New Piece at TAC on Teamsters at RNC
I have some suggestions for Sean O'Brien, and the incoming Trump/Vance administration.
Good Morning all.
I was honored to once again grace the ‘pages’ of The American Conservative magazine, this time to highlight issues in the trucking business that Sean O’Brien, leader of The Teamsters, and myself have in common, and to also highlight how many of those problems involve the use and abuse of immigrants (often by their own) in the trucking business, a labor and human rights issue which could be reduced with the immigration reform that Trump and Vance are known for espousing.
Before my trucker friends freak out, this piece is not an explicit endorsement of The Teamsters, but merely some suggestions for Mr O’Brien, given the rhetoric he employed at the RNC. It is no foul to work on mutual problems with those whom we have disagreements with in other areas.
Read the whole thing here.
Some snippets -
For the first time ever, the leader of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Sean O’Brien, was invited to address the RNC. This has caused some consternation on the part of the commentariat, left and right, whom O’Brien himself invoked on stage as a reason to accept Trump’s invitation to speak.
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Trucking has a lot of problems, and O’Brien is to be commended for appearing in Milwaukee, and particularly for one of his comments: “I will always speak for America and the American Worker, both union, and non union.”
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O’Brien repeatedly invokes the “American Worker”; does Mr. O’Brien understand that immigrant groups are constantly abused in the trucking industry, often by their homeboys who are already here? Does he understand that Eastern European gangsters are actively operating in the freight brokerage market, and are now holding American companies at ransom to have their loads delivered? Should America’s trucking industry be used as an ATM for those in other countries to extract value, and thus reduce the share of the pie for American workers, while illegally holding loads of valuable product hostage?
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O’Brien again: “We need trade policies that put American Workers first. We need corporate welfare reform.”
Once again, O’Brien and I are simpatico, as corporate welfare has been the “solution” to a problem created by the Motor Carrier Act of 1980. This “solution” has itself created many more problems—from the imposition of the surveillance state onto truckers to “nuclear verdicts” which have forced the insurance industry into a corner and made it ever more difficult for trucking companies to insure themselves and to the above mentioned reliance on foreign indentured servants to move our freight. No wonder many truckers give up on the business and look for greener pastures.
Many thanks to Jude Russo for the opportunity and editing.
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Next week I should have two more trucking podcasts out, one with our boy READ WHEN SAFE and another with Scott Douglas, President of America Without Drivers. Scott and I take a little plunge into the Chevron Deference Ruling, and discuss possibilities for pushing the harridans of the regulatory state back, and finding lost freedoms for professionals on the road.
Stay tuned, and thanks for reading.
As always, questions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail are always welcomed and strongly encouraged - gordilocks@protonmail.com
It seems like my issues at Twitter have maybe gone away? Regardless, if you are on Twitter/X/MuskWorld, we have a lot fun over there, especially on FreightX.
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