Nationwide Trucking Shutdown Oct 11-13 ??

Rob, I'm not sure you're really thinking this through. What is a strike going to do without leadership in place to unionize the drivers and a well drawn out set of demands to shoot for? If the trucks simply stop rolling, all it's going to do is throw the economy into a depression.

SHUTTER DOWN I SAY and lets get to work on what we want.

I think maybe people would have to unionize and come up with their demands before shutting down. Otherwise, it's a waste of time.

Rob, I'm not sure you're really thinking this through. What is a strike going to do without leadership in place to unionize the drivers and a well drawn out set of demands to shoot for? If the trucks simply stop rolling, all it's going to do is throw the economy into a depression.

SHUTTER DOWN I SAY and lets get to work on what we want.

I think maybe people would have to unionize and come up with their demands before shutting down. Otherwise, it's a waste of time.

I am NOT a big fan of unions. Especially since unions are trying to organize high school student type jobs like burger flipper and cashier.

Besides, I've seen the movie "Blue Collar" and know what unions are all about.

Dave

Unions are fantastic when they're necessary and helpful. But like any entity they become too big and powerful sometimes.

Back in the 19th century and through most of the 20th century the unions were desperately needed to bring living wages and safer working conditions to workers who were otherwise being abused with 14 hours days, extremely dangerous conditions, and peanuts for pay. If it wasn't for the unions this country wouldn't have had such a strong, vibrant middle class for most of the 20th century and we wouldn't have the prosperity we have today.

But of course there are plenty of examples where the unions went too far and drove jobs out of the country. They may have left eventually regardless, but they probably sped up the process.

Interestingly enough I think trucking is one of the few industries that could desperately use a union but the Teamsters never caught on as big as they should have when they were at their peak. Now most of the union companies, predominately LTL carriers, have disappeared. They either went bankrupt or were bought out.

It would be nearly impossible to unionize trucking though. The industry is just too fragmented. An industry like the airlines is easier because there are only a few major companies controlling everything so it's easier to unionize the workers. But in trucking, 97% of all of the companies have fewer than 20 trucks and there are about 1.2 million trucking companies in the U.S. That figure includes independent owner operators as a company, and rightly so. It would be nearly impossible to unionize workers across that many companies and police everything.

Also, unions tend to discourage job hopping. Many drivers are looking for that "best" truck driving company. With unions you have to wait your turn or wait in line, and if there is another union member from "out of town," you might get pushed to the side. Besides, most companies are offering dental,edical and pension plan/401k, without unions.

Dave

Folks, I just ran across this article, which discusses a nationwide trucking shutdown from October 11-13.

http://www.activistpost.com/2013/09/convoy-to-dc-truckers-to-shut-down.html

Here is another article on the subject:

http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/09/1-million-truckers-protest-barack-obama-shutting-america-3-days-october/

Here is a Facebook page on the subject:

https://www.facebook.com/truckerstoshutdownamerica

For those out on the road at this time, a serious subject to consider.

I have been watching FB closely on this. It was nice to see Canada and Germany jump on the band wagon. Whether they will be able to pull it of or not, I can only speculate, I sure hope they pull it off. Country is overdue for a wake up call!