Why a strike? The CSA 2010 will cripple trucking.

The current way that they are delaying the regulation changes is just making it worse in my opinion and punishing the o/o and companies that are not cutting corners. The DOT, shippers and public wants to have it both ways. They want safe, highly, regulated drivers and they are putting in rules to make that happen with CSA 2010. The problem is that by making a good faith effort and subscibing to following those rules and using technology like elogs you lose to the companies that are saving money still cutting corners while regulations are not in full effect. That is not addressing the fact that intrastate trucks are regulated under OSHA not the FMSCA. This is why I say if they want a regulated industry they need to regulate both sides and accept the higher costs. I don't see anyway they are doing that.

They could give tax breaks or subsidies to offset the higher costs of shipping with companies that are in the "satisfactory" level of the CSA ratings but there is no guarantee that that money would make it drivers or owners without stipulating that. They could give fuel tax breaks for o/o. Or they could not allow below satisfactory companies to be insured but there is nothing like that in the CSA. So, by having elogs and following the rules, and preparing for thier changes I am paying a financial penalty. This is all stick and no carrot and people who have a choice will not stand for it and people who cannot follow the rules will be put out. Wages will go up but in the meantime it basically targets and financially punishes the very people that are safe operators that are working with the DOT in the process of weeding out the problems.

IN some ways people are already striking against the regulations by simply not preparing for them and ignoring them and risking a kind of reverse lottery in the event of an accident, especially with the courts ability to match logs with GPS. This has led to them continually delaying implementation of CSA 2010 since the country could not take the hit if they suddenly one day enforced the rules. The problem with that is that the people who did believe them on thier projected dates and prepared are now being punished. How much longer do I make less money running legal with elogs while they push enforcement of it back and back?

There should be a mechanism to regulate higher rates for higher compliance companies if they are going to even start to mess with the supposed "free market"

 

I was with you right up to the point you said wages will go up! Nothing the government has ever done or will ever do will raise wages for truck drivers!
Until we are covered under the Fair Labor Standard Act, we will get screwed again and again.

 

The wages will go up is what I keep hearing but I was thinking from a O/O point of view so not so much wages but rates. I couldn't agree more about the Fair Labor Standard Act. Or at least have an hourly wage componant to pay as they do in Europe.

 

I hope you're right!
Well i'm not gonna hold my breath, waiting for help from government Because i would probably turn blue and die.

 

The government is in charge of just about everything, owns over 60 percent of the car manufacturing, aig, the banks, now health care, and trucking and farming too? God help us all.

 

The goverment has depressed wages for trucking for years by allowing drivers to legally be paid less than minimum wage. The milage pay fiasco is a tragedy too. If a company has 1000+ employees and they can spread the cost across over a thousand trucks and then also pay less than minimum wage how is the goverment not responsible for the money I lose.

THis is a case of unfair regulation for the large corporation's benefit. The way that the goverment justifies it is by saying the savings are passed onto the consumer. The only problem here is that the consumers companies, drivers, consumers don't seem to get that safety, lower insurance rates and low frieght is explicitly encouraged and by actively allowing low pay that is unacceptable in almost every other industry. Believe me if trucking companies were required to pay what every other employer is required to pay I as an owner operator would certainly be doing better as an owner operator. The goverment essentially gave a free pass on labor laws to corporate drivers. Because of this I think that the idea that they are going to regulate drivers so much while still maintaining policies to purposely depress wages needs to be acknowledged and addressed. The american consumer, driver and insurance industry is going to have to pony up for thier expectations of safety. It should be a level playing field so that I am not getting underbid by the goverment working against me.

Because the companies have layed down, and there is no representation to fight back the only choice if you have a choice is to get out til these problems are addressed.

 

I see your worries but there is alot of inaccurate information going around right now. You may find this article interesting
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics...hat-the-government-owns-general-motors/18555/

or this one
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2009/06/what-socialism-looks-like/18675/

The fact is that the 60% number is just about how much of GM the goverment has. For the rest of the economy 99.79% of the American corporate assets that existed at the start of the Obama administration remains in private hands.

I think people missed the fact that the reason for the bailouts was so that the goverment did NOT take control of those industries. It was felt that it was better to loan the money than nationalize the industries. When they wanted to regulate the amount that executive got then all of a sudden teh banks started paying back.

Now if we could just keep these companies from bribing every gdamned congressman

 

It wont be trucking that causes this to happen.The government printing money left and right will do that and do it very soon!

Still its said to see that this is the end result of all the years of truckers looking the other way and not giving a #### about any one but them selves. Driver's much like the people of this nation have put there own necks in the noose and they have no one else to blame but them selves!!!!!

........And to those of you that have not got it yet,it's way to late to do anything about it now.........
WE ARE ALL SCREWED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Give me a break!!!! Truckers have done nothing but serve the people of this country at great sacrifice!!! Printing the money is going to cause the inflation, Read your history Carolina Thunder it might do you a world of good!!!

 

Truckers have done nothing but roll over every time the powers that be put more rules and regs on them. $10.000 fines for one little log book mistake,split speed limits,stupid ### log book changes,cant idle your truck to stay warm but you can if you leave your dog inside the truck,$5.00 a gallon fuel,the same rates that were paid in the 70's on and on and yet truckers do nothing!

And you had better do a little reading of your own to seed what excessive printing of money does to a nations economy. I guess you did not hear about the $50 billion dollar note issued in Zimbabwe,that's just enough to by 2 loafs of bread. that is caused hyperinflation and that is caused by the devaluation of there currency. That happens when Nation prints more money than they have the collateral to back up.........just as the U.S has been doing for over a year!

Here maybe you could use a little history lesson.

Does this sound familiar?