![[Valid Atom 1.0]](valid-atom.png "Validate my Atom 1.0 feed")
FUEL COST TROUBLES * USA - Truck drivers threaten US strikes
* Trucker “Shut Down” to Occur April 1
USA -culture/garage, by Jim -March 26, 2008: -- ... Dan Little, an independent trucker, has put together a shutdown that is limited to one-day, in the hopes of raising awareness to the plight of small-and-independent truck drivers... Little, who has been trucking for a number of years, has seen fuel prices triple in his one-truck operation, from $20,000 per year to $60,000 per year. For an independent trucker, costs like this are enough to scuttle business... Little, in an interview said that he wants the government to “…simply suspend the fuel taxes on trucks, to allow these owner-operators with the current fuel surcharge to keep going.”...
* "I'm going to strike for our respect. They forget who moves the country"
LAKE STATION, Indiana -Agence France-Presse/ABS CBN News (Philippines) -26 Mar 2008: -- At truck stops across the United States, a low grumbling about high fuel costs is growing into threats of nationwide strikes... But so far, nobody has been able to settle on a date for pulling the big rigs off the road... And then there is the issue of trying to create some solidarity among an inherently independent class of people... There are rumors of trucking strikes nearly every year, said Clayton Boyce, a spokesman for the American Trucking Association which represents companies... Organizers say it is different this time. In the weeks since Dan Little, an independent livestock hauler based in Missouri, posted a call to action on his website, thousands of truckers have contacted him saying they want to join the shutdown and others have told him that they are organizing protests of their own in Georgia, California and Pennsylvania... But for many of the truckers on the road, the problem goes beyond pure economics and is instead an issue of respect and a desire to return to the days when trucking was a respected, well-paying job... "I started trucking when it was 43 cents a gallon and we were making money like doctors. Now we're making money like Burger King (workers)," said James Talley, 59, who sold his rig and took a job driving for a small operator in 2003 because he could not make ends meet... (Photo by Zbigniew Bzdak/The Chicago Tribune - Trucker Chris Petty heads to his rig after eating breakfast. Petty hauls animal feed, a product that brings him a better rate than some other truckers)* Whispers grow of nationwide truckers strike
Rapid City,SD,USA -The Rapid City Journal -March 26, 2008: -- 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 throughout the United States have committed so far to joining him in a strike on April 1... 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... Mike Hills, a driver from Wyoming, Iowa, said he also would shut down to support Little and the others — if he could... Keith Deblieck, the owner of a trucking company out of Geneseo, Ill., said that, for many drivers, the time for a strike has come... Little said he has no other choice... (Photo: Almost 800 fill-up)* Truckers Discuss Possible Strike Over Fuel Prices
Denver,CO,USA -CBS4, by Terry Jessup -26 Mar 2008: -- Diesel prices are climbing higher and higher and truckers say it’s getting too expensive to stay in business. Now, there is talk of a strike to grab people’s attention... Across the country, more and more truckers are calling for a nationwide strike on April 1.... “We stay out three days to a week, I think maybe people will start listening to us, because without our trucks, America stops,” Texas truck driver Pat Dreher said. “That’s just the way it is.”... “It would only take one day for us for people to understand what effect these drivers would have,” Kentucky truck driver Jennifer Kloc said. “Everything comes on a truck.”... (Photo: "Filling-up")Labels: truckers' strikes
posted by Unknown @ 3:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home