I am not a trucker myself but I have two girls who have been driving for three years and I have seen first-hand what these companies can and will do to their drivers. That said, I am curious as to why the men and women who have chosen trucking as a career are not doing more to level the playing field so that drivers cannot be used and abused by their employers. I know fear of losing a job is part of the problem but taking no action against abuses in the industry only serves one purpose and that is to allow companies to continue to abuse their drivers. If you don't want to go head-to-head with a particular company then why not at least address some of the issues that affect everyone. I have worked in the freight industry for several years and have had the opportunity, and pleasure, of meeting many professional drivers and they, in my opinion, are among the finest group of people anyone would ever want to meet. So it is disturbing to me to hear from these people of the abuses that take place in the trucking industry on a daily basis. It only takes one voice to be heard, but when it is backed by a multitude of voices it becomes so powerful their voices have to be heard. I am not a huge proponent of involving government in every aspect of the operation of a trucking company but I do believe it is time for trucking companies to be reined in so they cannot abuse the people who work for them. Anyone else agree?

If you think trucking is bad,,, you should have been a cabbie in NYC in the 80's-90's.

Frankly I think what works is that the good people will ALWAYS find a way sooner or later.

Many of these small truck companies that are going under right now were once pissed off company guys who figured they could do it better. In bad times large corps usually bulldoze smaller companies because of size and momentum alone.

But when the economy turns around there will once again be room in the market for nimble, hungry, eager companies for whom customer service is more than a faded poster in the breakroom.

These things are cyclical, you have to take the long view.

Can anyone tell me how trucking companies are allowed to treat their drivers the way they do and get away with it?

My husband has worked for WE for 4 years now. It has it's good momemts, but when they are bad, they are bad. It seems at least once a year it all goes downhill, This time it started with a truck he got when he came back from vacation. This truck has been in the shop more in the past two months then it has been on the road. Now to the normal person it would seem this would be a maintenance problem, not the drivers fault. He or she is not the one who signed off saying the problem was fixed. Yet when the driver gets about 600 miles away, the truck breaks down again, and he is at fault for not getting his miles.

Usually I will agree that WE has good trucks, but this has been a lemon. Another topic is the loads. The loads especially for one certain customer, are already late. When the driver picks it up, it's already late. The driver will voice this and say I can't make that. The dispatcher will say take it, just run with it, you have to make it, do what you gotta do, oh yeah and we are forced dispatch. The dispatcher doesn't care. They don't care that this driver is someone's husband, daddy, son. The life of the driver means nothing to this company. They are just another warm body in the seat.

I have for sometime told my husband, oh it will get better, this will pass. Now looking back I feel terrible begging him to stay at a company who has no more respect for the driver than WE seems to have.

Maybe one day WE along with other companies will learn that the driver, is who earns there pay and keeps them in a job.

I so agree with you TruckNGal. The way these companies treat people is horrible. Someone needs to do something to make sure this is stopped. The companies should not be allowed to make these drivers run illegal, put loads on them that no person could ever make. And they are job scared, they know that the company holds the DAC over them, and they can, that's like the permanent record in school, they would scare us with that. Someone needs to step in and if it has to be the goverment then it needs to be. I am not a fan of goverment getting involved in everything, but this is not getting better.

I understand that it would be very difficult to truly organize truck drivers across the country to take action against companies that heap abuses on drivers. We all know they are spread all over the country, working different schedules, and sleeping when much of the population is awake. Maybe it isn't the drivers who need to unite but their families, afterall they are making huge sacrifices too. Maybe we need to concentrate on making contact with each driver family across the country and asking the families for help in getting the drivers stories told. I believe the public needs to be educated on the unfair labor practices of these companies, and of the safety issues that evolve because of them. I am more than willing to contact every newspaper across the country and ask them to participate in publishing a series of public awareness articles about the trucking industry. If families across the country would unite and agree to help by visiting truck stops in their vicinity to circulate petitions for drivers to sign so they can be sent to their local state representatives as well as to members of Congress maybe some change would actually take place. One of the changes that I would like to see if that drivers be reclassified as SKILLED labor. We all know that it takes more than being able to jam gears and run full throttle to be a safe and efficient driver. Not every driver out there will join an organization to better their cause but they probably will sign a petition.

