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Did you know that even if a Truck Driver has their spouse or
even their 5 year old child in the truck,
it is against the law in some states to have heat or air
conditioning in that truck if they have to idle their engine?
I don't know if I'm fired up, or just fed up. Maybe it's a
little of both, but if drivers today are so
gutless they'll let some trucking company or some state treat
their spouse or their child worse than a dog,
I guess they'll put up with anything.
Drivers, you had better start joining together, forming
groups and organizations with other drivers in your company or
in your area, and start working together RIGHT NOW!
Unfortunately I do not have the time, the
money, or the resources to try and bring all of the drivers or
anyone else in this country together on my own, so I'm not going
to do it for you, and neither is anyone else.
I don't care what union or trucking organization you belong to,
how much you pay in dues or membership fees, or if you drive a
triple digit large car with your name on the title, or you drive
a Swift, Schneider, J.B. Hunt truck, or any other company truck.
Every Trucker has to put aside their differences and start
working with each other.
You can send all the money you want to any group or organization
there is, but until each and every one of you start standing up,
talking to each other like adults on the C.B., at the truck
stops, at your terminals, your yards, at the docks, and anywhere
else you're at, and you start forming your own small groups at
your company or in your area, and then start getting those
groups to start working together, I will guarantee you that
things are only going to get worse.
I know I've fought tooth and nail for over 20 years now to try
and get drivers to start working together before it's too late,
and I've had no problem stating my opinion and either cleaning
out a company truck or walking away if the company I was with
introduced a new policy that I didn't think was fair or
equitable to the drivers, but now I'm on the verge of hanging it
up and saying to hell with the whole industry.
I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone when I got home
from my last run, and he told me another Driver friend of his
had called him asking for help. This Driver told my friend that
the company he drives for had enacted a new policy stating that
if Drivers idle their trucks to have heat in the winter or air
conditioning in the summer, they would be charged for the fuel
the truck used.
My friend did what he could, and that was to remind the other
driver that there is strength in numbers, and he should talk to
the other drivers that worked for that company and rally
together to take a stand and refuse to drive the companies
trucks until the company changed the new policy. While the
company may not like this, they would have to choose between
firing every driver they had on the spot (and try to explain to
all of their customers why their freight wasn't being delivered)
and try to hire new drivers A.S.A.P., or agree that the new
policy was unfair and revoke it.
So did it work? I'm sure it would have, but the driver told my
friend he didn't think he could do that, hung up, and that was
the end of it.
This is getting ridiculous. Do office workers get deductions
taken out of their paychecks if they want to have heat and AC in
their office? Do warehouse and dock workers have to take a pay
cut if they have fans running to help keep the temperature
inside the warehouse tolerable? Is Wal Mart going to start
charging their employees for the cost of each stores utility
bill? That truck is the Driver's workplace, not their home. I
don't care if diesel reaches $20 a gallon, these no idling rules
and laws are getting out of hand.
No wonder the big trucking companies would rather hire someone
fresh out of driving school than hire me. If they tell me I have
to freeze to death or sweat my butt off when I'm trying to sleep
or relax, and all for the privilege of driving their truck, I'll
make it very clear what part of their anatomy they can stick
their truck in. I guess the driving school graduates or drivers
with minimal experience might actually think this is how
Trucking is suppose to be and put up with that crap.
I don't care how much experience you do or don't have, TRUCKERS
ARE HUMAN BEINGS, AND WE DESERVE TO BE TREATED WITH A LITTLE BIT
OF COMMON DECENCY! WHEN IS ENOUGH GOING TO BE ENOUGH!?
The average turnover rate in the trucking industry is around
140%, second only to the waitress industry. Most drivers would
rather bounce from one company to another looking for that
greener grass on the other side of the fence than take a stand
and try to improve the conditions where they're at. There is no
greener grass any longer. Accept that fact and start working
together to make things better where you're at!
Many of the people that have only been driving a few years have
no idea that while Truckers may never have been treated with a
high level of respect, at least there was a time we were treated
like human beings.
