News Coverage Regarding Trucker Strikes

[Bullwinkle]

PAULSBORO, N.J. - March 24, 2008 (WPVI) -- They are the men and women who keep our economy moving, and they are threatening to go on strike. Truck drivers say soaring fuel prices are leaving them broke and they plan to fight back.

At a Paulsboro truck stop drivers are paying $3.95 a gallon for diesel. In many other states the price is well over $4. Fuel costs are taking such a big cut off truckers' profits, some are calling for a strike.

Trucker Wayne Casimir tells Action News, "I've been in trucking for 38 years and I've never seen it this rough."

Casimir is talking about the price of diesel. Each tank full is costing two to three-hundred dollars more than it did six months ago. Since just about everything we buy gets to where we buy it by truck, some of the higher fuel costs are reflected in higher prices, on items ranging from food to clothing to gas. But a lot of the fuel costs are coming directly out of truckers' profits... especially if they're owner-operators.

6abc.com: Fuel prompts call for strike 3/24/08

[Bullwinkle]

As our nation's economy slows down, so are truckers in their big rigs.

Drive down any highway these days and you’ll notice most truck drivers are sticking to the slow lane.

Driving under the posted speed limit can save fuel and with diesel prices now averaging more than 4 dollars a gallon, truckers everywhere are slowing down.

Many have no choice.

That's because many trucking companies are now putting governors on trucks that restrict them to a maximum speed of 60 miles per hour.

“So you really can’t go faster that 60 MPH?,” asked Wayne Havrelly. “No, that’s all we’ve got,” said Brent Wolfley a local trucker. “Diesel is the cheapest product to make in the refinery and we’re having to pay 60 cents more than gas which is not fair,” said Allen Benedict a local independent trucker.

Diesel prices have skyrocketed a remarkable 50% in the past year.

Nearly every product we buy is transported by truck. Consumer prices on many products have already started to rise because of the higher fuel costs.

Independent owner operators say the situation is so bad, they are planning a 3 day nationwide strike for the first week of April. Truck drivers slow down with the economy | Business | kgw.com | News for Oregon and SW Washington

[Bullwinkle]

Diesel fuel set a new record high, rising 1.5 cents over last week's numbers to $3.99 a gallon. That's up $1.31 from a year ago, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.

In many parts of the country, diesel fuel is up more than $4 a gallon.

Some truckers are calling for a strike on April 1 to protest the high costs of diesel fuel.

One trucker said her company has asked drivers to stop idling their tractor-trailers to try to conserve on gas. She said it is costing the company anywhere from about $560 to $1,000 to fill up the tanks.

Truckers Call For Strike To Protest High Diesel Costs - Traffic News Story - WRC | Washington

[Bullwinkle]

When my story from last week about plans for a truckers’ strike appeared Monday on the high-traffic Drudge Report Web site, the calls and e-mails poured in.

I heard from CNN in Atlanta as well as small-time radio stations across the nation. I hung up the phone after listening to a dozen new messages and had four more come in during the few minutes I was tying up the line.

The potential impact of this thing is tremendous, and people are beginning to notice.

The call for a drivers’ shutdown started small — with an owner/operator who hauls cattle in Missouri. The trucker, Dan Little, posted his plans to shut down on his Web site, and someone brought it to our attention at the Times.

Now it’s been brought to the attention of thousands, and Little’s plan to park his rig, beginning April 1, has truckers lining up across the nation to join him.

Several non-truckers wanted to know how they could help the drivers, and some people said they would park their passenger vehicles in a show of solidarity.

Truck drivers’ strike picks up speed / QCTimes.com

(Glad to see this lady still pushing the strike news, I don't agree with her idea that one person is leading this though)

[Bullwinkle]

Over the Easter weekend fuel prices climbed even higher and the trucking industry is really feeling the effects.

According to AAA of Idaho, fuel prices jumped up to an average of $3.28 diesel even more at $4.05 and it's not even summer yet.

The trucking industry has been especially feeling the effects of the rising fuel cost.

