Sweatshops on Wheels: Winners and Losers in Trucking Deregulation

By Michael H. Belzer

Long hours, low wages, and unsafe workplaces characterized sweatshops a hundred years ago. These same conditions plague American trucking today.

Sweatshops on Wheels: Winners and Losers in Trucking Deregulation exposes the dark side of government deregulation in America's interstate trucking industry. In the years since deregulation in 1980, median earnings have dropped 30% and most long-haul truckers earn less than half of pre-regulation wages. Work weeks average more than sixty hours. Today, America's long-haul truckers are working harder and earning less than at any time during the last four decades.

Written by a former long-haul trucker who now teaches industrial relations at Wayne State University, Sweatshops on Wheels raises crucial questions about the legacy of trucking deregulation in America and casts provocative new light on the issue of government deregulation in general.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195128869
• ISBN13: 9780195128864
• Release Date: August 2000
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.7"

Customer Reviews

Unacceptable in America - Slave Labor

I am 25 year survivor of the long-haul trucking racket, and can only say that the situation is substantially worse than Mr. Belzer asserts. I was finally forced out of the industry in 1998 for actively speaking out against the same types of abuse that he describes in his book. The trucking industry has it's own 'goon squad' that seeks to target, isolate and then eliminate anybody who dare speaks out against unsafe trucks, against coercion of drivers to run illegally and the sub-human wage scale that truckers are forced to labor under. And I don't just mean those companies that employ Teamster drivers, either. The non-union truckload carriers that clog our interstates can become even more vicious, once their crimes against drivers and the public are exposed. I found that I had been blacklisted, and I was being stalked by a small army of paid harassers, intimidators and threat-mongers. I was threatened with death, severe physical harm and other consequences if I ever mentioned the safety, logbook and other scams that occur on a regular basis in this crooked industry. I want to make clear that the DRIVERS are generally not the problem in the industry. It is the dispatchers, management and 'safety' departments of the major truckload companies that pose the greatest threat to the motoring public. Next in line are the major freight shippers - the huge soft drink, paper products, automotive, fresh produce, recycling and grocery distributors are among the worst abusers of the rights and safety of the long-haul trucker. Many times, a driver will have to wait 5 to 8 hours without pay (after all, he's not driving, so he doesn't get a dime for the delay)while some crack-smoking creep on a forklift who makes $19 per hour screws around for hours in a lame attempt to load the waiting driver's trailer. Then the driver has to drive all night and 'back up' his logbook later on to help hide all the waiting time - so as to make it look like he had a nice 10 hour sleep in his sleeper berth. This racket has not changed, nor will it ever change until drivers are paid by the hour and are given an electronic punch card which will assure once and for all that these men and women are finally paid for ALL of their on-duty time. Until then, be aware, the typical driver operates in a state of chronic fatigue or even exhaustion, and your car or SUV can easily be the 'speed bump' that wakes up a semi-comatose driver - after it's too late. You'll then have your 15 minutes of fame - on the 11 o'clock news as the highway patrol and state workers attempt to find the missing body parts of you or your loved ones. The driver will probably be OK, and the sick wheels of the trucking racket will roll on. Until the next 'speed bump' appears, anyway. Drive safely, and keep your distance from the big rigs until the industry is cleaned up once and for all.

Scholarly work based on solid economic analyses

Based on reading the first two chapters, I feel this is a scholarly work worth reading. Although Belzer is a former Teamster, in general he does back up his argument with sound economic analysis and where he does make a point about unions, he does this rigourously and in a way that suggests contrary to collecting "rents" and screwing everybody else, in the trucking industry unions are almost a necessity in ensuring that economics for trucking remains healthy.The thing I like the best about Belzer's book is that he makes it really clear that it's not a case of "bosses screwing workers", but instead the underlying regulatory framework is fundamentally broken in an industry which has a tendency to become hypercompetitive due to the highly commoditized nature of the truckload sector. Another wonderful point is that the exactly same arguments might be applied to the foodservice sector, even if the extent of commoditization might be lower.The book does get repetitive in some places, if only because fundamentally the economics and mechanisms behind the failure to address equity concerns in a deregulated framework. True marginal costing is economically efficient, but pricing without regards for the opportunity cost of labor is an effective subsidy to the shippers by the truckers. The evidence suggests that truckers do not generally understand their cost base, and desparate conditions can cause individuals to price irrationally "just to keep up the payments". Just as there are regulations regarding wearing seatbelts while driving, social regulation is clearly necessary to prevent unsafe conditions.This book is well worth a read, especially for those who are not directly involved in transportation, and for those interested in economic regulation and public policy. Belzer has done all of us a great service by writing this book.

