<p> Mark Kirsch and his supporters took 100 trucks into downtown Harrisburg</p><p>up to the steps of the state capital at 8a.m. ths morning 3/31/08. They asked the</p><p>governor and lawmakers to immediately suspend the 32 cents a gallon state tax</p><p>on diesel fuel at the pump. They were politely told the state needs that money to</p><p>maintain the roads within the state (which are some of the worst and roughest and</p><p>poorly maintained I have seen in the country) in short, they don't give a crap and </p><p>aren't going to do anything for us as long as they can walk across the street from </p><p>the capital building and grab a bottle of pierrie after a rough 6 hour day of figuring </p><p>out how to sell I80 to a private,foriegn company. We are going to have to take</p><p>more effective steps to make our voices heard. Slow down on the road, block </p><p>the road...tell everyone what's going on----do something to get attention. </p>
<FONT face=georgia,palatino size=3>I was invited to this site by the site owner because of my views of this so called strike so I guess I'll give my views here.<BR></FONT><BR><FONT face=georgia,palatino size=3>I believe that the protest was a big failure, below is a copy of a bulletin I put out on MySpace.com/truckersstrikenoway2008 <BR></FONT><BR><BR><BR><FONT face="courier new,courier" size=3>Well, I guess today was supposed to be the opening act for the Trucker strike. I know the people that worked so hard for all of this are hoping and praying the closing act is much better than the opening act.<BR style="DISPLAY: none"><BR ..><BR><BR><BR><BR>I have read many news reports and even watched a very funny youtube video today about what happened at Harrisburg, my opinion, what a joke. Just what did those drivers think they would accomplish by circling the state capitol blowing there horns think they would achieve today?? The turn out was so bad that there was towing company roll backs in the mix. From all the news accounts there was between 75 and 150 trucks (and roll backs) I knjow theres some people reading this that can back this next fact up. The state of Pa. and the surrounding states of Ny, Nj, and Md is in the heart of this countrys oldest Union's and Teamsters. Even though most of those Unions are now gone the past and presnt members are still around, these are hard working people that take these kind of things very seriously if they believe in the cause, guess what, today you saw that they do not believe in this cause. If they did the number of trucks would of been 10 fold compared to todays count they also would of been alott more productive then todays bunch.<BR style="DISPLAY: none"><BR ..><BR><BR><BR><BR>My point is that all this strike talk is totaly worthless and unproductive and I'm by far not the only one that thinks so, just look at the turn out today, That spoke volumes.<BR style="DISPLAY: none"><BR ..><BR><BR><BR><BR>What is happening now is this industry is going through a much needed cullon cleansing. You should only be offended by my following comments if the shoe fits, so if you get offended I'm talking about you.<BR style="DISPLAY: none"><BR ..><BR><BR><BR><BR>There are way to many cut throats trying to operate out here as there always has been and always will be, but every so often you need to cull the bad apples from the good ones so that the good ones don't become contamenated. There are indepentent operators out there that need to learn how to run a buisness, cuz that is what this is, so learn to run one before you try to own trucks.<BR style="DISPLAY: none"><BR ..><BR><BR><BR><BR>If joe blow in truck #1 operates the same truck in the same area and runs less miles then joe b trucker in truck #2 then why is it that joe b trucker in truck #2 is always broke?? I'm thinking joe b trucker needs to sell his truck and go to work as a company driver intell he takes and passes some common sence buisness courses, then and only then maybe give it another try. Point being, just because you want to be an O/O don't mean you can be.<BR style="DISPLAY: none"><BR ..><BR><BR><BR><BR>To me all this strike talk is all about joe b truker and nothing more.<BR style="DISPLAY: none"><BR ..><BR><BR><BR><BR>Would I like to see diesel and gas come down, damn rite I would...but it is NOT going to happen...You'll see<BR><BR><BR>Happy strike day everyone!!!!</FONT><BR><BR>
<p><b><font size="3">I have to say, this has been very educational for me, and I beleive Everyone else should see the veiws of "ALL" sides and get their heads out of the sand. I started out being on the side of the strikers, Well now I see more into the situation. First of All, I have "Never" heard of a Strike being used as a first step to a solution to a problem. Yes the Ralley got some attention to the situation and that helps. but to ask the government to stop taxxing is crazy. They didn't raise the taxxes. Oil Companies raised the prices. Sure there are somethings the government can do to help the fuel crisis And that is what should be the focus. If the Oil Companies want to keep playing with the prices, then lets find some alternative fuel sources. If you can turn Corn into Gasoline then Soybeans and corn can be made into fuel that can be burned in Tractors. I have heard of many people using BioDiesel in their trucks. Well if we can use recycled vegetable oil than why can't we use un-used Vegetable Oil? Didn't they install deisel engines in trucks because fuel was more economical? Well lets put some E85 gas burners in them now. Tell Opec to take a flying &%#$. </font></b></p><p><b><font size="3">I may be talking out of my rear, but there has got to be a solution. Lets figure one out .</font></b></p>
I will tell you one thing about this strike. As far as O/O goes they only make up 6-8% of the trucks on the road. Can USA get by without them? I think they can. I am all for the independent trucker, but what it comes down to is that they a such a small minority that little is going to be done. The PA protest did acomplish something. It brought attention to the whole topic. CNN had a spread, my local news had a spread. The only thing that will help the situation is by raising rates acordingly. Which is hard to do becasue there are a bunch of people always willing to run for less. The only reason that the truck strike worked in France awhile back is because they have a strong union, where all the trukers are apart of. in the USA it is totally differn't. Some truckers like the high fuel costs. they are in a position that they can get away with raising thier rate adn making out in the long run. If this was truly crippleing there would not be a APU unit left on the shelves. Times are changing. you have to adapt. If anything the independent trucker has the advantage in that aspect. <br>
<p> The owner operators are a small part of the overall national truck fleet, I'd like</p><p>to think they still make up around 10% like they did a year ago, but alot have went</p><p>out of business in the last year. The thing is they are a wildcard factor in the </p><p>market that contributes to and makes possible what we call a free market. </p><p>Remember when you used to be able to go to K-mart or Wal Mart or your </p><p>local hometown hardware or grocery store to shop? Guess what...now in most areas</p><p>you got the choice of a regular Wal Mart or a Super Wal Mart. In a few years you</p><p>will have the choice of working in the trucking industry for J.B Hunt, Werner or </p><p>maybe Schnieder...won't that be great? They will all pay the drivers the same.</p><p>If they decide to jack the rates up....well I guess the cost, however much it may</p><p>be will get passed on to us the consumer. We are losing the free market in this</p><p>country because we won't all stand together and call "Bullshit" when we see it.</p><p>Everybody that has to put gas in the car to go to work or buys a dimes worth of</p><p>propane or heating oil ought to be right beside those guys going to Harrisburg. </p>
<p> Maybe the federal government could tax the oodles of billions of dollars</p><p>in profits the oil companies have posted in the last quarter and put it into the </p><p>fuel tax funds and the state road funds and suspend the tax at the pump so</p><p>we can catch a little break. In most places taxes at the pump are around 50</p><p>cents for every gallon between federal excise and various state taxes. 3.50 a</p><p>gallon would still be high, but it would be better than 4.00 </p>