A lot of trucking companies won't let the driver idle their
truck for heat and air conditioning at all, but I'll bet that
the companies office building has heat and air conditioning.
I've pointed that out to a few people in a management position
at some companies, and asked them if it was because the company
thinks a dispatcher or anyone else is somehow better than the
Trucker Drivers that work for them. Their response? They said of
course not, but they have to keep the offices temperature
controlled because of the computers. So in other words, they
feel Truckers are more worthless than a computer.
Did you know that now a dog has more rights
than a Truck Driver does?
It is illegal to idle your truck in some
states. Regardless of the outside temperature, or whether or not
there are any facilities like IdleAire available that offer
these services (when's the last time you saw an IdleAire hook up
at a dock you were sitting at?), and it doesn't matter if it's
just the driver in the truck, or they have their spouse or even
their 5 year old child in the truck, it is against the law to
have heat or air conditioning in that truck if they have to idle
their engine for it. I've heard that California is even trying
to make it illegal to use an APU, and these units were designed
exclusively to reduce idling.
But don't worry, if you have a dog, a pet mouse, a pet rat or
any other animal, the ASPCA says that it's cruel to make that
animal suffer without heat or air conditioning, so you had
better idle that truck and keep it comfortable inside for that
animal. This is the REAL reason so many companies still allow
riders, but no longer allow pets.
Think about that. As a Trucker, these states, shippers and
receivers (Wal Mart for example), and even the trucking
companies you're working for are telling you that not only you,
but YOUR SPOUSE AND YOUR KIDS are a lower form of life than a
dog, a mouse, or even a rat!
Driver, it's bad enough you're letting your company tell you
that you're a worthless piece of trash that's lower than any
other animal on this planet, and worth less than a lousy piece
of computer equipment. It's sad that you'll stand by and be told
you're so worthless you don't deserve to have heat or air
conditioning when you're parked trying to relax or sleep, and
that the money it cost in fuel to idle that truck is more
important than your health, your comfort, your safety, and you
as a person.
But if you run for a company that tells you that you can take
your wife/husband or your kids with you, but you can't idle your
truck to provide them with heat or cool air when you're stopped,
that company is telling you that your wife/husband, and your
kids are as worthless as you are.
Maybe I'm old fashioned, but you can call me what you want and I
might put up with it. Insult my wife and I don't care how big
you are, how tough you are, and whether or not you can beat the
tar out of me, you'd better have God on your side, because He's
about the only one that's going to stop me from tearing into
you.
Driver, I'm going to tell you plain and simple, and I'm going to
say it straight up. It's no wonder so many of you
won't stand together and fight back. If you're so gutless you'll
put up with that, then you really will put up with anything.
At this time I have taken down some of the feedback links on the
pages here at TDU. While the current skyrocketing fuel
prices are a serious matter, they seem to be the only issue many
Truckers are interested in talking about.
While the cost of fuel IS one
of the most important issues facing our country today, I have
tried to make it clear that there are other issues still facing
the American Trucker that needs to be addressed, especially the
Company Drivers that AREN'T paying for the fuel for their
trucks.
Yes, higher diesel prices
mean higher retail prices, but it is absurd for the Owner
Operators in this country to expect the Company Drivers to risk
their jobs, join together, rally, or shut down without
addressing some of the other issues that will benefit the
Company Driver. I have seen a LOT of focus on the
Independent Owner Operators that are losing their trucks, and I
am NOT trying to take any focus off of that fact, but I have
also seen a LOT of Company Drivers that are running 10, 12, 15
weeks and longer and are still getting notices from the mortgage
company because the current cost of living is exceeding their
income, and they are falling behind in their payments.
OOs are losing their
trucks, and their companies. Small and even large trucking
companies are shutting their doors and their drivers are losing
their jobs. Company drivers are losing their homes. People
that aren't even in the trucking industry are losing their jobs,
and people are working extra hours just to pay for the gas to
get back and forth to work. This is insanity, and instead
of hearing drivers talking on the C.B. about how they can start
working together to try and help one another, they're calling
each other names, cussing each other out, arguing about whether
or not one driver turned on his signal before changing lanes,
and blaming each other in general for the problems we are all
facing. OOs are blaming Company Drivers for their
problems, Company Drivers are blaming OOs for hauling cheap
freight. Everyone is quick to point the finger of blame at
someone else, but slow to quit whining and crying and trying to
find solutions to the problem.
