official break is wrap (for most TVC jobs, around 7 hours minimum after lunch), or at the very best a late meal break, if provided. So this means that unless we actually get those breaks on time, by some miracle (Yeah, Right!), truck drivers are required to lie in their logbooks to comply with the new rules/law.

Everything is fine – until a serious accident happens – or Until the police make a thorough investigation, and sooner or later they will. If a death is involved, and they find out that breaks were not taken at correct times… then it is possible that a manslaughter charge may result.

And all from a little white logbook lie…

Points To Note:

• Work time means paid employment.
• On commercials, we are paid for the entire day. This could present a problem in regards to paid or unpaid breaks.
• Dramas tend to employ swing drivers to shift entire units.
• The old rule book was much the same; just nobody did anything about it!

In my view, this problem could probably be resolved by creating new rules for jobs such as ours, where we are not driving all day and every day, rather than putting the onus on producers to comply with the half-hour break rule. The latter just won’t happen – for lots of reasons – i.e. budget, Budget, and BUDGET!

The schedule our industry runs on, as you all know well, does not factor in half-hour breaks for individuals. Nor will younger crew members (nor in fact 99.9% of other crew members!) have the balls to stand up to a producer and say, “Sorry, Dude, I won’t be working for the next 30 minutes. You’ll have to get someone else.” So we need to take it further than this letter, until the situation changes.

Let’s not have a situation where a camera assistant dies by crashing his vehicle after falling asleep at the wheel on the way home from set. (See the Haskell Wexler stories in NZTECHO, March and May 2006.)

If you’re up for manslaughter, it’s jail time. Or we could make a change to eliminate this conflict between our common practice and the law. I know which I’d prefer.

Have a safe day out there,

Nigel Maclaurin.