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Sep 6, 2016

TRUCKERS' BLOCKADE * France & UK BORDER, against TRUCKERS' JUNGLE migrant camp

* Calais - Truckers' Jungle migrant camp protest flops as holidaymakers are simply diverted around their roadblock

(Video by REPORTERBOX - Sep 5, 2016Calais is bracing itself for a week of severe disruption as French truckers begin a seven-day blockade of the port as they call for the closure of the Jungle migrant camp. Under light rain, around 80 trucks began a 'go-slow' on the A16 motorway - the main artery for freight and passengers heading for Britain either via the port or Channel Tunnel) 

--- French truckers who planned to cause chaos at the port of Calais have had their protest against the Jungle migrant camp branded a flop as holidaymakers have been simply diverted around their roadblock... The town, in northen France, had been bracing itself for a week of severe distruption after truckers, farmers and business owners vowed to cut off the port in protest at the makeshift migrant camp... There had also been fears that the blockade would also cause chaos in Kent, if ferries were to stop running, forcing Operation Stack on the M20 to be put into place. But with sailings running on time, the M20 was also operating as normal... The protest began this morning under light rain when around 80 trucks began a 'go-slow' on the A16 motorway - the main artery for freight and passengers heading for Britain either via the port or Channel Tunnel... Farmers also joined the demonstration on their tractors as up to 500 people joined a 'human chain' protest in the blockade dubbed 'Operation Snail'...
... The truckers insist they will keep protesting until they receive a date when the Jungle camp, now home to 10,000 migrants, will be torn down... Local residents also say they makeshift camp is a blight on their businesses, and that those living there are involved in every kind of crime, from theft to attacking delivery lorries and trespassing on farm land. They are also demanding that British authorities stop fining drivers £2,000 per migrant found in their lorries... The truckers want him to come up with an exact timetable... Migrants have resorted to increasingly violent measures to try to get on to UK-bound trucks... Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart who said: 'There might be chaos and disorder on Monday but this is for a good cause. We want things to change. There is chaos every day and every night. We want the French government to take its responsibilities and put an end to this particularly difficult time we are facing' ... Criminal gangs are adopting new methods to smuggle migrants into the UK – including throwing items at cars to try to make them crash... Richard Burnett, of the Road Haulage Association, said the protesters were 'in it for the long haul', adding that it will bring 'further misery' for British hauliers and locals in Kent... 
Calais, France - The Daily Mail, by JENNIFER NEWTON/PETER ALLEN & ARTHUR MARTIN - 5 September 2016

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Apr 23, 2016

MANDATORY MINIMUM CHARGES * Australia: RSRT abolition

* ACT - Victory for owner drivers with RSRT abolition
 -- Owner drivers and small trucking businesses across Australia have secured a great victory, with the Australian Parliament voting to abolish the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT) late on Monday... Drivers from across Australia travelled to Canberra to take part in two days of truck convoys and rallies calling for the abolition of the Tribunal and its devastating payments order... ATA CEO Chris Melham said the decision would save thousands of small businesses... The abolition act commenced on Thursday 21 April...
(Image) -- Canberra, ACT, Australia - ATA Friday Facts - 22 April 2016

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Apr 19, 2016

OWNER-DRIVER * Australia: ROAD SAFETY PAY

* Western Australia - Independent contractors will do have their prices fixed by the government


