How do you feel about TRUCK DRIVERS going on strike from January 3rd to the 8th, 2008?
Asked by Alpha Female
Well the time has come and truckers are sick and tired of gettin jerked around and gettin a bad reputation for this or that, fuel prices are on the rise and everything else is going up too like insurance.. You cannot idle a truck in New York City even on a cold night when you are too tired to drive any farther and the log book is saying no. I'm not bashing New York a lot of other places are really strict on drivers as well just using as an example.. So what do you guys think? http://www.truckerstrike.com HAHAHAHAHAHA now thats the funniest thing I have ever heard. Gettin into the truckin BUSINESS at a time like this? Go right ahead and starve yourself out. They are trying to reduce fuel- emmission by not letting them idle www.myspace.com/truckerstrike08

Best Answer:
I am an independant owner opperator my company is Gratefully Deadicated Truckin inc. It is My honest oppinion that we need to shut down until freight rates come up!! The brokers are doing just that makeing us broker! They make all the money and charge us more fees for advances quick pay mailings percentage of loads etc. By the time you get paid there is only fuel money left! With the rising cost of tolls fuel insurance truck and trailer payments it is hard to support our families as well as maintain our trucks!! I am Tom Leonard and I can prove this message lets make it right in the USA instead of barely makeing it in the USA!! We are supposed to be the back bone of this country its time we were treated as such!!

I've been hoping to get into the trucking biz -- and this strike sounds like a great opportunity for me to do just that! THANKS!
Answered by Mr. E

Bad Idea ! They will cripple the nation and set off a chain reaction we may not recover from. Think of the many that will freeze to death in the cold with no heating oil...and the stores running out of food. The medical supplies that will not reach the hospitals. In the winter the truckers may win the battle for higher wages but we all will lose the war.
Answered by debbie2243

I think it would suck. It would put my hubby out of business, if you don't drive it, he can't fix it!!!! And, it seems no one really understands how important the Truck Drivers of today are, everyone wants what they want when they want it--which is right away!! How do they think it's getting there. And from what I understand, it's better to let a truck idle in the cold overall, what's their problem?
Answered by kbat

Article I wrote for layover.com Will It Work? copyright S. Long The US has a long history of labor striking for better pay, benefits, working hours and conditions. Some might even say that the country was founded by colonists striking against the unfairness of British taxation. Get a bunch of drivers sitting around or let fuel prices jump and one of the first things you will hear is ‘we ought to just strike’. Non union truckers have gone on strike before, did it solve anything and is it a viable way to solve the issues facing truckers in the 21st century? In 1973 for the first time oil was used as economic pressure against the US government by overseas suppliers. Rationing and long lines at the pumps interrupted the flow of trucks delivering goods across the nation. It seemed to truckers that the government wasn’t paying attention, someone came up with the idea to strike. 18 wheeled blockades of truck stops appeared and violence escalated against non participating drivers. Finally, the government came to the table to talk to striking trucking leaders, but it was a placating move and though big promises were made, not much follow through occurred. Truckers went back to work and the idea of a trucking organization for drivers was conceived, OOIDA was born. Again in 1979, fuel shortages and different states having different weight restrictions caused truckers to shutdown. By this time there were several trucking and safety organizations and conflicting ideas of how trucking should be between them led to confusion about the issues. Once again truckers became targets of violence, crops rotted in the fields and many factories had to shut down due to lack of materials. Congress jumped up with a plan to start mandating research into synthetic fuels, a fuel surcharge was instituted to help truckers pay for fuel, the 55 mph law nationwide went into effect to conserve fuel and again truckers went back to work. Nothing much came of the synthetic fuel promises other than the start of production of ethanol and the 55 mph law made a lot of money for state and local governments. A 5 cent proposed increase in federal fuel taxes prompted a half hearted attempt at another nationwide truck shutdown in 1983. It wasn’t so much the increase but what it was to be used for that chapped trucker’s hides. .02 was to go to the railroads to subsidize them, .02 was to go to the development of the nationwide hiking and biking trails and the remaining .01 was to go to the study of the feasibility of building an interstate system in the Virgin Islands. Nothing good was accomplished except some media attention as to why truckers wanted the fuel tax spent on American roads. The fuel tax was implemented and doled out as promised in the first place. Again there was a lot of violence directed at truckers, mainly by non trucking people, and again truckers died. It was at this time that the rapid destruction of the ‘knights of the road’ image of truckers began with the increased media attention. TV shows like 1982’s 20/20’s “Killer Truck Drivers” had made all truckers look like drug taking, drunk psychopaths focused on the extremely small percentage of drivers who were not professional. This media mudslinging prompted the growth of public fear of truckers and made the voting public unsympathetic to the issues that were struck for in ’83. The prominence of ’no trucks’ signs, increased enforcement, yellow journalism against truckers and the growth of so called safety groups became the norm. Since the last big attempt at striking in ‘83, there have been some minor nationwide shutdowns attempted, but with the growth and diversification of the industry there is no way to get a majority of a consensus as to what issues to strike over. Furthermore, the federal government has promised that anyone who organizes a trucking strike will be charged with tampering with interstate commerce felonies. Some small localized strikes have achieved some relief for truckers such as the container haulers who work out of the ports. They have brought attention to the long waits to get into the ports and the condition of the equipment. On the darker side, they also brought to the state government’s attention that there are many trucks going to the ports so now there is a movement to limit times trucks can go to and from the ports. Will striking work in today’s trucking world? Not in most thinking driver’s minds. Companies will not tolerate their drivers shutting down, there is no clear cut way to unite all segments of the trucking industry to focus on just one or two issues due to the diversity of operations and drivers risk not only jail time due to federal prohibitions against truckers striking, but also a vast increase in regulations that further limit the way they operate. Then there is increased bad publicity from the media to further fuel the safety groups agendas. Striking will only hurt the people we don’t want to hurt, the general public. It will not bother the big manufacturers or trucking companies who will only push harder for the allowance of foreign drivers and trucks to come here ’to do the job American drivers don’t want to do’. So how does a driver address issues that affect them or their career if striking is not an option? Get involved. Join trucking associations that work within the government to move forward trucking issues, call your local and state politicians, voice your concerns over certain precise issues and promote the industry in positive professional ways. Be a part of the solution instead part of the problem and educate your friends and family to the trucking issues in a calm organized manner, don’t rant and rave. Striking is only a topic for truck stop discussion, there is no way that it will change anything in the industry for the good, it will only further anti trucking groups and big businesses agendas and in the end, hurt the industry. Ya’ll be safe out there.
Answered by ladygodiva1953