Posts Tagged ‘Infrastructure’

Congressman James Oberstar (D-MN) , the Chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has sunk to a new low by using a female truck driver in his new television ad campaign called “Joyce“, without addressing the national truck parking issue.

The ad features female dump truck driver Joyce Fisk of Knife River Corporation, Fisk testified (SEE TESTIMONY) before the Federal Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on the need for long-term federal highway funding in March 2010, and made valid points about the dire need of prioritizing infrastructure projects.

What is not addressed in her testimony is the need for safe parking, which is not an issue for Joyce Fisk, as she is a local driver. Safe parking is a critical topic for “Over the Road” truck drivers who support “Jason’s Law” HR 2156 and companion bill S971 which was introduced by Congressman Paul Tonko (D-NY)

Hope Rivenburg, the young widow who has in addition to giving birth days later to twins after the murder of her husband, has worked tirelessly attending trucking conventions, fairs and personally making phone calls to get our elected officials to address the truck parking crisis. Mrs. Rivenburg has made a series of trips to Washington D.C and while many trucking publications and organizations have used her husband’s murder to sell their memberships and magazines.  Very few have put forth the effort to pick up the phone themselves to call legislators on behalf of this bill to make it a priority in the way ordinary individuals have done over the past year.

Still, despite our efforts Hope Rivenburg has received little more than a blow off from many of our public servants involved in transportation and infrastructure funding. In the past few months numerous calls have been made to Congressman Oberstar’s offices for information regarding why “Jason’s Law” is being ignored while other infrastructure projects are being funded.  Addressing truck parking creates jobs yet we are facing truck parking closures in many states and Congressman Oberstar seems oblivious to this.

Named after slain trucker Jason Rivenburg, “Jason’s Law” was introduced by Paul Tonko (D-NY) after the senseless murder for a measly $7 which was visible on Jason’s dashboard.  Jason was early for his appointment to deliver milk but could not be unloaded until the following morning. He parked in an abandoned gas station where he was shot and killed, leaving his young pregnant wife to deliver twins days later, leaving her with their three fatherless children.

The murder of Jason Rivenburg has grown to be a symbol of the neglect and disrespect truck drivers experience while trying to maintain federal driving regulations in order to keep America’s store shelves stocked. Crimes against truckers continue to grow, rest area closures and increased criminal activity in truck stops have created an atmosphere where truck drivers are sitting ducks because they have few safe places to park and rest.

We have asked Congressman James Oberstar staffers for a clear understanding on numerous occasions why this bill is being ignored and the truck parking issue is not being addressed while other roads projects are moving formard.  NATSO, The National Association of Truck Stop Owners has failed to sufficiently recognize the problems that exist on their properties.  A recent story about serial killers on the front page on USA Today seemed to infer that the rest areas were less safe than the travel plazas, which is not the case.

To add insult to injury, censorship on the Facebook page of Congressman James Oberstar began this week when comments were removed repeatedly that asked why truck parking and specifically, “Jason’s Law”, were not addressed in the “Joyce” television ad campaign. Comments have also been censored from YouTube where the ”Joyce” television ad is being featured. Let me remind the Oberstar campaign that censorship is a social media no-no and there are a good deal of truck drivers who participate rather effectively in social media.

Congressman James Oberstar is the Chairman of the House Committee for Transportation and Infrastructure, yet safe trucker parking is not on his agenda. We do not support James Oberstar as he appears to use tactics which will gain him votes, without addressing our concerns for safe parking or acknowledging the problem of increased crime targeted at truck drivers who move America’s freight.

Technorati Tags: Censorship, Congressman James Oberstar, Facebook, Hope Rivenburg, Infrastructure, Joyce Fisk, Minnesota, NATSO, New York, Paul Tonko, Social Media, Transportation, Truck Parking, Truckers, Trucking, You Tube

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Long gone is the era of Mrs. Walt Cleaver, waxing the kitchen floor in heels and pearls. Women have fought long and hard, confronting and, for the most part, overcoming resistance from the “good ol’ boy network”. Significant inroads into most “male dominated” industries, such as Women, in the “trucking industry”, where they long held clerical and managerial positions in numbers proportionate to businesses of comparable size and prominence.

While not commonplace, decades ago it was not unheard of, for a woman to own a fleet of two or three trucks, leasing them out, under another company’s authority. This holds true for the vast majority of companies that make up the “trucking industry” today. Our industry remained “male dominated” longer, by comparison to others, mostly due to a vast majority of women not being interested in becoming truck drivers.