... The modern danger to workers in Australia is the increasing pattern of collusion between big business and big unions, which sell out workers' interests so as to boost union membership. The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption revealed, this is the preferred business model of Australia's alternative prime minister, Bill Shorten... As head of the Australian Workers Union (AWU), Shorten signed off on a deal which bargained away wages and conditions of employees at a company called Cleanevent. The deal undercut the award rates of pay by $10 per hour per person, costing an estimated 5000 employees a total of about $400 million in lost wages. In return it represented a significant saving for the management of Cleanevent... The creation of the RSRT in 2012 – under Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten – was an amplification and codification of this approach... Under the terms of the Road Safety Remuneration Act 2012, the RSRT has the power to set the prices which long-haul and interstate owner-driver truckies must charge. After almost four years the RSRT has just issued its first determination in relation to payments for owner-drivers. Its decision will massively increase 'safe rates' that must be paid to owner-drivers to such an extent it threatens the viability of up to 80 per cent of the nation's estimated 35,000 owner-drivers... The real kicker is that the increased rates apply only to owner-drivers. Curiously, large trucking companies with employee drivers are not required to pay the massively inflated 'safe rates'... Put simply, those who own and operate their trucking businesses as independent contractors are having their prices fixed by the government... In a staggering coincidence, the workforce of large trucking companies is where much of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) membership can be found. Unless the RSRT is abolished, those wishing to work as truckies will be forced to do so as employees of the big trucking companies, and probably also as members of the TWU. Of course, this was Bill Shorten's desire – a ménage a trois of big business, big unions and big government... The impact of Bill Shorten's TWU membership drive extends beyond Australia's owner-drivers to the kitchen table of every Australian by forcing up the prices of household goods and groceries... 
(Photo by Arsineh Houspian - Truck drivers will be forced into union membership by RSRT pay decision)   --  Perth, W.A., Australia - Financial Review, by Dean Smith - Apr 18 2016

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Apr 18, 2016

* AUSSIE TRUCKERS PROTEST

* ACT - Truck drivers take to Canberra roads in protest over pay rates
(Photo ABC News, by Alexandra Beec h- Trucks honk their horns on their way to Parliament House this morning)

  -- A convoy of more than 200 trucks has travelled through Canberra to protest against new minimum pay rates mandated by the Road Safety Renumeration Tribunal (RSRT)... The Federal Government is pushing to axe the RSRT when Parliament resumes on Monday, following the independent body's attempt to introduce new pay rates for truck drivers... Some crossbenchers have urged the Government to give it priority over its bid to get the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) Bill through the Upper House... Employees who drive for big fleets like Lindsay Fox and Toll are already covered under an award rate system, and the Transport Workers' Union says contractors need the new rate to compete and stay safe on the roads... 
(Photo ABC News, by Alexandra Beech - Truck drivers say the changes will send them bankrupt within months)

... But so-called owner truck drivers argue the obligation to charge clients to cover the increased pay rates will force thousands of them out of business... Truck driver Gordon Mackinlay said the new rates would send small operators broke within months... The group made its way through the outskirts of the ACT and arrived at Parliament House on Sunday morning... Government plans to abolish tribunal...
Canberra, ACT, Australia - ABC Net News - 17 April 2016

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Apr 16, 2016

MANDATORY MINIMUM CHARGES * Australia: Inferences

* What do US studies say?  

"The evidence is that if you ensure that people travel safely in terms of safe rates you will get proper outcomes … you will get improved safety" Anthony Albanese

-- Checking the source 

- When asked for evidence to support his statement, Albanese’s spokesman referred The Conversation to Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Brendan O'Connor, to the 2016 Review of the Road Safety Remuneration System conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the Commonwealth government: 
* "Drivers are likely to benefit the most [from tribunal orders] due to increased remuneration and fewer road accidents, followed by government and members of society who face costs following road crashes, and will therefore benefit from an improvement in safety." 

 - An Australian study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology in 2007 analysed drug use by drivers in both surveys and concluded that:  
* "The strongest predictors of drug use were payment based on the amount of work completed and fatigue reported as a major problem … The strong association of payment by results and low pay with drug use among Australian long-distance truck drivers is consistent with other research suggesting that economic factors are an important influence on health and safety in the workplace." 

 - Another survey of Australian heavy vehicle drivers published in 2014 found: 
* "Piece-rate compensation methods were associated with higher levels of fatigue-related driving than non-piece-rate methods. Follow-up analysis also revealed higher caffeine and amphetamines use among piece-rate drivers for the purpose of staying awake while driving" 

Conclusions 

 1 - Michael Quinlan: Director of the Industrial Relations Research Centre, UNSW Australia 
-- A US paper published in 2002 found that driver pay has a strong effect on safety outcomes... Nonetheless, the research findings are clear and consistent... Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Anthony Albanese, was correct. There is persuasive evidence of a connection between truck driver pay and safety 

 2 - Studies by Michael H. Belzer: Associate Professor, Economics, Wayne State University 
-- My team performed for the US Department of Transportation Federal Motor Carrier Administration in 2002 demonstrated that higher compensation led to significantly safer truck driver performance. For every 10% more in truck driver mileage pay rate, a very large American truckload carrier found that the probability that a driver would have a crash declined 40%... Research shows this effect is true across carriers. A cross-sectional study of 102 non-union truckload motor carriers found that for every 10% increase in truckie compensation, carriers' crash rates were 9.2% lower... In sum, there is ample evidence that supports the relationship between compensation and safety in trucking and across other modes. In my own work, I see it in intercity buses. In others’ work, I see it in airlines and even in rail...

