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Truck Driving Strike

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

In Johannesburg, South Africa, they are seeing trouble with their truck drivers.  The union truckers in the middle of February plan a nationwide strike.  This strike is due to the union requesting fewer hours, better insurance, a housing allowance, and a 20% pay rise before 2013.  The South African Allied Transport Worker’s Union (SATAWU) is the biggest union in the trucking industry in Africa and has a heavy pull.  June Dube, the South African Allied Transport Worker’s Union first deputy president, was quoted in the arabnews.com as stating: “We don’t think our demands are unjustified.  Other sectors received increases above 10 percent and our demands are fair.”

If this strike proceeds, people fear that food prices will rise in Africa and the seaports will be in traffic jams.  If this case, it would hurt their fragile economic environment even more.

The people are hoping that the law mandated mediation would stop the strike before it happens and there will be no strike.  Luckily, the company wants to be a part of the negotiations.  But unfortunately, the unions are rejecting the 7.5% pay increase, which does not make the peaceful mediation look too promising.

The African Truckers strike brings back memories for the trucking industry from the Greece Truckers strike back in September of 2010.  Although both strikes are based on two different economic reasons, there is similarity in the outcome of the strike.  Both countries fear a rise in food prices and loss of transportation of product.

We here in the United States are fortunate that we have not seen such strikes in the trucking industry.  Such an incident would hurt our fragile economy even more.  The United States truck trailers carried 70% of all US products in 2002.  If truck drivers came together and went on strike, we would be in a situation like Greece last year.  Truck drivers our valued driver and necessity to a stable economy.

http://arabnews.com/world/article244465.ece

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2010/07/26/greece-truckers-idUKLDE66P0M020100726

http://www.memphis.edu/cifts/pdfs/Freight_Baseline.pdf

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Heavier Truck Hauls Is One Way to Stimulate the Ohio Economy

Monday, September 13th, 2010

Ohioans are looking for ways to kick-start their economy and one direction they are looking affects the agriculture economy. Governor Ted Strickland and his administration has an idea that some believe will work. To change the weight limit from 80,000 lbs. to 94,000 lbs. on trucks that transport international cargo containers on Ohio highways.

In an article found on AP Associated Press and written by Matt Leingang, this idea is coming from state agriculture lobbyists who are looking for ways to help the agriculture economy survive the slow recovery in our U.S. economy. Particularly the corn and soybean farmers, who are struggling to survive.

The State of Ohio Department of Transportation is struggling with the idea of more weight on the roads. It will incur more costs on their department for road maintenance, which is already at $144 million. At this time, the trucking companies in Ohio pay around $97 million a year through taxes and overweight fees. This means that residents of Ohio pay the rest of $45 million per year. Other opponents include the railroad that competes for freight.

The article showed an interesting competitive disadvantage that there are some states out there like Illinois and Virginia that have higher weight limits around them, thus not allowing Ohio, at this time, to compete with exports to Asian countries. Chris Henney, the Ohio Farm Bureau director of legislative relations, has this concern in mind and is hoping that the new weight can be approved by harvest in October and allowing Ohioans to compete on a more equal level as that of their local state neighbors.

Jack Shaner, Ohio’s Environmental Council, understands the need to stimulate Ohio’s economy, but wants to take time to analyze the affect of heavier trucks on the roads slowly before jumping into a decision. He is concerned with energy use, air emissions, and pavement impact.

This is just a short discussion on the issue. Certainly the issue may grow as more states approve the higher limits. Certainly this may also effect the truck driving jobs industry and those who have made a career out of hauling freight across the country.

You can find the complete article we quoted from here: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gnuH_GcFbrADJMTGopjZQhEjHeGgD9HMNO980

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Bronx Residents Want Higher Fines for Illegally Parked Trucks

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

Bronx Times wrote an article covering issues about truck drivers parking their rigs in residential neighborhoods.  It looks like a bill is being introduced to Governor Paterson, governor of New York State, which would impose harsh penalties to those drivers that illegally park their trucks on residential streets.

According to the article, there are several locations in the New York City area that have safety issues because of the tractor-trailers blocking views.  There is already a fine of $50 for the first offense, but the legislation wants to raise that cost to $250 for first offenses and $500 for second offenses if within 6 months of the first offense.

