Poll: Truckers Strike - When Will Truckers Stand Together? IF Ever?

Although I am a company driver, I shut down my truck for 2 days to support what I had heard was going to be a nationwide strike. I was saddened to see others driving to various destinations and agree that this needs to be more organized before it will make an impact. I was also saddened to watch the news the night before it began to hear two different truckers state they were NOT going to strike because THEY could not afford it. Not one of the truckers who shut down could afford it, but something needs to happen! I also have a family to support but we all understand the significance of the shut down.

 

I would support a strike, but I can tell from reading these posts that you just can't get enough people to come together. Major problem being, many of us have families to support and bills to pay.

I spoke with a verteran trucker of 40 years the other day about this strike bussiness and he said why should he strike. He would be sitting in the truck stop watching others flying by. And he's right. This is exactly what would happen. But he did have an idea which was close to my way of thinking. He said we should pick a company. Any company. Pilot, TA, Flying J. Take your pick. You don't have to have a reason to pick any particular company. Just pick one. And simply do not buy any fuel from that company. You can bet that some big people at the top will start talking after a few days of no or little fuel being purchased. Your talking millions in losses in no time at all and the share holders would not be too happy. Then you have a place to begin the discussions to fix these problems out here.

This is inline with what I have been thinking. I would prefer to boycott a state for example, Oregon. I have a beaf with this state because of the high road taxes, cheap lumber shippers, hassling DOT, crooked brokers, etc., etc.

If you could get a good number of independents to stop running in a state, you would deffinitely get some attention, while at the same time be able to continue working.

My proposal is this. Pick a date. May 1st for example. I think this would be great considering the 72 hour national crack down coming in June. If you are in the state, take a load and get out and don't come back for month. If you have not contracted to go to Oregon. Don't. For one month. I'll bet you anything this will get some attention. The big companies can't take care of all the freight being shipped out of Oregon or any other state for that matter. They have too many obligations else where. The shippers will start asking the brokers why they can't get any freight moved. The local bussinesses will start complaining to the local government officials that they are loosing money. Road tax revenues would drop. Your talking big bucks being lost in revenue if you can get enough people involved. Just in one state. It would have a ripple affect. Don't give in. Make it a full month or until someone steps up and says ok, whats the problem here. Many bussiness could easily go out of bussiness. Fine. Tough. We are dropping like flys out here and no one is listening or concerned about us. In fact we are the ones right now absorbing most of the costs. So when they start feeling the heat, just keep pouring it on. Thats what they do to us.

There are many more facits to this puzzle that needs to be addressed before a strike or boycott for that matter would be effective. I'm not sure it would work. I don't know how many independents run that state. You would have to do some checking somehow to find out how many independents you can get onboard. There are many other questions to consider, but I think you get my point. We don't have to stop working to make a point. We just need agreement and a larg enough forum to have an affect on one area. Think about it. How hard would it be just to stop running in a state or stop buying fuel at the pilot. ($3.00 a page for a fax. give me a break). The drivers that do continue to run the state would demand bigger rates and the shippers and brokers would not be happy about that as well. It wouldn't take long before local officials would feel the heat. California may make a good target, but this state is a strong source of income, depending on whether your a reefer driver, van or flatbed. It all has to be considered. This is why I think Oregon is a perfect state. There is very little reefer freight to begin with. Some flatbed freight and little van freight. But enough freight to cause problems if enough truckers just stayed out.

Just my opinion.

 

This is a very serious situation and subject.

I would be glad to participate and help. This issue does not just affect the trucking industry. Fuel costs affect every aspect of living.

The days of the haves and the have nots is being widened.............
The oil companies are in charge of the world economiesand they are profiting billions every quarter...........

 

Bully if I may add, You bring a good idea or at least one step in the right direction.
The problem we have, just as we saw last month not enough people stood up, did not know, felt they couldn't, or just don't get it. This is why it was a horrible demonstration.

 

Here's the problem

 

Sorry I messed that up...................

Anyway SweetL, I agree with you and where you are going with this.

I have managed and owned 3 businesses before i began driving. When costs began to go up on items, products, etc. I went up on the costs to the customers. From that experience I did begin to pay attention to retentionand of course did notice some loss however, the 1 0r 2 % lost in customer base did not unjustify the raise in prices.

What I see and here from so many drivers in the industry and what I think is happening in the upper level of management with the big co.'s is they are afraid to take the leap of being the first to raise prices out of fear of losing too much business. The problem with losing customers is, when a customer jumps ship and go with another even if things get bad at some point, and they will when competitors cut prices the customer would rather save face and just pay someone else more money after time rather than come back and say you were right about needing to go up on prices.

Due to the amount of competition out on the road no one is willing to say we are raising prices. We see this everyday in the airline industry. They raise and lower prices everyday and what happens ......we pay them or we don't.

Only when we as a whole industry say that we are going to set a standard that we will only transport your feight for the same price taht everone else does and nothing less will we be ok.

And please don't forget the part about the brokers double dipping into loads and cutting them for pure profits.........................


Just my few words or not.......................J

 

Look at the amount of people who answered the poll above.
The amount of people doesn't even begin to address the amount of drivers in this country that are affected.

 

Funny thing that, It was not the problem, it was the solution... You missed it obviously!


Dave Nemo has been asking for Mark and other organizers of the strike/protest to call his show on XM radio.
If an organizer is interested in an interview with Dave Nemo his contact information is available at his web site. Google can find it for you as I don't post links here!

 

I say get oil out of the future's speculation market...demand is down, but because of money hungry speculator's, oil is up

 

PLease explain................