Since the big boys want to play I thought it would be nice to show who their faces

Why do you want to strike? What do you hope to accomplish? You can protest elogs or speed limiters, but the unions want them as to the biggest trucking companies. They have the ear of the politicians. If you want to strike, you will need to have enough drivers who want to achieve the same goal. I don't see a goal of the strike. Getting enough drivers to actually strike will be difficult without some organization. Back when the Teamsters were stronger they pretty much shut the country down. One way was to take shots at drivers and they threw rocks at windshields and placed cinder blocks at windshield level so the driver's windshield would be damaged along with the driver himself. Some were scared enough to shut down for a time. Teamsters today are only out for themselves and are only interested in expanding their membership and going along with whatever the government wants of them. Most drivers don't want to join a union. It takes away their independence. A strike can shut down the country if enough participate and you have clearly defined goals. But. I don't see enough drivers who are willing to act to make a difference.

 

G/Man: elogs aren't the problem, actually they are part of the solution.

Any company says "we gotta pay miles because we don't know if your sandbaging"

No. We now have the means to know what delays are traffic, what delays are the shipper/reciever, we know when there is downtime for a repair, we know when an employee works more than 40 hours a week (and in most other jobs would be eligible for O/T)

We have the metrics and tech to micromanage a driver like never before but when it comes to compensation we use an out dated model.

We also have a specialized licence and training but continue to consider drivers "unskilled labor".

So just getting recognition for those two things alone would be a good objective for a strike.

(Now, tying a politician's payroll to the GDP, or eliminating golden parachutes for corporate kamikazes "I'll run this company straight into the ground!", that's a problem for another day)

 

The best drivers are those who don't want constant monitoring. Technology has been both good and bad for the industry. It has been good for carriers who like to micromanage their people. It is bad for drivers who like to be independent. Many drivers came to this industry because of the independence it offers. When you take that away from them they will find something else to do.

I agree that drivers should be considered skilled labor rather than unskilled. I have been a proponent of tying our so called representatives pay to a balanced budged. And some CEO pay is way out of proportion to the success they bring to their companies. But, that is an issue for the stockholders rather than the government.

In a free society, the people and government functions much more efficiently when their is minimal controls. New drivers coming into the industry may go along with the controls because they don't know any better. But, those who are experienced and been around the industry for any length of time will push back. Some carriers are even considering installing cameras in their trucks to constantly monitor drivers. Recent years have seen less qualified and less committed drivers entering the business. It will likely only get worse.

 

The Feds are about to take back over Intrastate trucking.
http://www.overdriveonline.com/hous...ve&utm_campaign=site_click&utm_source=popular

 

Theres also a court battle going on against ELDs based on a driver's 4th amendment rights. That should be interesting.
http://www.overdriveonline.com/elds...irement-to-track-truckers-derail-dot-mandate/