There was a time when trucking could shut down freight with one contract. Today there's no brotherhood, no association and no leader behind the Oct. 1 call, and that's the whole problem.
I remember the truckers strike in the 70's. My father was an independent. One guy in the driver's seat the passenger seat had a guy with a rifle. It was brutal. I remember my mother stocking up on things before hand. I was young and didn't really understand everything involved but I remember my dad saying he had to keep driving if we wanted to survive even if he was being shot at. The pay margins for independent truck drivers is shit.
The biggest obstacle for them, and the rest of us who depend on them, is that all of the things driving the desire to strike are the very things those in power and their billionaire buddies are profiting from.
Demand outpacing supply would be a legitimate lever if that same mechanism were not also beneficial to the rich in raising prices, interest rates, and credit usage.
The world has changed. The playing field is not the same. And as long as the hardships of everyday people profit those in control, it’s a hard sell to those benefitting.
It has never worked to ask the fox to install new locks on the henhouse.
Excellent article! I was a non-attorney practitioner before the interstate commerce commission, back when there was such a thing, and I think your analysis of how we got here is the best I’ve read. As a railroad guy, I spent a lot of time trying to understand the trucking industry. Here’s a data point from a BNSF Railway conference. I attended maybe 15 years ago: the average long-haul truck driver dies at age 62. That’s sad.
I remember the truckers strike in the 70's. My father was an independent. One guy in the driver's seat the passenger seat had a guy with a rifle. It was brutal. I remember my mother stocking up on things before hand. I was young and didn't really understand everything involved but I remember my dad saying he had to keep driving if we wanted to survive even if he was being shot at. The pay margins for independent truck drivers is shit.
The biggest obstacle for them, and the rest of us who depend on them, is that all of the things driving the desire to strike are the very things those in power and their billionaire buddies are profiting from.
Demand outpacing supply would be a legitimate lever if that same mechanism were not also beneficial to the rich in raising prices, interest rates, and credit usage.
The world has changed. The playing field is not the same. And as long as the hardships of everyday people profit those in control, it’s a hard sell to those benefitting.
It has never worked to ask the fox to install new locks on the henhouse.
I thought that was debunked?
Excellent article! I was a non-attorney practitioner before the interstate commerce commission, back when there was such a thing, and I think your analysis of how we got here is the best I’ve read. As a railroad guy, I spent a lot of time trying to understand the trucking industry. Here’s a data point from a BNSF Railway conference. I attended maybe 15 years ago: the average long-haul truck driver dies at age 62. That’s sad.
Exit 1 Illinois Wisconsin border I90. 9/17/26
$6.74