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Apr 13, 2016

MANDATORY MINIMUM CHARGES Australia: * Truckers' protests -- ** Government move back

* Queensland - Truckers unite in convoy against planned changes
-- Richard Easey has been in the trucking industry for 25 years, but now he's worried he's going to struggle... The owner of Easy Haul, a Gracemere-based company, was joined by around 60 people yesterday to protest the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT)... Under the system, the RSRT set pay and related conditions for road transport drivers in the road transport industry... It was initially implemented to improve safety for truck drivers by reducing deadline pressure, but Richard said that simply wasn't true... Richard said about 40% of Central Queensland businesses rely on goods delivered by owner-operator truckers, making any downturn a negative consequence for the whole community... The Federal Government is moving to push the start date of the tribunal's fixed rate contract regulation, which was due to commence this month, back to 2017 after two reviews of the RSRT recommended the system be abolished... 
 (Image by Allan Reinikka/Rokaconvoy - HARD TRUCKIN’: Richard Easey speaks at a convoy to protest against RSRT) -- Rockhampton, QNLD, Australia - The Morning Bulletin, by Trinette Stevens - 12th Apr 2016


** ACT - Coalition pushes for immediate abolition of truck driver pay tribunal

-- The government will introduce legislation next week to immediately abolish a tribunal that sets minimum pay rates for truck owner-drivers... The government originally planned to delay the tribunal’s minimum pay order until January 2017 and then abolish the tribunal after the election... On Tuesday evening the government decided to introduce legislation in the sitting week starting on 18 April to abolish the tribunal immediately. If that fails the government will settle for a bill delaying the order and abolish the tribunal after the election...
(Photo by Dean Lewins/AAP: Malcolm Turnbull and Michaelia Cash. The employment minister said the government’s plan would be ‘a test of leadership for Bill Shorten’) -- Canberra, ACT, Australia - The Guardian, by Paul Karp - 12 April 2016

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Apr 11, 2016

MANDATORY MINIMUM CHARGES * Australia: Turnbull says his government will abolish they

* ACT - Turnbull pushes for National Trucking Tribunal to be dumped if Coalition wins election


-- Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, says his government will abolish the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal if the coalition is re-elected at the upcoming election... The tribunal was set up by the previous Labor government and is responsible for pay and safety in the trucking industry. It was recently responsible for setting new minimum pay rates for owner-operator truck drivers... Speaking on Sunday, Turnbull said the Coalition planned to scrap the body, saying its decisions were putting mum-and-dad operators out of business... The Transport Workers' Union argues trucking contractors need better pay to compete and stay safe on the roads... Turnbull said it was time the tribunal was dumped after a number of critical reports... 
 Canberra, ACT, Australia - The Huffington Post Australia, by Sam McKeith - 10 April 2016


 * ACT - Malcolm Turnbull using truck drivers ‘as pawns’ in election strategy, say crossbenchers

-- Senators say prime minister’s plan to abolish road safety remuneration tribunal leaves owner-drivers in limbo... Malcolm Turnbull is using the livelihood of family-run trucking companies as a political football before the election, members of the Senate crossbench have warned... The government would introduce legislation to freeze pay in the interim, opening up another industrial relations battleground with the unions... But at least two key crossbenchers say the move puts owner-driver truck drivers, typically from small or family-owned businesses, in limbo... “The Turnbull government is just trying to buy votes and they are prepared to use mum and dad truckies as pawns in their own election campaign,” independent senator, Glenn Lazarus, wrote on his Facebook page. “Owner-drivers are being decimated now. This should not be an election issue. This is an issue which should be solved now - not in August - not after an election” ... Labor instigated the tribunal on the grounds that giving drivers minimum pay would reduce the need for them to work unsafe hours or cut corners in order to expedite deliveries... “The truth of the matter is that most drivers or many drivers in this industry are not even members of the union,” the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, said. “But all drivers are entitled to a safe system of work” ...
 (Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP - Senators Jacqui Lambie, Glenn Lazarus and Nick Xenophon. Lazarus says he is ‘disgusted’ by the prospect of dragging out the abolition of the tribunal) -- Canberra, ACT, Australia - The Guardian, by Shalailah Medhora - 10 April 2016


