Since 2017, we have partnered with Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT), a national organization leading the fight against human sex trafficking through extensive partnerships with the trucking industry. In fact, at Saia, we respect fundamental human rights and support global efforts to protect them. Child labor, human trafficking or other illegal, abusive or forced labor practices have no place within our operations or our supply chains, anywhere in the world.

Each year, TAT trains thousands of truckers, rest stop employees, and law enforcement officials on how to both recognize trafficking and to intervene by safely calling to alert law enforcement who quickly respond. This approach has resulted in a significant increase in the number of reports of human trafficking, arrests, prosecutions, and, most importantly, recovery of victims.

Sex trafficking occurs any time there is a commercial sex act that is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or the person engaged in the act is under the age of 18. Sadly, sex trafficking is a serious and growing problem in the United States. The issue of human trafficking is one that obviously hits close to home in our industry. Victims of this crime are often hidden in plain sight at places our drivers frequent daily, including rest stops and truck stops.  

This is why we recognize the unique opportunity we have to partner with TAT and their 1000s of members in the fight against this heinous crime. We know we are the eyes and ears of our nation's highways and are in a unique position to make a difference and close loopholes to traffickers who seek to exploit our transportation system for their personal gain.

To that end, we offer training to our drivers that is designed to educate, empower and mobilize our employees to combat human trafficking as part of their daily routine. Training is provided during orientation for all new hires while refresher training is conducted annually during the month of February.

The training consists of videos provided by TAT along with internal training documents maintained by Saia. Trained employees receive a certificate of completion, along with a wallet card containing hotline numbers and common signs of trafficking. All training records, copies of the certificates and additional wallet cards are kept on file at Saia’s corporate office.

We also provide a dedicated hotline, 1-877-540-5063, for employees, suppliers and partners to report potential concerns regarding human rights violations.

Saia is committed to being a positive member of the communities in which we operate and our employees work and live. Our partnership with TAT is one more tangible realization of our core values and the principles they champion.