Canadian and Quebec Truckers Are One with U.S. TruckersThe battle that truckers are currently waging in the U.S. for an equilibrium in the industry and higher rates that allow them to survive as independent truckers or small owners is longstanding and is facing the truckers' movement throughout North America. This problem did not come into being with the advent of the pandemic, it is a problem that has been brewing for decades, particularly since the era of deregulation in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. The current crisis has exacerbated the problem to the point where thousands of truckers are at risk of losing their livelihoods and the entire transport industry will be greatly affected.
For the simple reason that the demands of truckers to resolve it have always been ignored by the authorities in power who act on behalf of the big private interests in the big manufacturing sectors, and the big distribution companies that control whole swaths of our economy. The current arrangements also benefit the big transportation companies and, in the situation affecting U.S. truckers today, benefit the big logistics brokers. Truckers do a considerable amount of work in the economy as part of the production chain in general and the supply chain in particular. This work generates a huge economic value, which, according to U.S. Department of Transportation figures, is worth more than $800 billion a year in trade and transactions. What we are witnessing today, with trucker rallies across the United States, is a class struggle to capture the value that truckers feel they are entitled to. When some truckers claim that brokers are like leeches, sucking their labour day in and day out, they are absolutely right. The same can be said of other monopolized sectors in distribution, manufacturing and transportation itself. This battle being waged by truckers goes to the heart of solving a problem that has gone on for too long in our sector. An equilibrium and new arrangements must be created to ensure stability in the industry and the recognition of the inalienable rights of those who do the work and create the value, the transportation workers. The current arrangements cannot guarantee anything. The transportation industry and its truckers are constantly being hit by new crises that periodically decimate them. This time it is the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In 2009 it was the financial crisis. In the 2000s it was the deindustrialization of the economy and before that it was successive deregulations, and so on. This infernal cycle must end. Truckers everywhere in North America must, without a second's hesitation, support the battle that truckers are waging in the United States. The future is at stake for all of us. This is the time to speak up and contribute to the fight. One of the organizers of the rally in Washington, D.C., Janet Sanchez, a trucker, made this statement to U.S. truckers: "My message is one of unity between all of us. Really, we can accomplish a lot of things if we are all together." That is the message that all truckers must keep in mind. The issue of uniting all truckers in action is a complex task that has suffered many setbacks in the past. The current crisis can provide us with an opportunity to move forward and seize the opportunity before us. We do not have a choice. Enough is enough. Let's say no to low rates. Let's say no to low wages. Keep truckers strong. Stand as one. Let's unite in defence of our rights!
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The question that keeps popping into the minds of truckers is why is this problem never solved?