* NT - Backs delay on truckers' minimum pay

-- The Northern Territory government says it's "common sense" for its federal counterpart's to delay the introduction of new minimum pay rates for truck owner-drivers. Federal Employment Minister, Michaela Cash, has announced that the government will introduce legislation next week to prevent mandatory minimum rates for owner-drivers taking effect before January 1. "Our priority is protecting owner-drivers in the trucking industry and as it stands, the order put forward by the National Road Safety Tribunal threatens these drivers and all who rely on an efficient and competitive road transport industry," NT Transport Minister, Peter Chandler, said on Monday. Chief Minister Adam Giles said repealing that decision was "common sense". "The tribunal's order would lead to price increases and would be likely to have an adverse effect on competition in the sector," he said. NT Road Transport Association President Michael Swart said the order was "anti-competitive and will destroy small family businesses who make up the bulk of owner-drivers in the NT". He said there was "no proven link between pay and safety" and that other laws already dealt with safety in the industry... 
 (Photo: Minimum pay rates for truck owner-drivers are anti-competitive, the NT government says) -- Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia - AAP/Yahoo News - April 11, 2016

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Apr 9, 2016

MANDATORY MINIMUM CHARGES * Australia: CONTROVERSIAL, FOR OWNER DRIVERS

* ACT - Trucking industry divided after controversial RSRO changes stopped at the last minute


-- A last minute stoppage of controversial changes for owner-drivers in the trucking industry has deepened the divide between the sector, the union and politicians... The Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal was set to introduce mandatory minimum charges for transport contracts aimed at improving safety and therefore preventing heavy vehicle fatalities... The changes have been opposed by some trucking associations who have said thousands of people would be forced out of business if the changes came into being... Due to take effect on the April 4 2016, the changes would bring owner-drivers in line with the union award requirements and could see fines of $54,000 if drivers failed to comply... The employment minister, Michaelia Cash, denied there was a link between pay and safety, saying the owner-drivers feared the minimum rates they would have to charge for their services would put their jobs at risk... The Federal Government today announced it would be introducing legislation when parliament returns, to gain clarity on the issue... In a statement the Minister for Employment Senator Michaelia Cash said this legislation, if passed by the Senate, will provide certainty for the trucking industry, while reform options for the Road Safety Remuneration system were considered by the Government... 
(Photograph: David Crosling/AAP - The employment minister denies there is a link between payment of minimum rates for truck owner-drivers and road safety)  --  Canberra, ACT, Australia - ABC Rural, by Arlie Felton-Taylor - 4 April 2016 


** Queensland - Opponents of the changes say they could affect up to 70,000 owner operators

-- Small business groups say the rules will make competing with big business even more difficult... This is because owner-operator truck drivers will not be able to set their own minimum price for services... Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Kate Carnell, told SmartCompany the regulations threaten the livelihoods of up to 70,000 small business owners... Carnell says this consultation process needs to happen as quickly as possible so the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal and the Federal Court can see the impact these new rules will have on small business owners... “The thing that’s missing from the debate at the moment is these family businesses,” she says, “It’s their houses they’re going to lose. This needs to be ramped up pretty quickly because, fairly obviously, it will be a real disaster if this ruling [by the tribunal] goes ahead in its current form” ... 
-- Big Rig Magazine, asked readers, what they thought and the results showed that the majority did agree that the rates need to improve but that the Order needs to apply to the whole industry... Only 2% of respondents thought that rates don’t need to increase and 3% said they were happy with the order as it is... What we can see quite clearly with results like these is that the industry wants better rates across the board, and it’s now a matter of waiting to find out whether legal interpretations of the Order such as barrister Jardine’s are adopted...　
(Photo by Carly Morrissey - Raymond Cooper driving for Grayson's Haulage at the Anti-RSRT convoy, BP Archerfield April 3)  --  Brisbane, QNLD, Australia - Smart Company, by BROEDE CARMODY - April 4 2016 - 


