Monday, March 24, 2008

Good do it, PLEASE.... Truckers 'going broke' and threatening to strike

OTHER UPDATE AT BOTTOM

QUAD CITY TIMES:What started as a small, online grassroots effort now appears to have the potential for something bigger.

Dan Little, the owner/operator of a livestock hauling company in Carrollton, Mo., estimated Tuesday that at least 1,000 other truckers from across the United States have committed so far to joining him in a strike on April 1.

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Although none of the truckers interviewed Tuesday at the Iowa 80 Truck Stop, Walcott, which is just off Interstate 80 west of Davenport, has heard of the intended strike, some said they would shut down, too.

Weldon Kinnison, a Virginia trucker who was hauling soft drink from Indiana to Denver, heard about the plans for a strike for the first time Tuesday while stopping at Walcott.

"I'm an owner/operator with the American Truckers Association," he said. "I'd park my truck for a week with the cattle haulers.

"The fuel is too high, and there's no reason for it. I don't listen to the CB (radio) that much, but I guess I'll start now."

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At issue is the rising cost of diesel fuel, which has reached or exceeded $4 per gallon in at least 17 states. But Little does not expect his strike to bring down the per-gallon price of gas, nor does he expect to have any effect on the oil companies.

Lack of hope - a very dangerous sign for our system.

Mike Hills, a driver from Wyoming, Iowa, said he also would shut down to support Little and the others -- if he could.

"I can't strike with them because I'm company," he said while at the Walcott truck stop. "If I owned the truck, I'd strike with them. As far as I'm concerned, the gas prices are driving the economy.

"It might be a good thing if the drivers strike. They can't make payments. Maybe if the oil companies bought all the trucks, things would change. Everything in this country is trucked."

Enough for Hugo, enough for the UAE, enough for the Al Sabah, enough for the Al Saud, and enough for the mullahs.

Other sources, other modalities, research NOW. It's been 35 years.


MORE HERE


2 comments:

Michael Travis said...

That's OK, we'll just use Mexican trucks....their fuel is subsidised and anyway, they far cheaper to hire than those damned American drivers. (A "living wage" means different things to different nationalities).

Ray Boyd said...

Only $4 a gallon! I just bought a gallon of diesel - that's all I could afford - and it cost me £5.10 and that's just over $10 a gallon. Mind you an imperial gallon is a bit more than a US gallon so I guess it would come out at $10.