I applaud the Company Truck
Driver that did shut down in April, and the ones that have
joined the rallies and protests, but I also cannot say I blame
the ones that didn't get involved. Why should they?
No one is shutting down for the things that will help them.
In our protests, have we asked that there be a minimum wage for
Company Drivers, whether it be for the miles they run, detention
at the docks, or layover? Have the Company Drivers even
bothered to try and work together to bring about these changes
on their own? Did the OOs join together a year ago and
start discussing how they could work together when there were
clear signs of an economic depression on the horizon. No.
No one had the time or the desire to work together when they
weren't in a panic, so Trucker, maybe the next time you want to
point the finger of blame at someone, take a long hard look in
the mirror.
Of course, I also want to
say that I BLAME BOTH the Owner Operators and the Company
Drivers for ignoring all of the other issues and problems that
have faced our industry for so many years because they have
stood back and let it happen.
Lastly, even
though I have tried to get Truckers to organize for years now, I
have to blame MYSELF as well for not finding some way to
accomplish that task. Sometimes I was just too tired to
fight, and other times I had been kicked off of one too many
customer's property for fighting back to continue to take the
risk and try to stand up to another one.
When times were good, and
everyone was making a profit, no one wanted to look beyond the
end of their hood and start working together when we had the
chance.
Now, everyone is running
scared because of fuel prices. What happens if fuel prices
do come down? Do we all turn our backs on the future again
and just run as long and hard as we can trying to make a buck
before it happens again?
You know, when I started
TDU I was sitting in a truck stop in Laredo TX. Everyone
was complaining about the problems in the industry on the C.B.,
and someone suggested we start a website. I agreed to start the
site, and did so on the spot using another Drivers laptop, and
told everyone else that it was up to them to start spreading the
word and getting other drivers involved.
OK Drivers, Truck Drivers
United has been up since August of 2007. I did my part,
now it's time for you to do yours.
I'm not going to try to
start a nationwide organization any longer, I don't have the
time, money, or the resources. I'll keep TDU up and keep
the pages up with the issues posted that Drivers told me they
wanted changed, but it's time to for the Truckers in this
country to start doing more than running their mouths. I'm
not even going to try to create a place for Drivers to
communicate. There's a forum you can use for that now, so
use it.
If you want to join
together, then GET STARTED. Start talking to other Drivers
in your company, at the truck stops, at the docks, and
everywhere else. Quit whining, crying and arguing with
each other and start working together, forming small groups in
your company or in your area, and start working together to get
some of the changes made you want made in this industry!
As for me, I'll support you
all the way, just as I have every day I've been on the road, but
I'm not going to try and start an organization where people have
to pay membership fees, and obviously I can't do what needs to
be done with money from my own pocket.
As far as future shutdowns,
strikes, rallies, protests, or anything else. If YOU, the
American Truck Driver can quit arguing with one another for
once and work together to get the rest of the Drivers in this
country to stand with you, and you shutdown for intelligent
reasons that will have a positive effect on every aspect of the
trucking industry, then I will join with you in a heartbeat.
BUT, if you want to shut
down, rally, or protest next month because fuel is too high, then the month after
that because diesel tax is too high, then the month after that
because broker fees are too much, then the month after that
because fright rates are too low.... FORGET IT! Get
together, get a list of ALL the changes you want, then set a
date for a shutdown far enough in the future to get the word out
to every Truck Driver there is across this country.
It should be easy by then,
because you should have already started forming the
organizations within your company and in your area, so you
should be communicating with one another on a regular basis.
Start looking beyond the
end of your hood and look at the big picture. Start
communicating, get organized, decide what you want to change and
what you don't want to change, then talk to me about shutting
down with you again.
Hopefully, I'll still be
driving by then.. or at least still be alive.
Good Luck to all of you. |
