Historic Truckers' Occupation in Washington
What Next for Truckers and the Trucking Industry?
- Normand Chouinard -
 Three
months have passed since the start of the pandemic and a lot of water
has flowed under the bridge for road transport workers in the United
States and Canada. By putting forth immediate demands from the
start of the pandemic for safe and
healthy working conditions for the performance of their work they have shown that they
want to have a say in their lives and their trades. The demands of
truckers to guarantee an effective health protocol for road transport
during the pandemic were energized by a great feeling of solidarity and
unity from the truckers' movement for the assertion of their rights and
for the recognition of their profession. This active resistance from
road
transport workers even forced some members of the ruling elite to
react. These elite members began to proclaim that we are an essential
service and that the work of truckers is important in securing the
supply chain. Road transport workers felt proud and dignified that
their role in the economy was finally recognized for its true worth.
This gave
confidence that things could change in their favour.
When transportation prices began to plummet during the
depths of the confinement, a large organized resistance movement
emerged in the United States to prevent the burden of the crisis from
being shifted onto the backs of independent truckers and, indirectly,
onto all of the drivers. In several American states, rallies have been
held to demand
new arrangements, including regulations to legislate the percentage
received by large transport brokers on the price offered for a trip by
heavy truck. This movement was crystallized in the course of a 21-day occupation in front of the White House by
more
than 350 truckers from all over the United States of different
national origins. Other similar occupations were held near other state
capitols. During this 21-day period, the truckers in attendance learned
to organize themselves so that everyone had food and felt safe. BBQs
were organized on the sidewalks, and sanitary equipment was
rented. There were arrivals and departures of trucks from all
over the
United States. Some stayed one day, two days, one week, others stayed
there for the 21 consecutive days of the occupation. In short, there
was an
atmosphere of camaraderie that has not been seen for a long time among
road transport workers.
Truckers' 21-day occupation outside the White House, May 2020.
The truckers' main request was to meet with members of
the central government to discuss the issue of income imbalance in the
trucking industry. The drivers present were very active in making themselves heard,
walking around the U.S. capital, honking their horns,
talking with people, etc. They even disrupted a daily press conference
by
President Trump on the COVID-19 situation by honking their horns to
attract the attention of the politicians and journalists present.
Trump, as usual, used this opportunity to assert himself by saying that
the horns were in support of him and that truckers across the United
States were on his side. He totally evaded the truckers' fight for
their
rights. A few days later, the Trump administration, with great fanfare, organized a press
conference in which there was a 53-foot FedEx
truck and where Trump thanked the truckers for the work they did during
this period. Again, nothing concrete about the demands of the truckers
gathered a few hundred feet from the White House.
 Then
came the day when two "representatives" of truckers, one of whom openly
portrayed himself as a "Trumpster," were allowed to meet with members
of the Trump administration. The meeting ended with the promise of a
review of the regulations on driving hours but absolutely nothing on
the issue of regulating the percentage going to transport
brokers. On that, they were told that the government cannot legislate
on this because the United States is a free market country and it is
free market laws that set prices. The two "representatives" left the
meeting claiming that a battle had been won and exalting
President Trump, saying that they "thanked God" that finally the
truckers had a
president on their side. A "deal" behind the closed doors of the White
House had just been sealed. It was with a feeling of bitterness and
dissatisfaction, a feeling that something had escaped them, that the
truckers' occupation ended and that they gradually returned to
their homes.
The weeks following this historic mobilization for
American road transport workers saw no rate hike nor any
change in the percentage received by brokers. Hundreds of thousands of
independent truckers are still squeezed by low prices that put their
financial situation in jeopardy.
This situation, although difficult and complicated, did
not prevent the truckers from continuing the fight. As the problem has
not been resolved, they still demand a solution. The discussion
continues through social media and other media they themselves created,
particularly truckers of Punjabi, Latin American and other origins.
We know what followed. The organized resistance movement
against state racism in the United States has asserted itself and has
become a central political issue, not just for the American people but
for people around the world. In the first days after George Floyd's
death, the monopoly media misrepresented incidents in which truckers
were
caught in the midst of protests, claiming that truckers were being
attacked by "rioters."
Recently, proposals have circulated on social media from
unknown sources in the U.S. on the right of truckers to carry a weapon
to protect themselves from possible assaults, posts which even ended up on
trucker sites in Canada.
The road transport workers movement in the United States
will not allow itself to be divided by such clumsy provocations.
Truckers face racial and economic discrimination in the trucking
industry in which they compete against each other. In particular,
immigrant truckers of all origins pay the price of being cheap labour
for large transportation
companies and large manufacturing and distribution monopolies, and are
subjected daily to state-organized racism. They are an integral part
of the battle to end this state of apartheid among the working class
which aims to divide them and constantly lower their working conditions.
But in the current context of diversion, infamy and lies
and the set-up of the imperialist ruling circles against the movement,
the most complex task is to stay the course on the initial demands for
the defence of the fundamental interests of truckers. Permanent
arrangements that will guarantee the stability of the trucking industry
and fully respect
the rights of truckers are still on the agenda. They must continue on
the independent path they have taken and never become an electoral
political reserve for one clique or another of the ruling elites who
are tearing themselves apart to monopolize supreme power and want to drag truckers
into their quarrels.
The spirit of unity, solidarity and organizational
skills, hard-won over the past few weeks, is the new benchmark for the
establishment of political arrangements that work for those in the
trucking industry. This spirit must be firmly defended in the present
situation.
This article was published in
Number 47 - July 7, 2020
Article Link:
Historic Truckers' Occupation in Washington: What Next for Truckers and the Trucking Industry? - Normand Chouinard
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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