Trucker Strike !!!!?

Question

Hi I am an owner operators wife, we live in middle GA. Just to get the word out Many around here and else where are going on strike for 2 weeks on 04/03/08. No joke! Fuel is just to high. You can't make ends meet if you keep going this way. I am all for it I have two small children to support and we can't make it with fuel this high. And unless you have been in the shoes of a truck driver you have no clue how it affects him or her and their family, so don't say something stupid. B/c truckers are they reason you have food in your mouth and clothes on your back and all that other good stuff you buy, without them you wouldn't have anything to buy. So support the truck strike. If you are a trucker of any kind we are strongly urging you to help out.

Answer 1

Good luck with that!  It's ridiculous what you all get paid (from what I've heard from other drivers themselves).  And the last time the truckers tried this, they were successful for ALL of us, so I don't mind being a little inconvenienced if it helps get the prices down for all of us!  Every little bit helps!

Good luck and don't loose faith!

Answer 2

It's alittle late now that the prices of diesel are going  above the prices of normal gas prices, because of more demand and need. It's true the truckers move alot of product around the country, but when there was a time to control the trucking industry, everyone in trucking was making big money, so didn't care. We also let the train industry fall to almost nothing, by lack of support and removing tracks all over the country. Right now and I judge by the amount of trucks I see here in Calif. on the road that aren't fit to be on the highways, yet the owners operators don't want to make waves. When I was young I heard about truckers being just as bad as biker gangs, maybe you should clean up the trucking industry  more before you go for a trucker strike. I agree with you on the price of diesel being high, but someone needs to make it harder for people to just go out, buy any truck, go into business. The Calif. Highway Patrol in this state has alot to do with the amount of trucks on the road that shouldn't be there, because they don't have all the inspection stations open 24-7, and the fact of the Mexican truck drivers going thru our state to other states. Good Luck in whatever you do.

Answer 3

I am good friends with many truckers and talk to them daily.  Many of my friends are owner ops and company drivers and I am very concerned.  I have been doing research on the last major strike in 1992.   I just now heard about the strike and googled it finding your post...  If you know anything else about it I would appriciate being contacted.  I am in the process of gathering as much information as I can for the boys that run from here in Kansas City...  So let me know.

Answer 4

I heard it's 4/1/08 if you look on the Internet and it's been on the news as of 4/1/08.

I am a truck driver and owner of a small fleet, while fuel is the major culprit of our demise, the culprit is shippers not paying accordingly to move freight. The rates we are getting now are the same rates that we were getting 2 years ago and that's not going to fly with most of us seeing as though the prices to maintain a truck is going up with the rest of the products. So, there 2 MAIN culprits in our demise.

While my guys have been order to "SHUT DOWN" if there is a national strike. I'm afraid most of it is all talk. There is no organization among trucking companies to actually get the word out and the job done, if you know what I mean. We have been talking about striking for so long that nobody takes us seriously now.

I'M ALL FOR A STRIKE AND WILL BE ON THE FRONT LINES.

Answer 5

this is a hoax  I have heard so many differnet dates

eihter plus that weel is April fools too

just because fuel is too high thas not going make the price

come down

Answer 6

I painfully remember the truckers strike in the 70's when fuel prices began to rise. Independent truckers parked their rigs. Then the unionized truckers parked their rigs, refusing to cross picket lines. Soon, there were empty shelves in grocery stores, automobile dealerships were almost empty due to zero deliveries, and gas itself was not delivered to fueling stations. Soon the gas stations began to run out of fuel. Yes, IF the unionized drivers AND sympathetic non-union, non-independent drivers join this strike, this economy will suffer greatly. EVERYTHING around us was trucked in, from the bed you sleep in, to the car you drive, to the fuel we use in your autos. I myself have never trucked for a living, but I did grow up the grandchild of an AFL-CIO union president, and if you think union drivers will not park their rigs in honor of the strike, you're wrong! Think about this; most of the drivers who work for parcel delivery companies (i.e. UPS) are unionized. No fuel deliveries to airports, no food deliveries to grocery stores, no gas deliveries to filling stations, no packages delivered to corporations, etc.. Some people say this strike will not take place. I hope they're right. But if it does, just remember that these folks are making a statement; their lively hood is at stake. What would you do if your entire industry were in danger?

Answer 7

Good Luck, God Bless, I'm in the transportation industry so I feel your pain.... There is NO REASON diesel is higher then all other fuels since it is the least refined......

Go Get'em....

Answer 8

I agree with others, I don't believe a strike is the answer.  The reason a strike will/could not work in my opinion is because of the companies that will move the freight just because they have to put food on the table and pay rent/mortgages.  I work in transportation industry and I believe the real answer needs to be that fewer and fewer trucking companies quit taking freight that does not pay what they need to make a living.  If everyone just declines to haul freight, the companies wanting their freight moved will have to pay!!!!

Eventually this will effect everyone because then those prices will make the cost of average/daily items increase and therefore the economy will fall deeper into a recession/depression (I have heard that word a few times in the last couple of months).  But hopefully, the end result, will be that the government will step in and realize that they need to better support the average American blue collar worker.  But that subject is for another time and another soap box!!!

Answer 9

I feel your pain, but dont blame just the oil producers, blame the south of the border driver that will move the same frieght for half what we would do it for...

The brokers are no differant, We pay the brokers 1000 for a load, when the truck showes up, I asked him what is the amount you will get, and he says 500 or 550, why is everything a back haul? my truck works just as hard on the main haul as it does on a back haul.