*** ATA to lead Canberra RSRO protest convoy 

 -- The Australian Trucking Association will lead the way in a Convoy to Canberra on Monday 18 April to protest the introduction of the Contractor Driver Minimum Payments Road Safety Remuneration Order 2016 (RSRO)... The RSRO came into effect yesterday afternoon, after the Federal Court decided not to continue a stay on the order... ATA Chief Executive, Christopher Melham, said the Order would have a devastating impact on tens of thousands of owner-drivers and other small operators... “The ATA is proud to organise this Convoy to Canberra. It’s essential that Ministers and Senators understand just how many small operators will be threatened by this payments order” ... Further information about the convoy will be announced early next week... Canberra, ACT, Australia - ATA Friday Facts - 8 April 2016

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Jan 9, 2016

TRUCKERS' COMPLAINTS & PROTESTS * Russia

* Moscow - For protesting russian truckers, A Christmas far from home

  (Video from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty - Jan 7, 2016: A small group of Russian truck drivers have been staging a protest at an Ikea parking lot since December 2, voicing their opposition to a new road-tax collection system which they say will drive them out of business. Their protests meant spending Orthodox Christmas at the freezing site)

 -- After dark in the frigid parking lot of an Ikea outlet north of Moscow, in the trailer of a grubby white truck heated by a generator, a dozen men are sitting in winter coats and hats watching a Soviet blockbuster on a projector... They intend to stay until spring -- or longer -- to protest a new road-tax-collection system called Platon that they say will drive them out of business... With its 10 or so parked trucks draped with banners lambasting the road tax and the state media that has largely ignored their protest action, the encampment in Khimki, 20 kilometers north of Moscow, makes for a forlorn but defiant spectacle... Alutai says he has no intention of abandoning his protest in the face of the cold temperatures that have dropped to -16 degrees Celsius. "I've already got nothing to lose," he says... Ivan Alutai, a 31-year-old trucker from Petrozavodsk, far north of Moscow, who owns his own truck and is self-employed, says that the tax will severely erode his profits. He's also angry that the payment collection system is run by a company controlled by a son of Arkady Rotenberg, an old friend and judo sparring partner of Putin... 
Khimki, North Moscow, Russia Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, by Tom Balmforth - 7 Jan 2016

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May 18, 2015

TRUCKERS' PROTEST & DEMANDS * USA: “None of the panelists on this stage sit behind the wheel of a truck..."

* Virginia - Truckers demand about the port congestion strategy


... At the Virginia International Trade Symposium, truck-driving men and women in shirtsleeves marched in protest on the streets outside...   Truckers told that the port is taking the wrong approach and they’ve been left out... Their sense of exclusion has escalated in recent months as the port has experienced off-and-on near-unprecedented congestion, when the port shut down for four consecutive days after a winter storm. Productivity on the Virginia waterfront since then has dropped 50 percent, by some estimates... Despite the port authorities claims that congestion has been easing, truck drivers said they still wait in hours-long lines at terminals port-wide. While average times have improved, John Andersen, an independent owner-operator protesting with fellow truck drivers says, wait times and turn times are now exceedingly variable, six hours at some terminals, two hours at others. It makes planning a day and running a business nearly impossible, he said... Some drivers have pushed for an hourly surcharge for owner-operators — what stakeholders at Thursday’s symposium called “impractical” ...   “But none of these drivers got into this to work for free,” George Berry, the founder of grassroots group For Truckers By Truckers told a panel "Be warned, the shippers and carriers sitting on the symposium’s panel that they would only see more truck drivers leave the industry altogether if something were not done. Aging drivers, tougher government regulations and waning interest in the industry among younger Americans have fueled an exodus of sorts from the trucking sector"...  Driver turnover rates — the rate of drivers changing companies or leaving the industry altogether — was as high as 90 percent in 2014... Berry add,  “None of the panelists on this stage sit behind the wheel of a truck... If we’re as important as you say we are, we need to sit on every panel you have.” ... 
 (Photo: Truck drivers frustrated with Port of Virginia congestion protested on Thursday outside the Virginia Internaitonal Trade Symposium)  --  Norfolk, VA, USA - J.O.C., by Reynolds Hutchins - May 14, 2015

