Truckers and Citizens United to Hold Massive Convoy

[Cybergal]

Truckers and Citizens United to Hold Massive Convoy On Capitol Hill; Ask Congress & Pres. Bush to Address Gas Prices
9/22/08

Washington:

Truckers and Citizens United (TACU), a nationwide organization that represents the interests of thousands of professional drivers and trucking employees, is gearing up for a massive convoy around Capitol Hill on Tuesday, September 23rd, to ask Congress and President George W. Bush to back energy legislation that would make gas prices more affordable. For months, the volatile shifts in gas prices have led to higher prices for local business operators, including truckers, and consequently almost every type of consumer good they transport.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/stor...D%7D&dist=hppr

[RickG]

And what do they expect Bush and Congress to do ? They have nothing to say about the price of a barrel of oil . All they can do is lower taxes but that's robbing Peter to pay Paul and the result will be more toll roads to get the money to maintain roads.
I read non-trucking forums after the other convoys and people wanted to know if fuel costs hurt truckers so much why are the driving to D.C. in big rigs tying up traffic and causing problems for other people ?

[gearjammer-2000]

actually I was at the rally this spring and can tell you from personal experience that the "people" were lined up applauding the truckers willing to make a stand, in fact a lot of the overpasses going into D.C. had cars parked on them stopping traffic and people lining the rail giving us thumbs up and clapping.

the walk to the capitol had people coming up tp the truckers shaking our hands,[I had a police officer shake mine, and an old lady make the comment "thank god someone is trying to do something"}

will I be at this one? unfortunately I will not as I seen that todays truckers are sheeple,willing to be led to the slaughter without putting up any resistance, and therefor while it is admirable that there is a group willing to try, I am going to wait until I see that enough sheeple finally get enough backbone to effect the change needed in this industry,then once again I will spend my hard earned money standing with the ones with the guts to be heard,of course it is possible that that kind of guts has been permanently lost in this industry and sheeple are willing to take it where the sun don't shine without at least begging for some Vaseline, but I still have hope that the willingness to fight for what is right is just in a coma in trucking and not dead, either that of I will spend it on a nice vacation and find career where the people ARE willing to fight for fairness in the way they are treated.

[RickG]

Originally Posted by gearjammer-2000

actually I was at the rally this spring and can tell you from personal experience that the "people" were lined up applauding the truckers willing to make a stand, in fact a lot of the overpasses going into D.C. had cars parked on them stopping traffic and people lining the rail giving us thumbs up and clapping.

the walk to the capitol had people coming up tp the truckers shaking our hands,[I had a police officer shake mine, and an old lady make the comment "thank god someone is trying to do something"}

will I be at this one? unfortunately I will not as I seen that todays truckers are sheeple,willing to be led to the slaughter without putting up any resistance, and therefor while it is admirable that there is a group willing to try, I am going to wait until I see that enough sheeple finally get enough backbone to effect the change needed in this industry,then once again I will spend my hard earned money standing with the ones with the guts to be heard,of course it is possible that that kind of guts has been permanently lost in this industry and sheeple are willing to take it where the sun don't shine without at least begging for some Vaseline, but I still have hope that the willingness to fight for what is right is just in a coma in trucking and not dead, either that of I will spend it on a nice vacation and find career where the people ARE willing to fight for fairness in the way they are treated.

So you go to the capitol and make a stand . I'm still waiting to hear what you expect politicians to do to be effective .

[kittykat]

Has anyone heard anything yet?

[Cybergal]

Originally Posted by kittykat

Has anyone heard anything yet?

Here is an uptodate article...............


http://www.nbc4.com/traffic/17535756/detail.html

[Cybergal]

Few truckers, but noisy protest over fuel prices
9/23/08

WASHINGTON -
Blame it on the high cost of fuel: More than 200 truckers were expected, but fewer than 20 drove their big rigs up to Capitol Hill for a horn-honking rally Tuesday to protest against soaring prices at the pump.
Organizers said expensive travel costs were the reason for low turnout, even if truckers are fuming about paying nearly double what they used to pay in recent years to fill up their rigs.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/...ap5460836.html

[gearjammer-2000]

Originally Posted by RickG

So you go to the capitol and make a stand . I'm still waiting to hear what you expect politicians to do to be effective .

that ones easy,-----THEIR JOBS!!!!

there is so much more than the price of oil that is wrong in this industry and if the idiots in D.C. were to actually do more than play with themselves this industry could be the great career it once was,but it is going to take a lot of prodding by the truckers to get them to do what needs to be done and as today has shown 20 trucks out of the what 3 million on the road taking an interest, just goes to show how beaten down the American trucker really is

[JoannH]

I've been along for the convoy to Harrisburg, PA, the first convoy to DC and Albany, NY. Unfortunately, I was not able to go along for this one as well. But it doesn't mean I can't still help. They need our help more now than ever so they're not written off as just 20 truckers.