So True, So Common, So Sad, SO Dangerous!

A former career military man who has worked the most horrendous hours while on active duty, in combat and deployed around the world I lived for 22 years with the common mantra....."We have done so much with so little for so long that we are now attempting the impossible with nothing". I never thought I would be chanting the same mantra as a driver for one of the larger trucking companies in Utah. Thankfully I'm no masochist.Being reassured that I was not being encouraged to 'cook the books' and being told that safety was foremost, I had to laugh. A former statistician by trade I am no novice at numbers. Many times I found that I was the 'only driver available', the load 'had to get through' I would have to drive a steady 86 mph through Ohio (speed limit of 55) to 'be on time'. This after just dropping off a load and getting ready to bed down for my DOT mandated sleep.Not being able to 'take the load' branded me as not being a 'team player' and often resulted in my being overlooked when another load came through. You know, 'punishment'?Receiving a none existing load assignment to a place that had moved then gone out of business three years before. Trying to verify that pickup and being told to 'just get there' when 'there' didn't exist? On LONG ISLAND??Being from Texas, a drive through the home turf would have been appreciated now and then but I spent my time in the North East. A friend of mine from Pennsylvania was kept on an LA to Florida run. We were not allowed to switch runs. After emergency surgery, I was told that I could take no convalescent leave since they (the company) were not there to take care of my 'personal vacation needs'.I find it sad that so many good men and women have died trying to meet a deadline just so company exectives could 'look good'.I left the trucking industry after we lost a man in an accident while trying to make up time after a snow storm. Remember, the load HAD to be there on time and there is no excuse for weather delays, even freak storms. The man died, his family was left with nothing because he was a loyal driver. The excuse the company gave? He 'wasn't following safety guidlines'.Kudos for an excellent book. I hope more regulators read it and start fining the trucking companies everytime a trucker gets stopped.

Michael Belzer names names and takes no prisoners

My husband Russ has been an over the road truck driver for over 23 years now. This is the first book that actually pulls no punches with telling the truth on the trucking industry. This is the same truth that Russ has been telling me all these years as to why these are the most unhealthy, over worked and under paid workers in the most prosperous country in the world. Bravo! Michael Belzer, for putting this book to print. I highly recommend it! Natasha Flazynski, a truckers wife.

All Sweated Out...is more like it!

Hurrah for Michael Belzer! He hit the nail on the head and now I hope American public opinion will drive it home! Belzer notes, that there have always been unique characteristics to the trucking industry that require economic, social and market regulation working in harmony in order to promote safety, and a reasonable standard of living for the participants. The smoking gun is open, unrestricted entry to the trucking business. It has resulted in under-financed companies operating 80,000-pound equipment at highway speeds in a society where aggressive competition drives the economy. That is simply bad public policy! When the freight rates drop below the cost of doing business, deferred maintenance becomes pandemic and that has created real social problems. Belzer stopped short of calling for economic regulatory controls as part of the only sensible solution, but I won't! Entry into the trucking business must require (continuing) proof of financial fitness to operate the equipment over the "long haul" in order to provide stability and safety. New under-financed entrants to the business who simply buy a truck and then try to operate on a shoestring in an environment where everybody's' front haul is somebody else's' back haul (read: non-compensatory, predatory and discriminatory freight rates) are a time bomb! The 22% national out of service rating for vehicles is proof enough for me! There is constant and unrelenting "churning" of entry and exit to the business, in an environment where just-in-time delivery, driver shortages, long hours, high speeds, irregular work hours, and unenforceable safety laws are the standard. Many of these same conditions existed in 1935, and resulted in the passage of national motor carrier regulation. We have been dismantling and tinkering with those regulations in a dangerous and piecemeal fashion since 1978. It is very disappointing but an accurate observation of human action that otherwise intelligent and educated people have a seemingly never-ending capacity for gratuitously ignoring history in pursuit of "solutions" to contemporary "problems". What is so woefully sad is that the re-introduction of failed ideas in the arrangement of human affairs almost always has both direct and indirect consequences and costs, in human terms. Resurrecting and repeating bad ideas and failed policies result in unnecessary and at times significant human suffering.Belzer correctly points out that this business is very different from telephones and utilities, where economic deregulation does not have a direct effect on safety. Wake up America, and follow the money! We are trading human life for cheaper goods! The government cannot now, and likely never will be able to put enough police officers on the roads to enforce truck safety standards. The motor carriers are simply not making enough money to maintain their trucks! Freight rates dictated by unlimited competition will not ever co