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Apr 20, 2015

TRUCKERS' PROTEST * USA: Plan to keep tractor-trailers off streets

* North Carolina - Trucker protested Navassa's proposed ordinance

  --  Tempers flared at the Navassa Town Council meeting this week as trucker after trucker protested Navassa's proposed ordinance to keep tractor-trailers off its streets... The ordinance would prevent tractor-trailers from traveling on most of the town's primary streets and connecting roads as well as ban parking and overnight parking. Truckers who violate the law could be fined up to $500...The truckers and other residents at Tuesday's meeting accused the council of interfering with people's livelihoods. Many of the truckers own their own tractor-trailers and park them on their own property. In their eyes, driving their trucks to and from their homes is equivalent to commuting to a business. Preventing truckers from getting to and from work, or charging them a high fine for doing so, interferes with their ability to make a living, they said. Other residents agreed with them... The truckers also said their trucks were not to blame for excessive road damage. Many other big trucks, such as the 18-wheelers that travel to the railroads daily and construction trucks, do as much damage to the roads as the residents' tractor-trailers, said trucker Jerry Merrick...
(Photo)  --  Navassa, NC ,USA - The Star News Online, by Lynda Van Kuren - April 17, 2015

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Sep 22, 2010

TRUCKERS' STRIKE & CRISIS WORLDWIDE

* Greece - Enters Second Strike Week. Hundreds rally in Athens before vote. Parliament sets deregulation vote in face of protests. Protesting truck drivers refuse to back down

Athens,Greece -Reuters/eKathimerini, by YIORGOS KARAHALIS -21 Sept 2010: ... More than 2,000 truck drivers caused traffic chaos in central Athens yesterday after converging for a protest rally outside Parliament, where lawmakers were discussing controversial reforms to open up their sector to competition, due to be voted into law today... Police stopped the truckers from driving their vehicles into the city center, as some had planned to do, but hundreds left their trucks parked alongside highways on the outskirts of the city... Unionists said yesterday that they would continue their opposition to the implementation of the reforms, which they say will devalue their operating licenses and force thousands out of the sector as new truckers come in... The truck drivers' work stoppage, which enters its ninth day today, has yet to affect fuel supplies at gas stations. But supplies of other goods have been hit. In Thessaloniki, pharmaceutical wholesalers were reportedly running low on supplies yesterday. On many Aegean islands and other parts of the country, stores are low on basic supplies. Meanwhile, at the country's main port of Piraeus, more than 3,000 containers are waiting to be collected...


* USA / PROTEST - Teamster women march in downtown Minneapolis

Minneapolis,MINN,USA -Work Day Minnesota, by Deborah Rosenstein -19 September 2010: -- Some 800 Teamsters, in the Twin Cities for a national Teamsters Women’s Conference, filled Peavey Plaza Friday to protest corporate greed and call for action to address the nation’s unemployment crisis... Women now make 82 cents for every dollar men earn, a smaller gap than in the past, but women’s wages aren’t really improving – men have fared worse in the current recession...
Kim Keller, deputy director of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters’ Organizing Department, led the crowd in holding their thumbs down in front of the Target Corporation building to protest the company’s campaign donations to Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, who is advocating more cuts in public services to pay for lower corporate taxes... (Photos by Deborah Rosenstein -1. Above: Minnesota Teamsters joined Joint Council 32 President Sue Mauren -center, in gray suit- at the rally. -2. Below: Members joined in singing "We Were There")


