Truckers: It Is Time To Strike, Here’s Why?

Hello everyone and todays article is going to be about why truckers should be going on strike. As most people may be aware of truckers in Canada have gone on strike over some excessive coronavirus mandates and I don’t blame them for that because I myself was once a trucker in America and I myself was terminated for yelling in the brake room trying to get my co-workers to go on strike so I am going to use this opportunity to write an article about my traumatic experience as a truck driver and express my concerns about the truck driving industry.

So I was a truck driver in America from 2018-2019 before the pandemic even hit thankfully but let me tell you something driving a truck was the worst job I have ever done. It was even worse then being a prison guard and coming from working previously as a correctional officer I felt like a prison inmate when I was on the road driving the semi truck. I was micromanaged, I was never home, my marriage was ruined (more on this later in the article) , and I went into a large amount of debt because I did not finish my year because I got fired for speaking out about my frustrations because I had nothing to lose at the time.


My Experience as a Truck Driver:
So let me tell you about how I got into the trucking industry. I once met a woman online who lived in the middle of nowhere in Nevada and in order for me to marry her I had to break my lease, quit my job, and move to the middle of nowhere where I was unable to find work because there were no jobs in town. So I quickly realized that the only way to find work in the middle of nowhere was to get my CDL and drive a semi truck and I did just that because I needed to provide and did what ever I can to try to save our marriage which fell apart after 7 months because I was never home. So first problem was that in order for me to get a CDL I had to take out a $5000 loan from the trucking company I worked for which by the way got paid immediately because the loan was actually from the federal government and then got sold to another company later on. Then I went through my 10 days of training with the trucking company and was poorly trained, all I really learned to do was control my braking and was told to watch my trailer tires go around so I don’t hit anything (What a waste of $5,000 for low quality training). Then after failing the first time on my road test, I was given a new trainer who was helpful then I passed the 2nd time. After passing my CDL training I went back home only for about 3 days which was not enough time to be home after being gone for a few weeks I was placed on the road with a phase 2 trainer and was finally getting paid something but it was still low pay. I also had my share of crazy trainers who treated me like crap and micromanaged me during training. I even had one trainer threating to beat his kids over the phone and he tried to abandon me at a truck stop in the middle of Cheyanne, Wyoming but he did not do it because I called the company to report him (But sadly these stories are so common). But after my phase 1 training, I spent a good amount of time fighting with the company for some more time at home, or for them to allow me to take my wife on the truck with me, and my share of trying to convince the in-laws to allow us to move to a location where I can be home daily but nobody was working with me. So after about 5 months of being on the road and only being home for maybe about less then 3 weeks I get a phone call from my in-laws telling me my wife wants a divorce. After the divorce I move back to Arizona and get put on a fleet where I am finally home every other day but it was too late, I was angry with the company, the situation, and had nothing to lose so I actively spoke up against all the crap going on in the trucking industry especially when it came to getting their drivers home. My productivity was down after my ex-wife left because I was so depressed that I even kept a load for one week in Oklahoma when I was supposed to be in Colorado coming from Kentucky before they eventually had me placed back in Arizona for a local fleet. When they eventually did give me a local run in Arizona I had some very bad managers and dispatchers who treated me like crap and micromanaged me like crazy. I was so fed up with this company because they practically ruined my marriage that there was high tension between me and my dispatchers. After being treated like crap for so long and being so damn depressed over my wife leaving I just couldn’t take it anymore and I lost my cool with the dispatcher because they were trying to make me take an extra load that would very likely cause me to get a log violation because I knew my limits. This was a very heated argument with the dispatcher and I even yelled in the brake room “Who wants to go on strike” because I strongly felt the need for a strike and to this day I feel that truckers should be speaking up. I was eventually terminated over the incident because a week before they had me sign something saying that I was not allowed to refuse any more loads because I was having issues with them before this incident. And because I was terminated before my year was up I ended up with the CDL training bill of $155/month for 5 years which I paid off with my credit card which I am still making payments on today. And things just got worse because a few months later The Governor of Arizona decided to shut things down over coronavirus pandemic. I eventually decided to drop my CDL because I don’t plan on ever driving another semi-truck ever again because of what happened. And thankfully I was able to finally meet my new fiancé in Moscow last year after having to wait a year to see here due to excessive travel restrictions, but thankfully since then things are finally taking a turn for the better since I met my new fiancé in Moscow and one thing is for sure we won’t be separated by a trucking job when we are married because I ain’t driving another truck again after what happened.


Here are some things truck drivers need to be speaking up against:

A federal law requiring companies to pay their drivers for every hour they are away from home which includes time and a half for over time pay if they are away from home over 40 hours a week. (Also pass a federal law requiring trucking companies to allow drivers 1 day of home time for every day they are away from home if the driver chooses to accept so they wont be gone three months and then only home for about 3-4 days.)

An end to DOT regulations which include discriminatory medical cards, and DOT logs which create a lot of safety hazards when truckers are unable to find a place to park due to having nowhere to park but must shut down for the night to be in compliance with DOT logs. (By the way, if company’s have to pay for every hour truckers are away from home plus overtime, this won’t be an issue because company’s will changes things up very quickly if they have to do that such as swapping more loads to help get drivers home with their families daily.)

For some laws giving the drivers immunity for things being out of compliance such as being overweight on the load, log violations, or trailer tires being in the wrong position in California, and put the responsibility on the company NOT the driver. (I am so sick and tired of drivers getting the short end of the stick, the companies should be responsible for making sure their trucks are in compliance NOT the drivers.)

For some laws to be passed against these predatory lending practices being used by these major trucking carriers like the one I worked for that require drivers to be stuck on the road for a year or be stuck paying the company back. (Not everyone is cut out to be a trucker, and these large companies have plenty of money so they can defiantly afford to train their drivers free of charge without putting a $5000 contract over their heads like that.)

For trucking companies to train their dispatchers & trainers to learn how to actually do their jobs and stop treating their drivers like crap because we are actually human beings and don’t deserve to be treated like crap.

For the federal government to not push crazy coronavirus mandates on their drivers. (I personally was not driving during the pandemic so I don’t know much about what has been going on here lately, but it won’t surprise me if there are a lot of problems relating to truck drivers and crazy excessive coronavirus mandates.)

Also don’t forget to be speaking up for better pay and better benefits because you deserve to be paid for ALL OF YOUR TIME and not be manipulated by the company trying to get you to work for free.