We have a shortage of good jobs in trucking
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Illustration: Peter and Maria Hoey

 

Dear reader,



The story of our broken supply chains is a story about our broken labor
laws. In 1980, Congress deregulated the trucking industry in a way that
made driving a truck a demonstrably worse job. Truckers, especially
those who service our nation's ports, are increasingly classified as
independent contractors, with no minimum salaries or benefits, no health
insurance, not even bathroom privileges at the ports. They pay for gas,
maintenance, rig insurance, and repairs themselves; and they're only
paid for the time spent delivering goods, meaning that the time waiting
in line inside the port complex is uncompensated labor.

This, not the mythical concept of a "trucker shortage," is the
reason for the inability to get goods to businesses. We have no shortage
of people willing to drive trucks, just a shortage of good-paying jobs.
And it was a policy choice for deregulation that caused this debacle

Harold Meyerson is one of our nation's best labor reporters, and for
our special issue, How We Broke the Supply Chain, he looked at the
trucking industry, the history and legacy of deregulation, and how
trucking can become a good job supporting commerce once again.

You can read Harold Meyerson's story here.
  

You can read our entire special issue on how outsourcing,
monopolization, deregulation, financialization, and just-in-time
logistics broke our supply chains at
prospect.org/supplychain

Plus, you can help support this work by becoming a member today
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of the reader support we receive funds our editorial mission:
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If you're already a Prospect member, THANK YOU!

We can't do special issues like this without you. And if the Prospect
doesn't do it, there aren't many other places that will.

I WANT TO SUPPORT THIS IMPORTANT WORK

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
David Dayen, Executive Editor
The American Prospect

 

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