Posted on 03/09/2005 7:44:05 AM PST by TXBSAFH
Critics: 'Sweatshop-on-wheels amendment' Tuesday, March 8, 2005 Posted: 7:35 PM EST (0035 GMT) What's this? MyCashNow - $100 - $1,000 Overnight Payday Loan Cash goes in your account overnight. Very low fees. Fast decisions.... www.mycashnow.com Mortgage Rates Hit Record Lows Get $150,000 loan for $625 per month. Refinance while rates are low. www.lowermybills.com Compare Mortgage Offers Up to four free mortgage, refinance or home equity offers - one easy form. www.nextag.com LendingTree.com - Official Site Lendingtree - Find a mortgage, refinance, home equity or auto loan now. Receive... www.lendingtree.com YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS Wal-Mart Stores Incorporated Retail Transportation or Create your own Manage alerts | What is this? WASHINGTON (AP) -- Wal-Mart and other retailers are lobbying Congress to extend the workday for truckers to 16 hours, something labor unions and safety advocates say would make roadways more dangerous for all drivers. Rep. John Boozman, an Arkansas Republican whose district includes Wal-Mart's headquarters in Bentonville, is sponsoring a bill that would allow a 16-hour workday as long as the trucker took an unpaid two-hour break. The proposal is expected to be offered as an amendment during debate over the highway spending bill on Wednesday. "Truckers are pushing harder than ever to make their runs within the mandated timeframe," Boozman said. "Optional rest breaks will reduce driver layovers and improve both safety and efficiency."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
They've been doing that for quite some time.
Well I put on makeup in the car every day on my way to work. I suppose you're going to enact a law against that now! LOL!
>>All this will do is drive more Americans out of the trucking industry and there will be someone waiting to take "the jobs Americans won't do".<<
Yep let's some of those "undocumented" people to take these jobs, lmao!
And I am sure that many check-pants Republicans are going to like the planned bill to follow.
Why does'nt Walmart (aka "Chairman Mao's General Store) just hire Chinese and Malaysian truckers who will drive more hours for less. Walmart could also beat them on Fridays at their leisure.
>>>If you're on the road, what else are you going to do but drive? My wife and I did 16 hour days easily in an RV - you roll out of bed, and hit the road.<<<
LMAO, that's funny, comparing driving an RV to a big rig, first of all you had no time constraints, you could take your ever lovin' time, secondly when you got to your destination did you have to unload a 48 foot trailer? I think not, so comparing the two is just ridiculous.
????
Very few. Truckers are the safest drivers on the highways.
The big problem is that drivers are allowed so much on duty time until they're required by law to rest. Shippers and receivers who force drivers to wait for hours at a time to load or unload cut into that time. If the legislators wanted to make a difference and improve safety, they'd pass a law requiring shippers and receivers to pay for any waiting time over set period. That money would go directly to the drivers.
Most drivers get paid by the mile and they have a limited amount of time to drive those mile during an onduty period. Make the shippers and recivers pay for the time they steal from drivers. Everyone would be safer.
My 80+ father can easily drive 16 hours a day. It's pretty damn amazing. It must be a military thing since he only gets around 5 hours a sleep at night. I tried to beat his record time to Kansas when I was 25 and I couldn't do it. He can still drive rings around me driving time wise.
I hate to tell you but there are laws against that they just aren't enforced unless you cause an accident.
"If a trucker is willing to work 36 hours and Wall-Mart is willing to pay them for it, then what is the problem?"
No problem, if they're going to drive on privately owned roads. If they're going to be sharing the roads with the rest of us, we have a legitimate interest in their state of alertness.
The truckers in Houston did not get that memo!!!! They are maniacs.
Safety regulations are written in blood. The "mandated timeframe" is the problem, NOT the truckers' mandatory rest time.
Unless, of course, multi-ton big rigs with drivers snoring away behind the wheel is what Wal-mart wants... I don't think their merchandise will survive all that well the wrecks which will become all too common, nor will the families crushed beneath the wheels of a truck with a sleeping driver be shopping at Wal-Mart again anytime soon...
Because these guys will be too fatigued to drive safely. And what about the cheap Mexican drivers Wal Mart will use with their busted up trucks compounded with excessive driving hours. The freeways would become death zones.
If a trucker is willing to work 16 hours and Wall-Mart is willing to pay them for it, then what is the problem?
If a trucker is willing to work 36 hours and Wall-Mart is willing to pay them for it, then what is the problem?
The problem is, the deaths and destruction caused by the unsafe working conditions of an overtired or asleep driver behind the wheel of a multiton truck.
Or, do you believe that preventing harm is a Bad Thing, only punishing harm?
Did I pull a 20 year sleep and you all killed all of the lawyers while I was out?
You drove a truck on the interstates, day after day, week after week, month after month, to the tune of 16 hours a day while you were in college?
Yep- i know.
How do you "fire" a customer?
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