They still don’t get it. The people in government really do believe that electronic monitoring devices (little black boxes) will eliminate wrecks, fix all of the ills that now plague trucking, cure AIDS, and reduce illegitimate births in the inner-cities. Well, they think it will fix trucking and stop wrecks.
Each and every time some one mentions Shippers and Receivers in the same sentence with words like consequences, fines and penalties the index finger of the left hand points straight up in the air while the index finger of the right hand is laid perpendicular to the first. Blasphemy! Why, these are the sacred cows that someone is trying to skewer.
It is time they learned the sorry, stinking truth: Shippers and Receivers are the main reason that truckers like you and I go down the road tired. It is these icons of industry that keep us waiting, (sometimes hours on end) to get to a door to be loaded or unloaded. It is these pillars of business who make us load or unload the trailers or pay their approved unloading service an exorbitant amount to have it done. And to top it off, it is our carriers who are sucking up to the afore-mentioned so and so’s and allow them to do it and to get away with it.
The time is here to demonstrate that black boxes are not the answer. The real answer to highway fatigue is to eliminate truckers from the loading and unloading process altogether; pay truckers for time that they must load and unload; charge shippers and receivers detention and demurrage for holding trucks and drivers (from arrival to departure) more time than it takes to unload, say two hours; and pay the truckers for the time they have to wait.
The way to demonstrate this fact is to run our loads legal and log our trips per the Hours Of Service (HOS) regulations as set forth by the DOT. 100% accurate, 100% legal and 100% just the way it happens. We are going to Make May Matter. We are going to Run It Right and Log It Legal! We will log our trips just as DOT had envisioned for us to log them when they wrote the HOS Regulations and we will SHUT DOWN when we are out of hours for the day or for the week. Even if it means you might not get home until Monday morning rather at Noon-time on Saturday, we still have to shut down!
By: John Head bdssprd@aol.com
http://www.imfedup.net/maymatter.htm
Copyright © 2000 IBT Ports Truckers Teamsters Local #313. All Rights Reserved.
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Copyright © 2000 Puget Sound Truckers Unite Teamsters. All Rights Reserved.
If at anytime you want to add another Teamster to this e-mail group just send us the e-mail address with a message that says "add this name." If at any time you wish to be removed from this Washington State Teamsters Local #313 Ports Truckers Organizing Campaign & General Information Network please respond to vocct313@aol.com with the word "remove" as the subject. Views are based on Rank & File Members Democratic Rights to be involved in Local and International issues and for supporting roles in Organizing efforts at all levels in all unions -- everywhere.
That's our Teamsters community of interest!
In Solidarity,
Glenn S. Cisco, Vice President Teamsters Local #313
Volunteer Organizing Committee Coordinator, Tacoma, WA.
"We're Fighting for a Better Future for All Working Americans!"
To learn more about Organizing or to join Volunteer Organizing:
Phone or FAX: (253) 847-8646 or Contact Teamsters Local #313.
Local #313 (253) 627-0103 (800) 683-8934
E-mail: Contact Local 313/Tacoma = teamster313@msn.com
Contact: Teamsters Volunteer Organizing = vocct313@aol.com
Contact IBT Ports Truckers = ibtportstruckers@aol.com
WELCOME TEAMSTERS & LOCAL #313 MEMBERS = www.teamsters313.org
TruckersUnite & MAKE MAY MATTER! = WWW.IMFEDUP.NET/MAYMATTER.HTM
Ports Campaign Posting TruckersUnite!
~ Ports Campaign Seattle and Tacoma ~
Solidarity for Longshore and Teamsters
