Truck Drivers Stage Protest About High Gas Prices

Source: KDKA TV

Gas prices are on the rise again, but with diesel fuel costing more than $4 a gallon truckers are now issuing a warning by staging a protest today.

Some truck drivers say they are at a financial breaking point due to diesel prices and it could soon stall the economy.

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So one truck driver, from Vandergrift, says he has now organized a one-day protest today against the high diesel prices.

Drivers are being asked to leave their trucks in park for 24 hours in a show of solidarity.

One veteran driver told KDKA the United States economy by early summer could be crippled due to the high cost of diesel.



Read more: http://kdka.com/local/diesel.costs.truckers.2.683384.html

:kick:

this will go anywhere. I have been in the trucking industry for a long time. I have heard this all before. Most truckers will just keep working. A few might stop but it won't amount to much.

Most truckers aren't organized and don't get paid if they aren't driving.

What the truckers NEED to do is to throw capitalism back into the corporations faces. Supply and demand baby, if the corps demand that their goods be hauled to market, the corps had better supply the cash to do so. Shipping prices need to go up. The problem I'm seeing is that the load prices aren't increasing enough to cover skyrocketing fuel costs. That isn't sustainable, and the fix isn't federal intervention in diesel pricing (which, at best, is just a short term solution), but a more equitable rate for moving goods.

Dad was in the biz and pulled his rig over in sympathy. It was just as serious now as it was then. I think the fur will fly soon. One brother has parked his rig and won't take a job unless he is paid well. The other brother only does jobs that he has a history of doing well (event caterer). They started this several months ago. And don't even bring up NAFTA.

:hi:

The drivers received a lot of support from the local citizens.

Hell I'd be glad if they did it on a weekend to join them with my little car!

I'll see if I can find a way to let these guys know that. My boss knows several of the drivers!

This was a non-event.

It's nice of you to show your support.

It's going to take a nation-wide protest to wake people up. And it will take a long term strike to get Washington off their asses and put pressure on the oil companies. That doesn't seem to be happening.

Of course, truck drivers will also have to wake up to the fact that our transportation system is broken. Long haul trucking needs to come to an end. It's mostly inefficient. I feel for them, but the reality is that some of them will lose income and/or their jobs in the near future. Fuel prices aren't going to go down.

Besides, as progressives, we have a problem of supporting the working man over the corporation -vs- the need to reduce oil consumption and CO2 emissions.

but some times from local grow statewide then regional then national. I'd love to see a trucker protest as long as they keep violence out of it.

This movement is gathering steam elsewhere in PA as well as in other states. From what I've been told the PA state police are supporting the truckers as long as the protest remains peaceful. I am in full support of this effort because high fuel prices affect me every day.

Just take them out and park them for even a few hours and it might get someones attention.

Enough trucks doing it and they will have one hell of a hard time towing all of them

Great Idea.

If they dont move when ordered to, they will be arrested and the truck impounded.

This has happened before, nothing new at all.

along with all the others, you've done a disservice (that's putting it in a nice way) to this country, JUST GO AWAY.

....doin' 98, let them truckers roll, 10-4...'....shit....these are dyed-in-the-wool, knee-jerkin' right-wing repugs just gettin' what they deserve....I've yet to meet a Democratic truck driver yet alone some hard-core protesting socialist....

....don't worry, they'll stay in line, bushco owns their asses....

I'm one. No one owns me.

Bushco has been screwing independent trucking since they came into power, and truckers realize it. You won't find much love for Bush in many truckstops.

But, stay happy with your broad brush.

I have been in the industry for a long time. There are a lot more out there.

be careful of stereotyping

Not by a long shot, anymore.

The CB channels are full of drivers who hate * and the war in Iraq.

I haven't used my CB radio for about four years now, but when I did it was tough out there getting through to the wing-nuts. And there were throngs of them. W could do no wrong. They spewed all the right-wing radio talking points. The truckers parking their rigs are owner operators. Company drivers, both union and non, will not be taking part in this protest for the simple fact that they don't pay for the fuel. Certainly we all see the affects of fuel prices on the flow of goods, but most companies are adding fuel surcharges to freight bills to cover the costs. O/O's are hit the hardest because they are on their own and set their own rates for hauling stuff. They essentially have to undercut all the companies to try and eke out a living. And that is why fuel costs are eating them up.

My son is an independent owner/operator and a registered diehard Democrat. Several DUers are also road warriors. Think before you ignorantly pigeonhole a whole profession.

