The Slow Death of The Trucking Industry!

[Robert Handy]

My father,who passed away in 2007 was a "proud Teamster" for 35 years, before his Company Interlink closed down in 1997! His Company was formaly known as Smith Transport Limited then Canadian Pacific Transport and finally Interlink. His Local was Teamsters 938 the largest Teamster Local in Canada at that time! Because of the North American Free Trade Agreement and subsequent "deregulation" that followed my father's and many other "good paying and safe" unionized trucking companies were forced into bankruptcy! Today drivers are "poorly-paid" and have to drive "unsafe" vehicles and in most cases have no seniority rights on the job nor benefits! It is "heartbreaking" to see an industry once populated by "proud and professional working men and women" reduced to a "dog eat dog" environment operated by (scumbag) employment agencies!! How I miss the "old-days" when "professional drivers" were truly a brotherhood and the "knights of the road"!!!

[ABFwife]

Welcome to Teamsters online!

[BilyWamBam]

Teamsters always drive junk unsafe trucks....I worked at Preston and looked like a bodybuilder for a minute cuz no power steering!

[fxstc07]

Teamsters always drive junk unsafe trucks....I worked at Preston and looked like a bodybuilder for a minute cuz no power steering!

Geez Billy, I didn't get power steering until I got on at New Penn in 2002. Didn't get A/C until 2008.

[222lifer]

Teamsters always drive junk unsafe trucks....I worked at Preston and looked like a bodybuilder for a minute cuz no power steering!

If you are driving something unsafe, who's fault is that? My tractor has a million and a half on her but she is road worthy. Chrome never paid the bills. I can remember when an air ride seat was a premium tractor. No power steering. No air conditioning.

Sent from my SGH-T399 using Tapatalk

[BilyWamBam]

Well I shouldn't say unsafe....if it stops and hooks it's good enough for me

[crazy]

Well I shouldn't say unsafe....if it stops and hooks it's good enough for me

Sometimes they hook and then again sometimes they don't..

[slavenomore]

I had a Teamster Cement job in the early 90's and they put me in a truck with no power steering. Backing it in the mud with a load.
I. went in and asked them if it was the Stone Ages.
All the old guys laughed at me.
I only had that beast a couple times.

[oldtimer11]

I retired in 95, in trucking sine 55, teamster since 1960, Last 6 years at Yellow Freight. When I retired they had only recently added some power steering tractors to the road fleet Those were the only power steering tractor I ever drove on the road. When I started there were no air ride seats, no maxi brakes, no spring brakes on trailers, some of the companies I drove for had no air brakes. They had hydraulic brakes on the tractor and vacuum on the trailer. Even some of theair brake equipped tractors had a hand operated cable and ratchet emergency brake. I drove a 41 American La France tractor that had the emergency brake mounted on the running board outside the cab. No wonder the old guys laughed about not having power steering.

I knew one guy who drove for Western Express in Buffalo NY who still had his string of lanterns from the days before the trailers had lights, along with a steel cable and padlock to prevent theft of the lights and his kerosene can to fill the lights every two hours, There were 6 lights, one for each corner and one halfway on both sides.

Talk about unsafe trucks, I was making a delivery to Deluxe Motor Lines in Buffalo and the dispatcher was giving his instructions to three road drivers who were heading to Syracuse. He told the first driver, you have a tractor with good brakes. The second driver was told, you have a trailer with good brakes, he studied his paperwork wit a frown and then his face brightened and he told the third driver, you have a light load.