Truckers talk of April strike over high diesel fuel prices

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An Oregon service station posted this sign last week in protest as diesel fuel prices hit $4 per gallon. But many truck drivers say it's costing more than that, and with their businesses on the line, there's talk of a strike or slowdown in trucking industry circles. (AP photo/ROBIN LOZNAK)

By Tiffany Griffin

Story Created: Mar 31, 2008 at 8:03 AM EST

Story Updated: Mar 31, 2008 at 9:49 AM EST

There's more than just chatter on the radios and cell phones of truck drivers today.

Industry sources say truckers across the nation are organizing slowdowns and shutdowns to protest the high price of diesel fuel.

And some say truckers may take action as early as Tuesday. If they do, that's no April 1 joke.

Some owner-operators say they look at the impact of $4-per-gallon diesel fuel and think they're not going to be able to finish out the week. Others call on the American people to understand their plight, and realize the impact high transportation costs have on food and other consumer goods.

And still others demand that the trucking industry do more to help the nation's 3.5 million drivers.

Their comments — and in some cases, calls to Americans to stand with them as they demand help for the industry — are popping up all over the Web on sites such as www.thetruckingindustry.net and www.foodandfuelamerica.com

The vast majority of them are company drivers. But in a statement issued Friday, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association said it a had a number of members frustrated enough with diesel prices and the impact on their businesses to participate if plans for an April strike or slowdown materialize.

"Lawmakers need to know what's going on in trucking, how devastating this record hike in fuel prices is for 90 percent of the nation's fleet," said Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the association.

Spencer said the association is not a union, so it doesn't tell its members what to do and has no way of knowing how many of its 161,000 members might participate. But OOIDA supports those who are talking about taking action on the road.

And plenty of them are. Land Line Magazine, a trade publication for the trucking industry, reported Thursday that in Indiana, truckers are comparing the current fuel crisis to that of the early 1970s, and their voices are being hear around the world &mdash including media in France.

The truckers are being heard here at home, too. Last week, the American Trucking Associations called on the Bush administration to curb the impact of high oil prices on truckers by implementing a number of measures. Among them? Release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Work with each state to limit price gouging. And ease regulatory efforts and excise taxes specific to the industry, including a 12 percent tax on power units that decrease the fuel consumption of idling diesel engines.

"The signs are troubling. We are concerned about fuel's direct impact on our industry and also its effects on the nation's economy," said Bill Graves, the group's president and CEO, in a news release. "The industry is doing its part to conserve fuel, but we need help."

And if they don't get it? Whether it's Tuesday, later this week or later this month, those wheels may indeed stop turning.

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