During the first convoy to DC, we shut down the capitol switchboard for 5 hours with calls from concerned truckers AND citizens. I think that's a huge reason they were able to schedule 2 full days of appointments before they even arrived this time.

If you want to see positive change, call the capitol switchboard. Just tell them your state and zip code and they'll get you through to your Senators and Representative. If we don't get these people afraid for their jobs, they're going to continue with "buisness as usual".

Capitol switchboard - (202) 224-3121

Call that number everytime you think of it. Just filled up? Call and complain. Waiting for a live load? Call and complain. Working up your shrinking bottom line? Call and complain. Email everyone you know and ask them to pass it along as well. This is far from a trucker-only issue. Fuel drives the price of everything we buy. Make sure everyone you know understands that all of the products they buy were delivered by a truck and the ever increasing prices are coming right out of the fuel pump.

Right now Capitol Hill is obsessed with the "bail out". They don't seem to understand that when people are trying to figure out how to pay for both fuel and food, mortgages come lower on the list. They don't see that as Wall Street runs out of other profitable investments, they're moving back into oil driving the price higher again. Did you guys see the record jump on price per barrel Monday when this crap hit the fan?

Politicians are extremely short sighted. We all have to explain this to them over and over til it sinks in and they start to give a crap.

[JoannH]

Originally Posted by RickG

And what do they expect Bush and Congress to do ? They have nothing to say about the price of a barrel of oil . All they can do is lower taxes but that's robbing Peter to pay Paul and the result will be more toll roads to get the money to maintain roads.
I read non-trucking forums after the other convoys and people wanted to know if fuel costs hurt truckers so much why are the driving to D.C. in big rigs tying up traffic and causing problems for other people ?

RickG, sorry it took me so long to answer your question. It's been a busy few days.

Any issue this huge with these many people involved is rarely just about one thing, but the biggest issue here is Wall Street. There is too much speculation on oil. To oversimplify, they buy a piece of paper that says they own an amount of oil. They sell it for a profit. Most likely the person that buys it sells it again for a profit. These people never have to take delivery (no storage or delivery costs) and usually only pay 10% of the worth. Before the oil is actually bought by the person that's going to get it to the pumps, it's been through so many other hands,the price is over inflated (over twice the price that it actually costs to pump the oil, get it into a barrel and ship it). With today's economy, it's the safest investment around with almost guaranteed profits.

There are bills before congress right now to fix a lot of this. A few are absolutely determined to block them. Noone else is afraid enough for their jobs to fight hard enough. We need to make them afraid.

There are other issues as well. Seeing what the brokers make off of the truckers, making sure the fuel surcharge actually gets to the person paying for the fuel, opening up drilling, and building refineries are also all being worked on.

These are all issues that congress needs to address for us to get anything done.

Nancy Pelosi does not want any of this to happen. She actually called an extra vacation and kicked congress out so they would not be able to vote on some of the bills before congress. I am not exaggerating. She turned the microphones off, turned out the lights and kicked everyone out. As the Senate Majority leader, she has the power to do this and has shown she'll go to any lengths to get her own way. We have got to remind these people that they're supposed to be protecting the people they are representing and if they can't or won't do that, we'll have to find people that will.

And yes, everyone loves to point out the irony that it's costing fuel for these protests. Remember the "shut downs" around April? If you do, you probably remember lots of noise calling for them and little else. There actually were a lot of truckers shutting down, but you didn't really notice it. There were a few more loads on the boards, but the shut down trucks were in truck stops or parked at home. Not a site that's going to draw attention.

But when we lined up a couple of miles of trucks and went through a city blaring our horns, it sure as heck got attention. It's also a heck of a fun time

Also keep in mind that these truckers realize how desperate this is. They're willing to put lots of good money into this. I think that says a lot.