Attention all company drivers!!!

Trucking is A profession still predicated upon A 14 hour + day. You are paid for what you achieve, A delivery/pickup completed. It can be no other way. If drivers were paid by the hour how do you think it may impact the flow of goods in this country ? I drove A semi-dump part time, in with A group of hourly, union drivers. Lotsa' napping , coffee stops etc. . The money was the same, moving or not. So the pay for successful completion of A dispatch is the only way to make it work. Strikes ? I witnessed some of that in 1970. Some Teamsters were on strike , some didn't participate. Trucking was being de-regulated , owner operators were growing in numbers. I worked on Harvard Ave. in Cleveland , within sight of the overpass on I- 77. There were National Guard soldiers posted there, with M14 rifles , to stop strikers from dropping chunks of concrete on trucks not participating in the national shut-down. Truckers exhibit A loyalty , solidarity with one another seldom seen in other professions. They are quick to lend A hand , refer to one another as " driver " which makes me feel proud , and I return the respect. Striking though is something you don't want to witness. The outcome never justifies the many forms of damage resulting from the action. The income lost , especially in today's economy , could never be recouped. Despite the comraderie , there will be those that for various reasons cannot, will not participate. It is what it is, and is injured and bleeds the same as other facets of an economy in A depression do. There is no downward escalator. What we learn from experience depends upon the kind of philosophy we bring to the experience. We are what we think we are. Set your limitations and they will be yours. I like Henry Ford's admonition to workers ; " if you think you can , or if you think you can't , you are right !

 

Truck drivers are so nice. They are always worried about everyone else. "we can't make much money because prices will go up!"
I don't hear the $200,000+ delta pilots worrying about that stuff. I don't hear the oil companies complaining of their multibillion profits.
Doubt anyone in politics cares about stealing our money. I hear Fema complaining about taking tax payers money to the strip club every night during these natural disasters.
Truckers are glad they have to drive for .38 cents a mile from down yonder to out yonder and then sit in line for 6 hours and go back to the truck stop and wait for the Qualcomm to beep only to find out the load picks up tomorrow night and goes in the opposite direction of home. At least they don't pay him much so the grocery bill doesn't go up.

 

What you say is quite typical in the day of a trucker's life. All the problems in the trucking industry; low pay, waiting on loads, HOS clampdown, continual laws dictating drivers' actions, disregard for hometime, being treated like a slave by shippers and receivers, being threatened by termination, false reports on driving records and so on can only be solved, or partially solved by a united workforce. Maybe some driver somewhere has the ability to promulagte a national driver union. It seems this would be the only solution to stand up to the feds, trucking companies and shippers and receivers. Alone, one can do little to nothing.

Most drivers today were probably not even around or too young to remember the trucker strike around 1973. It lasted about a week I believe. I was working in a food factory in Pennsylvania just out of high school. Anyhow, it only took 3 days for the plant to cut back and almost stop production. Someone out there can do this I am sure. Many of today's trucking issues might be solved if a nation of drivers would strike and the country came to a standstill. It would only take local fuel tankers to intiate a strike and the rest would have no choice. However, putting it on the table has to have solid leadership, legal approaches and the channels to follow it through. Any haphazard strike would accomplish little except for media coverage.

 

lmao...uh oh..oops

 

Saw an invistagative report on TV about a truck driver who could not read english plowed through a warning sign and killed some people. Turns out the state where he got his license from took very big campaign contributions from the trucking industries. With all the rules regulations and safty concerns you would think these drivers could take the time to learn the language, or least not be permitted to drive. When I got my first CDL I went to a college in Orlando Fl ,Now bankrupt, and at least half the class could barley speak english let alone read or write it yet somehow they managed to get through the written exams? The point being an industry that does not even require a high school diploma and barely language skills of its drivers is really just hiring what they use to call Scabs. My father was teamster and big supporter of Jimmy Hoffa. and we all know what he did for truckers and what they did to him.

 

Why don't one of you guys lead us to the promised land I am with ya i will take blows with you guys I am so sick and tired of the disrespect of the shippers and recievers it can be done but everyone needs to know about it andsomehow you have to get the word out if you can get 90% of the trucks to stop moving just 1 day see what that does to the country start off with a national trucker day no trucks move for 24 hrs and if that dont help go for 2 then 3 spacem out at times that noone knows about other than truckers it can be done without violence just gotta get the point across in a fashion without having to really injure people gotta hitem where it hurts and thats there wallet

 

Pretty snappy quote coming from someone that literally worked his employees to death for little or no pay. and would have continued had not the employees revolted. The idea being compines need to treat there employees with respect if they don't have to they wont!

 

Hmmm i wonder who would be silly enough to post personal information about names and details i thought all truck drivers were intelligent

 

Sir, you have me at A disadvantage. I have never had any employees to work to death. I am an owner operator , 1 tractor , and A company driver currently; the tractor is parked , not enough business to put it on the road. You have me confused with someone else.

 

God lord sir I was not talking about you! I was talking about Henry Ford. If you get a chance watch "the men who built America" on the history channel I think.