The Chairman's Corner

By Thomas McCarthy

November 2019

I come to you once again from somewhere high above California; I am on my way home from the Northern Chapter meetings. It was a whirlwind trip from the Napa area, down into San Francisco, then finally over to Sacramento. This has been a great opportunity for CMSA members to come together to discuss current events facing all of us. All three meetings were well attended, and I think we had great dialogue. Everyone has many questions about AB5 and of course Outsourcing by the military, so having this opportunity to engage with one another is so important.

At my first meeting in the North Bay, it looked like I had everyone hanging on every word I said. They seemed to be intently focused and almost cheering for me at random times. Turns out the World Series was on the TV behind me, but for a minute I thought, dang I am good. Seriously though, the game was on behind me and the group did a great job keeping up with both.

This has been a crazy month for me so far as I have been traveling a lot; last weekend was spent in Rancho Mirage at the Omni Rancho Las Palmas resort for our Fall Board Meeting. This will be the location of our 2021 convention following our 2020 Kauai convention. The resort is right on a golf course and has a pool with a lazy river, water slides and pool bars so it should be a good time.

We had a lot of issues to discuss, but the predominant topic was AB5. A bill in my opinion designed to go after Lyft and Uber, but in the end snagged so many more. While we have been fighting for any kind of carve out for our industry, those that have been voted into office seem to have little opinion for movers. If you are a realtor or hairdresser, well hey no sweat, but if you are a moving company or a driver for Lyft or Uber, California is coming for you.

In case you didn't know, I am not an attorney so these are just my opinions, but it seems like California really wants to do away with the IC model unless they can be a standalone business with employees and everything that goes with it. In our industry, we need to get trucks, have our own location, set up a website, have employees, you know the list. The question is, will the current ICs want to go through all that trouble. Will it be time for them to make a change? Then what about the owner operators that haul tonnage for your Van Lines? What is in store for them?

I would say that out of all the strife we are working through, the ray of sunshine is getting to spend time with our Association President, our CMSA Board of Directors, as well as our CMSA members out at chapter meetings. I get the opportunity to work through these challenges with everyone. As an industry, we must continually adapt and evolve; and once again, this is our time to rise up and figure this out!

In November, I hit three more chapters and will have only two more chapters left to go. As we work through our month and start planning our Thanksgiving holiday, I am thankful to all of those that have opened their homes and businesses to welcome me in my travels, and I am so grateful for my wife and my kids who make home such a great place to miss. I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving.

November 2019 - CMSA Communicator