* European austerity affects pensioners, royals

Madrid,Spain & Paris France -The Associated Press/The News Tribune, by DANIEL WOOLLS & JAMEY KEATON -19 Sept 2010: -- French workers and Spanish royalty became the latest to feel the bite of Europe’s debt crisis last week as officials said the king and queen would have to tighten their belts and France’s National Assembly voted to delay retirement until the ripe old age of 62... Spaniards largely welcomed word that their monarchs are feeling their pain, but anger flared across the border as French lawmakers overcame vocal protests to send to the Senate a sweeping overhaul of the retirement plan, including a highly contested measure to extend working life beyond 60... The vote puts France on track to become the latest country to require workers to stay on the job longer. Germany is set to raise its retirement age over the coming years from 65 to 67 to offset a shrinking, aging population, and the United States is gradually doing the same... Spain is doing the same, enraging unions that are planning Spain’s first general strike in nearly a decade for Sept. 29 to denounce competition-minded reforms that make it easier and cheaper for companies to lay people off... Spain is trying to chip away at a 20 percent unemployment rate and generate growth – and to avoid letting its deficit push Spain off the cliff Greece almost went over in May, when it was saved by a 110-billion-euro ($143.5 billion) EU and IMF rescue package... Europe’s other royals appear less inclined to emergency frugality. In the Netherlands, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima want to tear down postwar farmhouses to build three villas at a reported cost of 6 million euros each. And the Swedish royal court got 7 percent more money in 2010... (Photo by FRANCOIS MORI/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - French Unionists gather at Paris’ Place de la Concorde in front of France’s National Assembly, in background at left, last week to protest over plans to reform pensions)


* UK - Debt crisis threatens European welfare state

London,UK -The Associated Press/The News Tribune, by MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN -21 Sept 2010: -- Six weeks of vacation a year. Retirement at 60. Thousands of euros for having a baby. A good university education for less than the cost of a laptop... The system known as the European welfare state was built after World War II as the keystone of a shared prosperity meant to prevent future conflict. Generous lifelong benefits have since become a defining feature of modern Europe...

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Dec 10, 2009

TRUCKERS' PROTEST * USA - Form convoy over emissions requirement

A new law goes into effect next month that could force thousands of trucks that haul goods from the Port of Oakland to park their rigs or face big fines

Sacramento,CA,USA -(SEE VIDEO)KGO-TV/DT, by Nannette Miranda -9 Dec 2009: ... However, truckers rallied in Sacramento on Wednesday, saying the new restrictions are too much to take on in these tough economic times... Truckers from the Port of Oakland led a convoy to Sacramento to protest a new law that forces 40,000 of the state's oldest and dirtiest trucks to reduce diesel emissions next month. Another one million must comply by 2011... Citing the weak economy with many trucks sitting idle during this recession, the trucking industry asked the California Air Resources Board to delay the law because the cost to replace or retrofit a fleet is bank-breaking... The board, though, will re-do the science over the next few weeks and may consider giving the trucking industry more flexibility with the bad economy in mind, before the second wave of big-rigs must comply... (Photo by Spencer Brown, from assets.bizjournals: Trucks with engines built before 1994 will be banned from the Port of Oakland starting next year)

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Nov 14, 2009

PROTESTING TRUCKERS * USA - Snarl traffic on 710 Freeway and in downtown L.A.

Blasting their horns while driving past City Hall, more than 400 big-rig drivers try to draw attention to new environmental rules that they say threaten their livelihoods

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Los Angeles Times, by Seema Mehta -November 14, 2009: -- Hundreds of protesting truck drivers slowed traffic Friday on the 710 Freeway and blasted their horns while driving past Los Angeles City Hall to draw attention to new environmental rules they say threaten their livelihoods... More than 400 truckers protested new restrictions in the year-old Clean Truck Program, a pollution-reduction effort credited with cutting diesel truck emissions by 70% at the Port of Los Angeles and a similar amount at the Port of Long Beach... Starting Jan. 1, all trucks built before 1994 will be barred from the ports, as will trucks built from 1994 to 2003 that have not been retrofitted to reduce emissions... Retrofitting one truck can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and buying a new truck costs more than $100,000... Sofia Quiñones of the National Port Drivers Assn., which represents thousands of independent truckers said tens of millions of dollars in grants have been awarded to trucking companies to help green their fleets, but none has been given to independent drivers who own their rigs... The trucking industry is challenging this provision in the courts, saying it is aimed at unionizing independent truckers... (Photo by Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times: Independent truckers who say their livelihood of hauling port cargo is threatened are cheered on as they pass L.A. City Hall, which is reflected in the new Los Angeles Police Department headquarters)

