How did we get here?

All these members claiming support also need to write letters . Who's going to be convinced thousands of drivers are unhappy when only a handful complain ? When NHTSA posted a request for comments on the Speed Limiter Petition they got over 3,000 comments supporting ATA and Road Safe America and only a few hundred from truckers . The difference was truckers' comments were valid and knowledgeable . Not one supporter's comment was relevant or could offer any supporting data . Their comments were a mass display of ignorance and hysteria .

 

How did we get here? I think it is an excellent question. How did it get this bad? When and why did working in a sweatshop on wheels become the industry standard?

 

O.K. , Cyber just posted an article about a trucking school and carriers having an open house in Ohio saying what a great time it is to get in trucking . Sign up as a member and post a comment telling what the story really is . I did as kydriver . They already have a member using the name RickG .

 

So we all should take personal measures and get involved in our industry as a group. I agree. What kind of group do you propose? Most here think that unions and OOIDA don't work and that the gov't and media don't care. Blogging about it doesn't seem to work as the driver mills are turning the fresh meat away from the grinder right now, in spite of forums like this.

I'm not trying to anger you, I like your question and agree with you. But read the postings in the strike forum to see how well we stick together.

Trucking started off as sweatshop work and became a good way to support a family for a few decades and now has returned to sweatshop work for many drivers. What happened?

 

!!!! LOL !!!!

 

Give up on the strike guys, and not because no one will do it (which is probably true anyway).

Strikes work when they target a company or group of companies and cause them financial loss. The trucking industry is an integral part of the American economy, and as such would be dealt with as an act of domestic terrorism in a post 9/11 world. Believe it. Just look at the air traffic controllers in the 80's, and they take a heck of a lot longer to train and implement than we do.

There is probably a smarter way to go about it, but it will have to involve garnering respect and empathy from the public and the powers that be.

 

This isn't going to win me any freinds, but I think it is the truth...

There is a low bar of entry into the profession. There shouldn't be, but there is. Training should be much longer and rigorous. You don't know what you don't know. I am amazed to read about new drivers who have criss-crossed the country and can't back up into a dock. Not bashing the drivers, because they are just trying to put food on the table, but the schools, their companies and the DOT are just AWOL on this.

The general public doesn't care about truckers. They want us to get their crap to the stores and then disappear, hopefully before or after rush hour. Because the public doesn't care, the media won't cover the problems (unless we are crashing into things or bursting into flames). Because the media won't cover the problems, the government can screw us on a regular basis (also, I really don't think that the government understands trucking- exhibit A- HOS regs). Drivers have NO ONE in Washington to represent them... can't say the same for the companies.

These two facts combine to make any play for public sympathy a pipe dream. Also, if 1 or 2 or 1000 drivers 'strike,' then all the companies have to do is open their school again for a month to replace them. With no factory or construction work left in this country, tradesmen are flocking to trucking. So there isn't even competition in the job marketplace to make the companies treat or pay their drivers better to lure them in.

Is the toothpaste out of the tube? I dunno.