Why doesn’t OOIDA call for a strike?

This is a loaded question, and one with an answer that is hard to swallow for some truckers.

We get it. Truckers are facing one of the roughest economic stretches in trucking in recent memory. Diesel prices are flirting with $7 a gallon in some areas. Rates are not good. I don’t have to tell you what’s going on. I think it’s safe to say that frustration is pegging at 11 (to quote Spinal Tap) for a lot of you.

That frustration is bubbling over into a call for a strike starting Oct. 1. Honestly, that would be great if a strike had the effects you’re looking for. There are just too many realities tied up in what it takes to stage a successful strike; even if you do choose to shut down in participation, you probably need to manage your expectations.

OOIDA Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh agrees.

“While strikes can be very effective if they work, there are many difficulties associated with striking,” he wrote in an email to OOIDA team members fielding calls about the strike.

The first reason is very obvious: getting enough truckers – we’re talking hundreds of thousands of truckers – to agree to shut down and actually do it is a tall order. And, let’s not forget this is coming from an Association that formed out of protests to the 1973 oil embargo and the catastrophic effect it had not only on fuel supplies but also on the cost of diesel.

So, we get it. In spirit, we support truckers striking and protesting.

The problem is there are other challenges, one being a huge legal hurdle that prevents OOIDA from calling for a strike. And before you point at strikes called for by the Teamsters and other unions, there’s a very specific distinction.

Legally formed unions made up of employees for the purposes of collective bargaining enjoy exemptions under the labor laws that allow them the option of strikes and boycotts – under specific legal guidelines.

“It’s not possible for OOIDA to organize such an action because of the makeup of our membership,” Pugh said. “Owner-operators are not considered employees but rather individual small-business operators. So, for us to get together for the purpose of collectively setting freight rates or organizing boycotts would be a violation of anti-trust laws.”

Violating those laws doesn’t just mean a slap on the legal wrist of the offending group.

“In addition to the possibility of criminal penalties that would likely be imposed, any business or individual that was adversely affected by the action could initiate a civil suit to recover their claimed damages,” Pugh said.

So, jail time and financially devastating penalties are now in play.

That goes back to the shutdowns in ’73. That likely was because of the frustration of a nation as a whole coupled with a potential gray area.

“The truck shutdowns in the early ’70s were successful, or at least went unprosecuted, mainly because they were the result of spontaneous individual decisions to participate or take action,” Pugh said. “We were not organized, leaving regulators with no clear target for criminal or civil actions to be filed against.”

Even then, when the truckers got the attention of the media, there was the question of who spoke for the group and what they wanted.

Another way of looking at it is the dog chasing a car. If the dog ever catches the car, what’s next?

“There was some discussion relating to going after some of us who were out in front as spokesmen, but the fact that we weren’t really in control and had no resource to speak of left little to gain from targeting us,” Pugh said.

That fundamental problem spurred the creation of OOIDA.

“OOIDA has worked hard over the past 53 years to establish a strong presence and be the voice of truckers before federal and state governments,” Pugh said. “We have made tremendous strides. Lawmakers know the name OOIDA. We have gone from calling on members of Congress to having members of Congress call upon us.

“Putting anti-trust laws aside, if we called for a strike that was unsuccessful (and it would be), we would lose all of our credibility. We would be back to square one, and it would take many, many years to get back to where we are right now.

Even as bad as things are right now, unfortunately, there aren’t any shortcuts.

“The only sure way to affect the system is to work within the system and find the ways to make the system work for us,” Pugh said. “Our growing membership and participation of members are a direct result of the changes the Association is responsible for, and even stopping proposals that would just hurt trucking.”

In the end, OOIDA supports truckers’ First Amendment rights to free speech and peaceful assembly and is not against their plans to strike Oct. 1. We just remain on the job day in and day out fighting for changes that will benefit truck drivers. LL