In the past, while woman were willing and eager to work in positions that once were predominantly filled by men, they were not, for the most part, willing to take jobs that would isolate from their families and friends. It has not been until the recent developments of an infrastructure catering directly to the truck driver, the advent of more easily operable equipment and the implementation of currently available “training” opportunities, that women have taken a serious interest in becoming truck drivers.

While isolation and scarce home time remain issues facing drivers, no longer, might a driver find that the only bathing facilities available at a “truck stop” is a garden hose, out behind the garage or a deep-sink, next to a stinking mop bucket, gone are the days of manually steered, underpowered trucks with twenty forward gears requiring two or three shift levers and women no longer need be born into broadminded “trucking families” nor rely on their fathers, brothers, uncles, boyfriends or husbands to teach them how to drive a truck.

When you think of the trucking industry, what comes to mind? Is it a vision of some Mega-corporate fleet, consisting of several thousand units? While these corporations are considered major players in the industry today, they were not always so and are still but a very small percentage of the trucking industry as a whole.

Mega-corporate, billion dollars a year, several thousand unit fleets, is a relatively new phenomenon, having only come into being within the last few decades. Within this small slice of the “trucking industry” pie, there are three basis corporate cultural models:

1. Entry level training to drivers of little or no experience and also offers lease/purchase programs for equipment.

2. Trucking companies, consisting of predominantly company owned equipment, offering no entry level training and only employing drivers with a certain level of experience. They may also offer lease/purchase programs.

3. Trucking companies owning no equipment but they lease the services of drivers who own their own equipment: Smaller trucking companies providing load brokerage/dispatch services, operating authority, insurance and vehicle registration, taking a percentage of the gross revenue.

Before the Mega-Corporate phenomena over the last few decades, adventurous women, like those of the same spirit throughout history, have been making their presence known in the industry. These women received their training much the same way their male peers did, though they had to work much harder to overcome the male chauvinistic stereotypes of “the good ol’ boy network”.
Through their determination and hard work they were able to gain the respect of most their peers.
As a result of recently development of more ergonomically comfortable equipment, more accessible training, and worsening socioeconomic pressures, women as well as men are increasing deciding to become truck drivers.

Targeted recruitment of Women by the Trucking Industry without adapting proper training to prevent Rape, Violence & Retaliation to students is purely irresponsible. Recruiting Women into Trucking on the same sites where you can “Date a Trucker” is equally misleading and irresponsible.

Why is it supposed by some, that we must expect change in the culture of Mega-corporate trucking companies to occur any less slowly than in any other industry, who had undergone changes, in regards to sexual harassment, decades ago?

It is ludicrous for some to suggest that “the good ol’ boy network” is anymore heavily entrenched than it is in any other industry. Exposing flaws in a “problematic culture” and demanding redress of grievances may be considered, by some to be stirring up negativity but to those whose grievances require redress, it is called equal and just treatment.

While it is correct and necessary to push for a more gender diverse industrial corporate profile, change simply for the sake of the changing outward appearances does at best, no good and at worst, facilitates further coatings of white wash. If it is the good ol’ boy culture which needs to be changed, simply elevating into positions of “power”, women who are willing to play ball with the good ol’ boys, does nothing to address issues of abuse of basic human rights and dignity.

We would be foolish to attempt to argue that there are not naive woman who allow themselves to become involved in compromising and abusive situations. We would be as equally foolish to assume that there are not manipulative and abusive men who have found their way into positions of authority. If we are to hold naïve women to account for their indiscretions, why should it not follow that abusive predators also be held to account for their actions?

To adopt a “Boys will be boys” , and “Girls will be Girls”, “they are only doing what comes natural.” attitude and insist that changes be made carefully in half steps gives one the appearance of an apologist for Mega-corporations eager to cover over issues of negligence and/or malfeasance.

Being aware that problems exist in an organization, which one is attempting to recruit people into and as one who claims to be an advocate for those people, one does nothing to prepare or protect those people from abuse, one becomes complicit in the problems. Denying problems exist, casting aspersions on victims’ character and demanding their silence, makes one an integral part of the problem.

As seems to be the instance in most every issue, throughout the trucking industry, when putting together a driver training curriculum, social dynamics were never taken into account, when deciding its structure.

Heather Rose
2nd Generation Trucker

Additional Reading:
Predators and the Professional Female Drivers

Technorati Tags: Driver Training, Harassment, Infrastructure, Truckers, Trucking, Women in Trucking

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