Rail is so much more fuel efficient than gas, and yet our country's rail infrastructure has been totally neglected over the past 60 years. I wonder why?

I feel for them. It sucks.

Do they really expect that someone can reduce the cost of fuel? Fuel prices are cheap -- compared to what they will be next year. There may be some minor fluctuations and even temporary declines, but $5 or $6 a gallon will be commonplace in 12 - 18 months.

So we had better figure out how we are going to deal with it. I expect that rail will once again become a competitive shipper. And truckers will revert to local, short-haul freight services in support of rail shipments.

When energy was cheap, it made sense to ship everything long distance by truck. With expensive fuel prices, an old paradigm makes more sense.

with independent truckers right now is freight rates are not keeping up with the cost of operating a truck. That is driving a lot of them out of business. The trucking industry has more trucks than there is freight. That in my opinion is most of the problem. There are ways to make money in this industry. There is also a lot of decent paying loads. The trick is to know where to find them. The problem is a lot of these guys don't have the business seance to do it. The lease on with companies that don't pay worth a damn. They go out and buy trucks that they can not afford. It ridiculous watching some of these guys.

I own three trucks. They are all making a decent profit. That is because I refuse to run one of them for under a certain rate. I also get what is called a fuel surcharge to run my loads. It is possible to make money in this industry.

He'd probably be out of business otherwise.

Did you know that Class A CDL truck drivers are exempted from overtime pay, for instance?

Since the laws governing that were passed in 1935, thats they way it has been. Most drivers are paid by the load, a percentage, miles driven, ect.

Only local city pickup and delivery drivers, and some Teamsters Union drivers, make hourly wages like most working class people do.

The rest of the drivers have no time to be parked for long with a load that has to be at the destination on time, which is why the trucker's strikes never pan out like they should.

possible) the food we eat is locally grown. It's ecologically sound and socially positive.

..in heated greenhouses than to transport it hundreds or thousands of miles. At this time of year, the grocery stores have tomatoes grown in Canada.

Why don't they adjust their rates? It sucks that the cheapest fuel to produce has the highest price. Bushies cronies are making out like bandits. I drive for my business and bill according to current rates.

hauling industry.

No one really cares how their freight gets to its destination, only how cheap and fast they can get it there. Owner/operators operate on a slim margin now, and have been for years. Yeah, the fuel prices will push some of them off the cliff, but not to worry; you will be paying higher prices even if you don't own a car, much less a vehicle that can weigh 40 tons loaded, and gets between 4 to 8 MPG, depending on a host of factors.

In case some of you haven't been paying attention to the news, the Bush administration is no friend to any working person in private industry, and that includes the trucking industry.

Even now, Mexican, and even East Indian drivers and the companies they work for, are busy trying to bust into the US trucking business and make it even more difficult for the long-time American trucker to make a decent wage. If they do, I hope everyone of you remembers that it was * that put these people in the drivers seat, when they cause the death rates on US highways to increase by a very large factor.

If you think it's easy driving a rig, you only need climb into the cab & hit the road. When you get burned out from being away from home for weeks on end, eating only at the places where you can park your rig, paying through the nose at most truck-stops because they know you cant shop elsewhere, do your laundry, shower, eat, call multiple companies and people including your family trying to keep them happy;put up with all the crap the government, the Department of Transportation, the NHTSA, the Highway Patrol, and all the state, local and county governments that insist that you do, or else; perhaps then you folks will have a small clue as to what daily life is like for the average truck driver out there making a living as best they can.

Oh, yeah, and still try to get a decent sleep after all that so you can do it over again in 10 hours. That's right: anytime someone here complains about how we need to get those awful truckers off "OUR HIGHWAYS", just go shopping anywhere you like and remember that a truck driver hauled it there, no matter what color their skin was.

Until then, you "4-wheelers" need to be happy that most of you will never have to put up with half the nonsense the average truck driver puts up with 24/7, while you sleep in your own beds every evening, while he/she is out chaining up at least eight tires to go down a wet, windy or icy downgrade, praying the whole time that they don't lose traction and slide off the road.

I would have thought that they would have protested long before now..One thing all of us must remember though...Shrub doesn't care! Expecting this admin to do anything about anything is a waste of expectation.

calling onto work and saying "I cannot afford to come into work today" And then staying home and not going anywhere.

the date for the shutdown is april 1 (i think)

This isn't the first time this has happened by a long shot. Once the striking drivers see that no one is stopping they fire em' right back up and thats the end of it.

Don't feel bad for them. I'll feel bad for the ones who didn't.

Who's sorry now?