One trucking company out of Missouri is calling on all truckers that can to come to a stand still on April 1st.

Dan Little says, "I put on my web-site that I was going to shut down my truck April 1st to send message to Washington o.k. that we need them to take a realistic look at the American trucking industry."

KMVT - LOCAL - Could trucks across the country shut down for a day?

[Big Rig Man]

All I have to say I hope it works. I started driving in 1965, bought my 1st truck in 66, my ex made me get rid of it in 70, then I got rid of her, then went back to being a company driver for a few years. I then met Mike Parkhurst, joined Roadmaster's, spent a lot of time in L.A. and at the OverDrive Road Mansion, which some of you Old Timers might remember, and help organize the best truck shutdown (1972) this country has ever seen. It was the only one that has ever been successful. There have several attempts to have shutdowns ever since and they have been unsuccessful because everyone one wants to be the Big Chief and no one wants to be the Brave. Everyone wants to be the Leader and no one wants to be the Follower. Want some advice? No! Wel here it is anyway, Choose one person or a small group of people to Organize a shutdown, let them choose the date, and let them decide what, where, when and how to accomplish the agenda, as to what we want.

What am I doing now? I am semi-retired, but I am still involved in the industry in an administrative capacity. I own my own business. I will not expand on that in this forum.

[CarolinaTrucker]

Got a news story about the trucker shutdown. Go to www.wnct and watch this. I contacted the news channel by email and they are getting the word out April 1st Trucker Strike!!! Contact your local news and get the word on the air.

[BigMaN]

I want all of you guys and gals out there to know how much we appreciate what you do, especially here in Texas. Your job is so very important to the survival of American infrastucture. We have to feed our families and fuel our cars. What this country is doing to you is the same thing they are doing to every other small business owner in every other industry - taxing you right out of business. It doesn't really matter if your truck or trucks are paid for. With gas prices the way they and the insurance companies having a stranglehold on you how can you possibly afford to make a living. You will save money by sitting at home spending time with your families. I have not always felt this way. There were times when I felt as though pending strikes were just excuses to make more money. Well, maybe they were and maybe they weren't. That is not the point now. The point now is that myself and a very large number of true patriots out there have prepared ourselves for the hit financial and supply hit if you strike and we will gladly make the sacrifice for you to take a stand for what is right. The fascist methods our current regimeare using to regulate your industry is running you straight out of work into the hands of corporate America and it is destroying the working and middle class. I am working and middle class. You are working and middle class. It is Un-American and we are behind you. Do what you must.

Godspeed,
BigMaN

[IIronman]

I want all of you guys and gals out there to know how much we appreciate what you do, especially here in Texas. Your job is so very important to the survival of American infrastucture. We have to feed our families and fuel our cars. What this country is doing to you is the same thing they are doing to every other small business owner in every other industry - taxing you right out of business. It doesn't really matter if your truck or trucks are paid for. With gas prices the way they and the insurance companies having a stranglehold on you how can you possibly afford to make a living. You will save money by sitting at home spending time with your families. I have not always felt this way. There were times when I felt as though pending strikes were just excuses to make more money. Well, maybe they were and maybe they weren't. That is not the point now. The point now is that myself and a very large number of true patriots out there have prepared ourselves for the hit financial and supply hit if you strike and we will gladly make the sacrifice for you to take a stand for what is right. The fascist methods our current regimeare using to regulate your industry is running you straight out of work into the hands of corporate America and it is destroying the working and middle class. I am working and middle class. You are working and middle class. It is Un-American and we are behind you. Do what you must.

Godspeed,
BigMaN

Thank you VERY much for posting!

[vinbeazel]

Driven to the end of the road -- Road Transportation, Virginia -- chicagotribune.com

Story in Chicago Tribune; reposted on Digg and Facebook...



"Everything seems to have dried up," complained Wayne Weisser, a Las Vegas trucker who spent a week in Dallas recently waiting for a load. He also helps run Life on the Road (www.lifeontheroad.com), a trucker's blog where the buzz includes the need for a strike to force public solutions to their private agonies.