Trucker strike in the media

ORLANDO, Fla. -- With the price of diesel fuel topping $4 a gallon, there is a lot of grumbling at truck stops all over Florida of a threatened strike.
At the truck stop on South Orange Blossom Trial, lots of semis are parked.
Truck drivers who own their own rigs said the sky-high prices for diesel are close to putting them out of business.


"Things don't change. I've got to change jobs because I can't make it on what I'm getting," truck driver Jonathan Baker said.
Cliff McWhorter of New Jersey has had his semi parked at the truck stop for a week.
He said companies with goods to ship and the middle-men who connect them with truckers are not willing to pay the truckers any extra -- despite the rising cost of fuel. He said it has gotten to the point where he can't afford to take most jobs.
"In order to get freight out of here they want to pay you $1.10 to $1.20 a mile. Well, if you're paying 80 cents a mile average on fuel, that leaves you with a 30 cent profit," McWhorter said.
There's talk that truckers nationwide will go on strike next week and park their semis starting April 1. Their hope is to convince the nation that not just truckers but everyone needs to help bear the higher cost of diesel fuel from the manufacturers to the shippers right down to the consumers.
"I think the answer is if we go on strike, everybody will learn the answer this country won't move without these trucks," Baker said.
If a significant amount of truckers do strike next week, there could be an impact at local stores, but there are rumors of trucking strikes almost every year and they rarely come to be.
The American Trucking Association said it opposes the strike and it is instead lobbying the federal government to open up the nation's strategic oil reserves.
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