I've been struggling with some questions as of late. Most of these are spawned from the classes I'm taking currently. It's ironic how college is supposed to teach so much, and yet leaves so many questions unanswered. I suppose that may be because they go unasked mostly.

Basically, I was wondering how on earth did the trucking industry end up so completely messed up!? Honestly, ask any average citizen to work 14 hours a day with no overtime and they'd be running (Screaming) to the ACLU in a heartbeat. And the hours of service rules are a joke. They got most of their information on how long and what hours a driver can drive by asking the Company's?? JB Hunt stating that drivers never used their 11th hour...

So, how did it get this way, and why is the government supporting this? What happened to the rights of the driver, the employee? Anything over 8 hours should be overtime. Day's off shouldn't be calculated in 10 hour periods. Haven't they ever heard of quality of life?

It's amazing to me how companies can scream that they have a driver shortage, and yet find nothing wrong with listing "one 12 hour period off every 7 day's" as a Driver Benefit. Not to mention some companies are listing a monthly news letter as a driver benefit. Wow.....

Obviously it's all profit driven, but what happened to protecting the driver? The rest of us (civilians) are protected with minimum wages, amount and length of breaks, and how long we can work. Why is it that the truck driver is pushed to the threshold of sanity, only to have the industry whine about driver shortage?

So how do we change this? Simple because a few people are speaking out, and others may be thinking it, won't change anything. There would have to be a unified front. Not a driver stoppage, but more a political action commitee, or group to lobby for the rights of the truck driver. Are there any? And if so, what are they doing?

Category: My Life