A Chat with Lewie Pugh, Executive VP of OOIDA - Owner Operator/Independent Driver Association

Voice Of GO(r)D is proud to present a brief chat with Lewie Pugh, the Executive VP of one of America’s oldest and definitely largest driver advocacy organization in the country. I met up with Lewie at MATS 2025 and invited him on the show, and between all of the work and travel he has been up to, he very graciously squeezed me in. We discuss how he got into trucking, how and why he joined OOIDA, and what OOIDA is, is not, and various issues they are working on.

This was recorded a couple of months ago (I know, I’m so behind on getting these out) and since recording, President Trump signed the Executive Order re-enforcing English Proficiency requirements for CDL drivers in America, which you can read about at this piece I wrote for The American Conservative and you can likewise see Lewie, along with Todd Spencer, OOIDA’s Big Cheese, at an announcement about new enforcement directions with Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, down in Austin, Texas recently.

Also, OOIDA recently released a white paper further debunking the driver shortage narrative, and what do you know, they even quoted my line in it - a system of “stealth corporate welfare disguised as a jobs training program”

https://www.ooida.com/white-paper-request/?result=The%20Churn%20-%20A%20Brief%20Look%20at%20the%20Roots%20of%20High%20Driver%20Turnover%20in%20U.S.%20Trucking&file=22981


Lewie took part in a Barnburner of a debate on the driver shortage narrative a few months ago hosted by our friends at FreightWaves. It ought be noted that Craig Fuller, CEO of FreightWaves, offered a 50 grand donation to a charity of choice to the American Trucking Association for them to show up and debate Lewie, which they declined. SAD!

You can find Lewie on Twitter - https://x.com/Lewie_Pugh

His Bio page at OOIDA - https://www.ooida.com/board/todd-spencer/lewie-pugh-2/

Sign up for a membership at OOIDA - https://www.ooida.com/membership/

Lewie with friend of the show Justin ‘Supertrucker’ Martin

As you know, I’m writing a book on the fate of the North American trucker in 2025, which you can read more about here -

Thanks for listening, and as always, questions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail are welcomed and strongly encouraged - gordilocks@protonmail.com