Sweatshops on Wheels

Sweatshops on Wheels PDF Author: Michael H. Belzer
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780195128864
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
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.

Sweatshops on Wheels

Sweatshops on Wheels PDF Author: Michael H. Belzer
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780195128864
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 280

Get Book Here

Book Description
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.

Braking the Special Interests

Braking the Special Interests PDF Author: Dorothy Robyn
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226723280
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
In 1980 Congress voted to eliminate the federal system of protective regulation over the powerful trucking industry, despite fierce opposition. This upset marked a rare example in American politics of diffuse public interests winning out over powerful economic lobbies. In Braking the Special Interests Dorothy Robyn draws upon firsthand observations of formal proceedings and behind-the-scenes maneuverings to illuminate the role of political strategy in the landmark trucking battle. Robyn focuses her analysis on four elements of strategy responsible for the deregulator's victory—elements that are essential, she argues, to any successful policy battle against entrenched special interests: the effective use of economic data and analysis to make a strong case for the merits of reform; the formation and management of a diverse lobbying coalition of firms and interest groups; presidential bargaining to gain political leverage; and transition schemes to reduce uncertainty and cushion the blow to losers. Drawing on political and economic theory, Braking the Special Interests is an immensely rich and readable study of political strategy and skill, with general insights relevant to current political battles surrounding trade, agriculture, and tax policies. Robyn's interdisciplinary work will be of great value to scholars and practitioners of politics, economics, and public policy.

The Economic Effects of Surface Freight Deregulation

The Economic Effects of Surface Freight Deregulation PDF Author: Clifford Winston
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 9780815714385
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 92

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Book Description
For close to 100 years, America's surface freight industries, primarily rail and trucking, operated under the protective wing of the U.S. government. In 1980 Congress, finding vast inefficiencies in the two industries, substantially deregulated both, opening them at last to market competition. Deregulation has brought with it many changes—for firms within the industries, for their labor force, and for shippers and their customers. Clifford Winston, Thomas M. Corsi, Curtis M. Grimm, and Carol A Evans provide a comprehensive evaluation of the effect of the deregulation legislation on the rail and trucking industries. According to the authors, deregulation has made substantial progress in solving the two most vexing problems of the surface freight transportation industry—excessive rates in the trucking industry and insufficient returns on investment in the rail industry. Competition and efficiency have returned to both industries, and although the labor force in each has suffered wage and job losses, shippers and their customers have gained roughly $20 billion a year in benefits. The authors recommend policies that would continue to promote competition and the efficient use of highway and railway infrastructure.

The Big Rig

The Big Rig PDF Author: Steve Viscelli
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520962710
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
Long-haul trucks have been described as sweatshops on wheels. The typical long-haul trucker works the equivalent of two full-time jobs, often for little more than minimum wage. But it wasn’t always this way. Trucking used to be one of the best working-class jobs in the United States. The Big Rig explains how this massive degradation in the quality of work has occurred, and how companies achieve a compliant and dedicated workforce despite it. Drawing on more than 100 in-depth interviews and years of extensive observation, including six months training and working as a long-haul trucker, Viscelli explains in detail how labor is recruited, trained, and used in the industry. He then shows how inexperienced workers are convinced to lease a truck and to work as independent contractors. He explains how deregulation and collective action by employers transformed trucking’s labor markets--once dominated by the largest and most powerful union in US history--into an important example of the costs of contemporary labor markets for workers and the general public.

Heavy Traffic

Heavy Traffic PDF Author: Daniel Madar
Publisher: University of British Columbia Press
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
This work examines the way in which the regulatory reform of American and Canadian trucking, coupled with free trade and integrated industrial logistics, have radically changed the industry.

Trucking Country

Trucking Country PDF Author: Shane Hamilton
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400828791
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
Trucking Country is a social history of long-haul trucking that explores the contentious politics of free-market capitalism in post-World War II America. Shane Hamilton paints an eye-opening portrait of the rural highways of the American heartland, and in doing so explains why working-class populist voters are drawn to conservative politicians who seemingly don't represent their financial interests. Hamilton challenges the popular notion of "red state" conservatism as a devil's bargain between culturally conservative rural workers and economically conservative demagogues in the Republican Party. The roots of rural conservatism, Hamilton demonstrates, took hold long before the culture wars and free-market fanaticism of the 1990s. As Hamilton shows, truckers helped build an economic order that brought low-priced consumer goods to a greater number of Americans. They piloted the big rigs that linked America's factory farms and agribusiness food processors to suburban supermarkets across the country. Trucking Country is the gripping account of truckers whose support of post-New Deal free enterprise was so virulent that it sparked violent highway blockades in the 1970s. It's the story of "bandit" drivers who inspired country songwriters and Hollywood filmmakers to celebrate the "last American cowboy," and of ordinary blue-collar workers who helped make possible the deregulatory policies of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan and set the stage for Wal-Mart to become America's most powerful corporation in today's low-price, low-wage economy. Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.

Impact of Deregulation of the Trucking Industry on Small Businesses and Small Truck Owner/operators

Impact of Deregulation of the Trucking Industry on Small Businesses and Small Truck Owner/operators PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Small Business. Subcommittee on Antitrust, Impact of Deregulation, and Privatization
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Small business
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description


Last Exit

Last Exit PDF Author: Clifford Winston
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815704739
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
"Proposes experiments in deregulating and privatizing the country's transportation systems to rid them of inefficiencies and significantly improve their performance in moving goods and people around the United States; the book covers roads, airports and airport traffic control, mass transit, intercity buses and railway networks"--Provided by publisher.

Employment, Hours, and Earnings, United States

Employment, Hours, and Earnings, United States PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Hours of labor
Languages : en
Pages : 792

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Book Description


Trucking Industry Deregulation

Trucking Industry Deregulation PDF Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Subcommittee on Surface Transportation
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Trucking
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description