Originally Posted by Fatboy42

Ok I would like all the drivers who have been "forced" to drive over hours, cheat the log book, drive unsafe equipment or never allowed to return home to post the police report number. If you were forced by threat of violence, injury, extortion or any other unlawful act. Held aginst your will by not being able to leave the truck the shipper / receiver etc. (this is confinement) please let us know. If any of these things really happened a police report should have been made. I am a Police Officer and also drive a truck, have for many years. I have never been called or requested to make a report of any of the above crimes. These are "choices" people make to run legal or not. Go home or not. Trucking is a business much like life and you must make choices legal or other. Stop crying about the choices you make and blame others. Or post the police report numbers and prove you are really mistreated.

Bad tratment of drivers and "getting away" with highway robbery go hand n hand. I have lots of family in Law Enforcement (santa ana p.d.-narcotics, inglewood p.d.-patrol and l.a. county sheriff-patrol) The fact is, that we live in a country in wich Democracy is king, competition is glorified and gov rules. But the trucking industry has been left behind by politicians in washington. All our gov really do is, "enforce" the law-(you know exactly what i mean by this)Just "enforce the law" , keep em in check, and away from any kind of union rep.That way the corporations dictate the treatment and salary the otr driver will be able to earn, while slaving away for pennies.And, we all know that "big time" corporations are just so, so, honest..

These are "choices" only when you are suicidal and then you have a "choice" to work or to starve/freeze etc. I do NOT have control over my "survival instinct", it's called "instinct" because it's NOT a choice you have a mental control over. For suicidal folks miseries of the world and their existence overridden their survival instincts and they have a choice to work or to starve, to obey private or public master, more "stable" individuals don't have that luxury.

"Free" Market Economy 101

a) Bulk of society's resources, land, production capacity is owned by a tiny minority of very deserving folks
b) YOU DO NOT HAVE RIGHT TO EXIST unless you sell your arse to these very deserving individuals and/or corporate entities that represent them


Of course, there is a tiny chance for you to join the "caste" of owners of means but in 99.99% of the cases that involves selling your arse first. You don't have the right to exist and you don't have any other subsistence means people used to have 200 years ago, Indians are killed, land is grabbed, fish is poisoned, everything is licensed, regulated, fenced and policed and so on. There are no other means of subsistence other than selling your arse to the owners of USA LLC.

Selling your arse is a tricky business, people start to torture their kids as early as 2 years old to ensure successful sales, then kids (and grown ups) continuously self-adjust, develop the "right personality", keep their mouth shut (very important), conform in everything to the high corporate standards (extremely important), do what they are told (a must). Sure, you may play straight arrow, by the book kinda guy (if you don't have cash flow problems that is) but it will do you no good because you will undermine marketability of your wage slaving arse beyond the point of sale. Police report number will not pay for your mortgage.

Frankly, I don't recollect a company directly forcing me to do illegal things (shippers did, and they have the law on their side), they couldn't care less if I have 1000 miles/week, if I have 24 hours of home time or 10 hrs, if I drive 1 hour over hours or crawl 10 hours legally in the snow, If I have an extra load for weekend or sit Friday-Monday because I'm so by the book. Truck is hitting revenue targets, that's all they care about, sure they may get upset with me refusing loads and messing up delivery/pickup times, but eventually they would have adjusted miles so that I would have pleeeenty of time to be straight arrow guy. I forced myself to do those things otherwise what's the point? Could I be "less greedy"? I didn't have major financial issues, so yes I could work for even less up to a point where me being a "straight arrow" guy would endanger a revenue per truck.

That's the beauty of wage slavery, it doesn't need external enforcements - YOU are your own JAILER because you want to eat/sleep in a bed etc. To insist that we have "choices" under these conditions is delusional.