Friday, Oct. 22, 2021 | 2 a.m.
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The shortage of truckers can be traced to the bipartisan bill in 1980 to deregulate the trucking industry, along with right-to-work laws passed in many states. This deregulation did what it was intended. We got cheaper goods so a Walmart and Target could exist. But now we have the unintended consequences.
Truckers are not paid well, nor do they have a stable living situation. We have sacrificed the lifestyle of what was once a middle-class job to get cheaper goods. Both sides of the aisle went after unions. Today, Democrats support bringing unions back. Health care workers, teachers and warehouse workers are beginning to strike for better working conditions. Truckers should be seen as a reflection on how we have treated workers in America for decades.
We say we value the American worker, but do we? Truckers sure aren’t. Nor are many other occupations. Decades of attacking unions has left us with a population that no longer expects workers to have a say in their working conditions.
Workers today think all this is normal. The only way to get a decent income is to get a college degree. Ever wonder why? It doesn’t have to be this way. We can pay the average worker more and we can afford to give them better working conditions. But to think that the employers in America and anywhere else are going to just start doing that without some hard bargaining by workers is naïve.
