Updates for Truckers shutdown

[pt trucks]

I may be one of the o/o you speak of. however, I am contracted to a company that is paying a fuel surcharge with no limit. It goes up and down as everyone elses does or does not. my bottom line is still the same as it was last year. I pull food for a major chain. The food needs to get to the stores. My take home is the same. However, I dont get raises. tires, repairs, rent, etc. hits me too. my costs to survive have tripled.18 a week take home is not what it used to be... once again.. if any of our owner ops dont show.. contract shredded....sorry, I would love too. but cant.

[BooBooMaker]

I shutdown everytime the "worldwide federation of truckers" tells me to over the CB. Not that I believe it will do anything. I'm just trying to support those I see as "poorly led & misguided in their efforts" from doing something that might get them hurt.
If striking was going to do anything it would at least be showing a little bit by now. Don't you think?

The truth about strikes failure is not a lack of particpation but a complete understanding by politicians and business chiefs. Its time to try something else. If you're smart enough to have survived in this business this long you're smart enough to know this. To the general public its become a news nusiance. The news media gets a lot more mileage from stories about how we've done wrong than how we've been done wrong.

Just a thought. If they can put kiosk in truckstops to sell Idle.., stop the cop insurance, and so forth why not one to register truckers to vote. Part of that registration needs to b a request for an absentee ballot. You don't even have to shut down to do it. [The powers that b know that that is one of the biggest hold backs for unity] Someones got to b smart enough to organize this. Get the registering rules and lists/location addresses togther. Maybe a little help from the staffs at all these membership organizations that want our dues. And how 'bout all these "Trucking talk shows" that claim to b for truckers and trucking. [now if you want to see change try boycotting these people and their sponsers] Just a thought.

I bet if you compare the number of drivers who don't participate in strikes and who don't vote it will be comparable. We keep trying the strike thing "an it ain't working". Lets try something else.

[yeller]

Ok while out this week I heard of some cities where truck's just set the brakes and turned on the fourways where they sat. Is this true? I heard they did this over lbor day Monday @12:01 and sat until tuesday some time. I heard tis over the cband was wondering if anybody else heard this.

[didntitellu]

Personally I didnt see a single truck sitting beyond the normal waiting for a load. I was coming out of Sumner Wa, ready to shut down, but no one had any clue what I was talking about. Seemed business as usual.

[knighton5]

I didnt see anyone or hear anyone sitting (for a strike).

[Southern Belle]

There was a reason that the April 1st strike fizzled.. The truckers were primed and ready for a strike.. The media was all over it all over the country.. Many, many drivers did strike, but they sat home on strike..many drivers were sitting on the sidelines waiting to see how huge this thing would become before they joined in..While drivers sat home on strike, no one knew they were striking..the news had nothing to report.. (everyone should had made plans to meet somewhere with picket signs and called their local media) and the drivers sitting on the sidelines saw that nothing major was happening and so it wasent' going to grow at that point.. I think it was a "Great" opportunity missed.. and I will always believe it could have been "Huge" if more people would have gotten out in the media.. I know we made that mistake.. We shut down my hubby's company on that day but we sate home and the media reported that evening that there was no strike here..

[kittykat]

at the time we first tried to do this it was not org. Some States heard nothing. Then it was different dates times places.
By the 2nd and third time most Indep. were pretty much broke, parked, and tired of hearing about it.
alot of confusion with everyone calling it a strike, when in reality it would have been a shutdown.If we could have drawn in the smaller or larger companies or union's we would have had a better chance.
In the mean time what happened was a small turn out and loss of pay, with know positive outcome.

[old-six-pack]

NOW HERE"S THE TRUTH!!!!!!!!!! any , I SAY ANY trucker who can't stop their truck for a couple of weeks , doesn't need a truck.. it's just that plain and simple!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! if you're that broke,,, just GIVE IT UP !!!!!!

[middlefinger]

all that would have to be done is for truckers all to say hey we want this or we will vote all of you out.then the next election when it hasn't been done vote all the incumbents out.after a couple of elections of doing that they would get right and listen.unfortunatly to many drivers want to cry but aren't willing to do anything but cry.some of us can't afford to shutdown.if a strike is really what you want then instead of shutting down decide on a few major cities and boycott each city for 2 weeks at a time.after a couple of cities they would listen to us.

[middlefinger]

it isn't a matter of the money but more a matter of the contracts that would be lost.without the contracts you have no job and if you strike them you break the contract to haul for them they find someone who will.there is better ways to do it than risk losing your bread and butter.beating your chest and crying won't accomplish jack.