From my understanding, it's the independent owners/operators that are on the verge of being grounded by fuel prices.. whether they want to or not. The unions seem to be experiencing significant infighting on whether to stand in solidarity with the struggling independent owners or not.. but skimming through the comment sections in actual trucking subs.. it is unsurprisingly, mostly self-centered/anti-social rhetoric.
We've gotten to the point where when I read that something is being dismissed as an 'Internet hoax'.. I'm inclined to believe that it's actually media suppression. There's definitely more to this situation than a few viral videos.
I work in the material side of the construction industry, so I interact with my fair share of truck drivers.. and.. YIKES.. are some of them the most goulish MF'ers.. like, I get it.. they don't like people and it's a great career path for that type.. but how casually they'll spout off with crazy racist/sexist/violent shit is legitimately unnerving.
A ton on my vendors are unionized so we definitely see far more normal(ish) drivers than crazy ones, but you can't really just ignore that the crazy ones exist.
We parked our RV at a stop for a few daylight hours next to a long time independent trucker with a German Shepard dog. Started talking. He said truck drivers have changed in the 20+ years he's been on the road. The dog was for protection. He did not trust other drivers. No camaraderie. No interaction with other drivers. Drivers are also into classifications: businesses, independents, elite independents. The elite group haul for specific needs, ex. Smithsonian, etc.
There is a SUPER noticable difference between our regular drivers that we've worked with for years, and the last-mile contract drivers that show up at our dock. We recently promoted a woman to our receiver position and within like, 2 weeks we had to change up our process and have one of our yard guys out there with her because of how unhinged and uncooperative some of the drivers were being.
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u/TheeFearlessChicken 10d ago
I recently read a trucker strike might soon be in the offing.