As a driver I see another problem beyond mere logistics. Drivers are either "company drivers" who can't think for themselves or are fiercely independant. That is a bad mixture if you want to see change. I'm not saying it's impossible, but the combination of independance and logistics would make it very difficult. What it would take is a strong leader who could come up with about three or four issues that most drivers could rally around. It wouldn't take all the drivers to make huge changes. At it's peak only about thirty percent of the American workforce was union.

I agree 100% but instead of coming together to many drivers or should i say brown nosers would rather keep taking the #### for the last few weeks ive been emailing different organizations to c what i can do to form some sort of rally for us truckers.Cause until we get some1 truly looking out for us and start holding trucking companies accountable for what is being done to us change will never come.

Have you seen the news that the ata wants to raise weight limits to 92000#? They claim that adding an axle and weights will make the roads safer. What kind of idiotic logic is that? Bottom line the companies are sticking together, it's too bad the drivers can't. Most of us just look for a way to get out of the business.

Too many steering wheel holders need to grow up. Not only do they spend their entire day playing "mother may I?" You better watch your back because they are tattletales. One of the most important lessons I learned in college was "Be sure your sin will find you out, but it won't be me telling on you."

I agree that several issues that everyone can relate to need to be identified and action sought on those issues in order to begin a process of communicating and working with agencies who can help drivers achieve their goals.

One issue that I believe everyone will agree with is DAC. This is a consumer reporting agency that does more harm than good to professional drivers, and other individuals involved in safety sensitive transportation areas as well. I do not believe a consumer reporting agency should have the right to place information on a persons record without that person being notified and given the opportunity to confirm or refute the accuracy of the information BEFORE it becomes part of the persons record. Requesting a rebuttal form be added to a record is not sufficient. All this does is put a document in place that becomes a "my word against theirs" entry. If erroneous information is being reported to DAC and the driver identifies the information as false then the company attempting to put the information in the record should have to provide proof that what they are reporting is indeed true. If they are reporting it they should be able to provide proof of it.

Another issue that I have witnessed is the practice of companies terminating a driver on the road and leaving them stranded with no way to remove their belongings from their truck and transport their belongings and themselves to a safe haven while making arrangements to get back home. While I don't believe it is the responsibility of the company to get a driver home I do believe they have a responsibility to ensure the safety of that driver throughout the termination process and that includes ensuring the driver and their belongings have reached a safe haven. Companies should only be allowed to terminate a driver at the drivers home domicile. The only exception to this rule would be if a law enforcement agency has identified a situation where it would be an issue of public safety to allow a driver to remain in a vehicle and the driver is being terminated and removed from the vehicle for that reason. Even in this situation I think the company has a responsibility to assist this driver in reaching safety, and not abandoning them on the road. We all know a trucking company can run a driver through their home domicile anytime they wish so it should not be difficult for a trucking company to pay a driver this simple courtesy and show them the respect they deserve during a difficult time.

These are issues I think most drivers can agree on. I'm sure there are others as well and I would like to hear about them. As I stated in my introduction I am not a driver myself but I have a great deal of respect for the men and women who have chosen to be professional drivers. I believe they need a voice and I am certainly willing to do anything I can to help them be heard. Action speaks louder than words and truckers across the country need to participate in lobbying for better working conditions, fair pay practices, and a right to privacy. Let me hear what you think...

Preacher Man, I agree with you that a strong leader is needed to make things happen. I don't know enough about the different driver organizations to know where the strength lies but surely there is someone out there that drivers respect and would not be afraid to rally around and get the wheels turning. Company driver or fierce independent doesn't matter...this industry needs help.