#1974 truckers strike canada drivers#
Trucking protests surfaced again in 2014, when a small uprising of truck drivers at Los Angeles and Long Beach ports walked off the job in protest of low pay as a result of misclassification.
During that time, a few hundred truck drivers shut down or participated in slow rolls, but the demonstration did little to facilitate change. That is, until fuel costs rose again in 2008 thanks to tensions in the Middle East and inflation in the US. “The shutdown brought to the forefront the actual truckers that Congress didn’t know about, that the media didn’t care about, which then also supported and influenced the start of big trucking movies,” he later said.įor many years afterwards, the trucking industry remained fairly quiet, faithfully hauling goods to Americans across the nation. ” been able to accomplish, for the entire industry, more than we have ever been able to in the past,” Overdrive founder and trucking activist, Michael Parkhurst, said of the February 10th agreement in a New York Times news conference. On February 10, 1983, the strike was called off thanks to the promise of a congressional hearing on truck taxes and new road users’ fees. The violent acts committed during these protests were strongly denounced by President Reagan, who stated that it would be the “worst thing in the world” for the government to cave in to those “committing murder.” Seventy drivers were injured and one was fatally shot through the neck in North Carolina, all protesting an increase in taxes on diesel fuel, large vehicles, and certain tires. In 1983, yet another violent trucker strike began, lasting 11 days. President Carter even called the protesting drivers ‘terrorists.’ Factory workers were laid-off when factories couldn’t get the supplies they needed, farmers had crops rotting in their fields with no one to transport them to market, and even the cross-country migration of the American people was halted, as moving trucks refused to operate for fear of violence against them. This protest brought American commerce to a screeching halt. Truck drivers who did not participate in the strikes were once again attacked with bricks, rocks, and even shot.
#1974 truckers strike canada series#
The 1979 oil crisis, brought about by the decrease in oil production in the wake of the Iranian Revolution, once again sparked a series of trucker protests – this one more violent than its predecessors. But damage had been done – two truck drivers had been killed, there was a nationwide shortage of fuel and other goods, and more than 100,000 factory workers were laid off, all as a result of the protest. It took several days and threats from the government to send in troops to calm things down, but by February 11th, most truckers were back on the road. Truckers at a stop in Foristell, Missouri in 1974.īy February 7th, an agreement to allow owner operators to temporarily add a 6% fuel surcharge to their freight fees, along with the guarantee that truck stops would be given additional fuel to keep up with trucker demand, was reached between truck drivers and the government. Truck drivers parked their rigs and even attacked truck drivers who weren’t participating, throwing bricks and rocks at their moving rigs as they drove beneath overpasses. As acting president of OOIDA, River Rat worked with Jim Johnston and helped to coordinate a major strike on January 31st, 1974. After broadcasting his blockade via CB radio, other truck drivers began to join in to aid in his protest against high oil prices, limited fuel supply, and even proposed speed limits.Īs a result, truckers reignited the protests in January of 1974, this time with more force thanks to the formation of the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) and other small independent trucker groups. River Rat parked his truck across Interstate 80, blocking traffic, and took to his radio, voicing his frustrations. Edwards, better known as “River Rat,” ran out of fuel near Blakeslee, Pennsylvania, he decided it was time to shut ‘er down. This embargo led to fuel rations in the United States and truck drivers were only allowed 50 gallons of fuel at a time. One of the most infamous occurred back in December of 1973, when oil prices were skyrocketing by as much as 300% thanks to an oil embargo instated by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC).
We say what happens.” /XCg7oJfkm9- VeBee🇺🇸✝️ November 9, 2020ĭespite garnering extra attention in the past year or so, the concept of trucker strikes isn’t new – the trucking industry actually has quite an extensive history of strikes. Truckers going on strike ! “November 29th, we park and don’t move.
0 kommentar(er)