It looks like elected officials in the New York City areas have been receiving continuous complaints about trucks that are illegally parked.  The trucks are taking up limited parking and creating visibility issues around corners.  The residents are not happy and are complaining.  They want the trucks parked elsewhere.  Places like industry parking lots where they are not a safety issue and do not take valuable parking away from the residents of the neighborhoods.

Truck driving in an around the New York area is less problematic than many drivers make it seem. Being aware of local parking laws can eliminate some of the headaches that come with driving around the city.

It’s interesting that when research was taken, the city governments learned that the $50 overnight parking fine is actually cheaper than the permits to allow parking of these commercial vehicles.  That’s the reason for raising the fines to $250 and $500.

Councilman Jimmy Vacca stated:

“For too long, low fines have given tractor-trailer drivers no incentive to abide by the law and stay off of local streets.  The result has been an eyesore for communities and a safety hazards for pedestrians and motorists.”

http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2010/08/28/bronx/bronxtimes-yn_bronx_front_page-34-trucks.txt

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CSA 2010 Pilot Program Shows Better Safety Scores

Friday, August 20th, 2010

According to TruckingInfo.com’s article, “8/12/2010 CSA Changes Look Promising, Carriers say” by Oliver B, Patten, Washington Editor, and shortcomings are being removed.  This is the opinion of those Truck Driving Companies that are testing CSA 2010.  Those companies in pilot states see extreme positive changes in safety scores.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is hoping that Trucking Driving Companies learn the CSA 2010 program and how it works.  Beginning 8/16/2010, Carriers can go online to http://csa2010.fmcsa.dot.gov to review their performance in all seven Behavior Analysis & Safety Improvement Categories, or as they call it, the BASICS.

FMCSA has evolved the CSA 2010 program in response to feedback, both good and negative.  They believe it is turning into a very good program that will benefit the driver as well as the Truck Driving Companies.

American Trucking Association met with FMCSA with their concerns.  FMCSA, was quoted as stating:

“We held a series of private meetings with (FMCSA Administrator Anne Feero) and her staff, showing them examples of how we felt the previous methodology was not accurate and didn’t do an effective job of targeting truly unsafe carriers.  We were able to show instances of carriers that have super crash rates and great recent compliance reviews, but the system showed that they were labeled as safety deficient.  If you target carriers based on flawed methodology, you’re really using your limited resources to focus on the wrong carriers.  We really appreciate the administrator’s willingness to listen and address our concerns.”

As the pilot program comes to its end and it is rolled out to all, the Trucking Industry seems confident that the truck driver records will help to hire and train better drivers across the board.

http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/news-detail.asp?news_id=71328&news_category_id=3

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How to avoid Depression

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

depression

Depression is becoming a common problem among Americans today.  Jobs that impose high levels of psychological demands such as truck driving may be at an increased risk.  Things such as sleep deprivation and loneliness are common among truck drivers and create more cases of depression.  Although this life style is a hard one there are certain steps that can be taken to help with depression and improve the life of all drivers.

One way to prevent depression is to maintain a healthy life style. Eating healthy and exercising as much as possible while on the road will improve your over all mood and energy.  Try to add more fruits and vegetables into your diet and drink more water.  Doing this will improve your over all quality of life and will help you feel happier and better about yourself.

Another tip to avoid depression is to reach out and help someone else.  Psychologists sometimes recommend volunteer work to their patients as a healing mechanism.  Although its hard to volunteer while on the road look for small opportunities to help another person out. Open the door for someone walking into the convenient store, slow down to let a car in your lane, or say thank you to anyone that helps you along the way.  Any little bit helps and as you help others you are really helping yourself.

Keeping in communication with family and friends is a great way to fight depression.  This may be the hardest one but it is effective. Call when you are at stop, write a letter when you can’t sleep or send a postcard from a favorite city.  Any communication is appreciated and it gives you something productive to do and think about.

Even if you aren’t fighting with depression these steps are a great way to improve the over all quality of your life.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Truck-Drivers-Can-Beat-Back-the-Depression-Monster&id=2424447

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