In Defence of the Dignity and Rights of Transport workers
U.S. Truckers in Action to Demand Immediate Haulage Rate Increases
Truckers line the street close to the White House, May 11, 2020.
Rallies were held in several states in the United States
including Connecticut, California, Texas, Ohio, and Kentucky,
to protest against the drastic drop in rates in the transportation
industry during the pandemic. Working mainly through social
networks, including Facebook, rally organizers invited truckers to
gather in
Washington, D.C. on May 1 across the street from Capitol Hill, as part
of the activities to mark the International Day of Working Class Unity and
Struggle. In what many have called the "May Day
Movement," more than 250 truckers and their trucks are currently parked
on the outskirts of government buildings in the U.S. capital.
 The
vast majority of the truckers are independent carriers, and owners and
drivers working for small transportation companies. More than 80 per
cent of transportation companies in the United States have fewer than six
trucks. It is these truckers who are currently being hit by the drop in
rates, which they say has crossed a critical threshold. In some
cases rates are reported to have fallen from $3 per mile (about $1.18
per kilometre) paid to truckers to less than $1 per mile (about 39
cents per kilometre) and sometimes to 50 cents per mile (about 20 cents
per kilometre). Under these conditions, truckers lose significant
revenue on every trip they take. Many of them struggle to pay for the
operating costs of their trucks, not to mention maintenance and
repairs. Truckers say that if they refuse to take a trip they will lose
it to a larger carrier which has the strength to handle the loss. This
is a recurring problem in the transportation industry where conditions
are very precarious for drivers and small transportation companies.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the transport
industry has suffered heavy job losses. The month of April alone saw
83,000 trucking jobs disappear. This is the highest loss since 1990.
These recent job losses have eliminated all the job creation of the
last 5 years, bringing it back to the 2014 level. The shutdown of
thousands of plants in the
U.S. has slowed transportation very quickly.
It should be noted that the transport crisis in the
United States did not begin with the pandemic. Already, in 2019, more
than 1,000 transportation companies had closed or filed for bankruptcy
protection (Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code), compared
to 175 in 2018. According to the Institute of Supply Management, the
2019
recession in trucking is directly related to the decline in
manufacturing, which is said to have reached its lowest level since
2009. The current pandemic crisis has multiplied the consequences of a
crisis that had been simmering for more than a year.
The truckers who are currently protesting feel that they
are being suffocated by the costs they have to pay, the very low rates
they receive for transportation, and the percentage that the huge
logistics brokers take on each of their trips. They accuse the brokers
of taking an inordinate percentage of the revenue from each trip.
Logistics brokers
work with truckers as intermediaries between shippers and carriers. For
example, a shipper who has, say, 50 trips to deliver to multiple
locations, deals with brokers who use their logistics system to
distribute the trips among the carriers they are in contact with. Many
truckers think that these large brokers are like leeches that suck the
life out of
truckers who see their share of income constantly diminishing,
especially in times of crisis. Truckers say that there is a cartel of
logistics brokers that controls prices and is very harmful to truckers.
Brokers can take up to 65 per cent of the contract value per trip.
According to the organizers of the rallies, brokers are violating the Sherman Anti-Trust
Act in the United States. They have made a formal complaint about this to the Department of Justice.
 So
far, U.S. Department of Transportation officials have remained silent
on the truckers' grievances. As for the Trump administration, the U.S.
president has tweeted his "support" for the truckers, saying that his
administration will take care of them. He sent gifts to them through
two White House staffers, blue and red hats with the words
"USA strong'" and "Keep America Great." He repeated the same message on
the Fox television network.
When asked by reporters from U.S. magazines
and transportation media, organizers said they want a meeting with
White House officials in which they want the president to participate.
One of the organizers and founders of the Facebook site
"The Disrespected Trucker" said, "All we are asking for is a meeting.
It can be a phone call. It doesn't have to be face to face... The only
one that can help us now is the man in the White House and we are
staying until this meeting takes place." The truckers want to remind
President Trump, among other things, that just a few weeks ago he
thanked U.S. truckers for the essential work they are doing during the
pandemic.
Here are the truckers demands that are being put forward in these rallies:
1. Changes to Hours of Service.
2. A decrease of 10 per cent to 20 per cent in the percentage of revenue going to brokers.
3. Greater transparency in transactions between brokers
and truckers. Truckers want to know the total amount that goes to
brokers when the trip is agreed upon.
4. That all truckers be paid for their waiting time and that this be written into the contracts.
5. Better access to sanitation and personal care facilities.
6. New rules governing pricing between brokers and truckers.
7. Emergency funding from the government and tax relief for day-to-day operations, especially truck costs and maintenance.
8. The elimination of brokers as intermediaries to improve negotiations between truckers and carriers.
9. Rate regulation to ensure industry stability.
According to the latest available news, the Washington
rally is still ongoing and organizers have called on all U.S. truckers
to call their political representatives to ask why nothing is moving in
Washington.
This article was published in
Number 34 - May 14, 2020
Article Link:
In Defence of the Dignity and Rights of Transport workers: U.S. Truckers in Action to Demand Immediate Haulage Rate Increases
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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