The independent trucker is an American icon, glorified 30 years ago in B-movies like "Smokey and the Bandit" as the modern cowboy making a living on his own wits and diesel-powered rig. But it's time for them to hit the highway -- permanently -- charged a coalition of environmental groups and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters today, blaming the bulk of diesel engine pollution in New Jersey and New York ports on owner-operated trucks handling most of the port-hauling business. Members of the Coalition for Healthy Ports and the Boston-based Clean Air Task Force stood at the Tullo Truck Stop in Kearny, calling for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to implement Los Angeles' controversial ban on independent rigs -- a prohibition lambasted last month by a federal appeals court...NJ.com
Nice to see the Teamsters Union so concerned about clean air.
I'm sure their involvement has nothing to do with the fact that 73% of the 7,000 truck drivers at the two ports are independent operators and not members of the union.
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The unions have done so much for the trucking industry, haven't they?
Let's think about the fact that the truckers are competing with Mexican slave labor thanks to NAFTA. And it was Bill Clinton, the darling of the unions, who signed the NAFTA agreement after campaigning against it. It was a republican initiative which Slick Willie supported after he was in office to the detriment of every union worker.
Obviously, the unions are not really there to protect the American worker. Now they are attacking the O&Os of the trucking industry.
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