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Jul 4, 2009

TRUCKERS' PROTEST * Dominicana Rep. - Protesting confiscations, truckers shutter major Dominican ports

“Abuse"... The trucks were retained in West Haina Port by DGA agents

Santo Domingo,Dominican Rep. -Dominican Today -3 July 2009: -- The truckers’ union Fenatrado Thursday afternoon halted transport in five of the country’s ports, to protest the Customs Agency’s (DGA) confiscation of four of its trucks... The trucks were retained in West Haina Port after DGA agents found a load of coal which hadn’t paid the import taxes... The stoppage, staged from 1 p.m. till after 5 p.m., affected the East Haina, Haina Occidental, San Pedro, Puerto Plata and Caucedo ports... The truckers lifted the blockade after Dominican Port Authority director Sigfrido Pared ordered the release of the trucks, but after leaving the coal in a Customs warehouse... Said Fenatrado president Blas Peralta, this action is common in the country’s ports, as Customs, instead of penalizing the companies which own the freight reacts against truck drivers. “When a businessman doesn’t pay the taxes then they want us to pay.”... (Photo elnuevodiario.com.do: The truckers parked their rigs)

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Mar 2, 2009

Truck Driver Protest * Canada - Planned For Monday Rush Hour

Toronto,ONT,Canada - CityNews.ca -March 1, 2009: -- Truck drivers are taking their rigs to Queen's Park Monday in a protest against speed limiters that were made mandatory earlier this year... The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association isn't pleased and some 200 drivers are planning two convoys that will arrive at the Ontario legislature around 11am... The first will start in Cambridge, travelling across the 401 to the 427 and making its way into downtown Toronto along the Gardiner Expressway. The other begins at the 401 in Bowmanville, travels south along the DVP and will take Richmond Street into the core...

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Jan 6, 2009

PROTEST * USA - Region 8 Truckers React to High Diesel Prices

Jonesboro,AR,USA -KAIT, by Josh Harvison -Jan 5, 2009: -- A price difference in regular gasoline and diesel fuel has Region 8 truckers upset. In Jonesboro, the price of regular unleaded is $1.39 in some places. Diesel fuel is $2.29 at those same places. In recent months, regular gasoline has plummeted from all-time highs this summer, but diesel fuel prices remain high... (SEE VIDEO)

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PROTEST * Philippines - Pampanga quarry truckers protest trucking ordinance

Pampanga,Philippines -ABS-CBN NEWS -5 Jan 2009: -- ... More than a hundred truckers conducted a noise barrage outside the Pampanga capitol Monday to protest an ordinance that seeks to stop overloading among commercial quarry trucks in the province... The Federation of Pampanga Truckers Inc. (FPTI) drove their trucks outside the Pampanga capitol and conducted a noise barrage outside the building to protest Ordinance 261... FPTI interim president Dong Laxamana said the protest was not meant to cause disturbance at the provincial capitol but to urge Panlilio to stop the implementation of the ordinance. Ordinance 261 seeks to prevent commercial quarry trucks from overloading sand by instituting measures like reducing truck height, removal of truck axle, among others...

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Nov 29, 2008

TRUCKERS' PROTESTS * USA - Hundreds of trucks protest in central NY village

Skaneateles,NY,USA -WSTM-TV -November 28, 2008: -- All's quiet again in Skaneateles following a noisy demonstration by a large group of truckers upset about plans to restrict truck travel on some Finger Lakes region roads... About 300 trucks cruised through the main street of the lakeside village about 20 miles southwest of Syracuse early Friday afternoon. The convoy was greeted by hundreds of supporters who lined Route 20 through the village... Many cheered as the truckers blared their horns and waved at the crowd. State Police, Onondaga County Sheriff's deputies and Skaneateles Police monitored the protest and directed traffic. State transportation officials are considering new rules that would ban most trucks from Skaneateles and other area roads, mostly along U.S. Route 20... SEE VIDEO -(Photo: The auburnspub: Trucks roll through Skaneateles to loud cheers)

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