Dead
03-09-2005, 02:02 PM
Well, WalMart is at it again:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Wal-Mart and other retailers are lobbying Congress to extend the workday for truckers to 16 hours, something labor unions and safety advocates say would make roadways more dangerous for all drivers.
Rep. John Boozman, an Arkansas Republican whose district includes Wal-Mart's headquarters in Bentonville, is sponsoring a bill that would allow a 16-hour workday as long as the trucker took an unpaid two-hour break. The proposal is expected to be offered as an amendment during debate over the highway spending bill on Wednesday.
More here: http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/08/trucker.rules.ap/index.html
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My thoughts about this:
It is a stupid, stupid idea. Truckers already put in long days and forcing them to work up to 16 hours will put millions of Americans who drive on our highways at night in even more risk. Since we're doing this, why not remove the hours limitation for pilots as well? That would be the free-market, libertarian(Hear me EarlCat, natedogg?) thing to do. But it's also a stupid thing to do.
This thing will hopefully fail. If so it will be due to the Teamsters who put pressure on the Republicans who wanted to vote for it.
Come on now. 16 hours a day? That's just ridiculous. If this thing is passed, it would result in so many more accidents on our highways.
But I'm sure our resident libertarians will have no problem with this new proposal. I bet they'd like to eliminate the hour cap entirely.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Wal-Mart and other retailers are lobbying Congress to extend the workday for truckers to 16 hours, something labor unions and safety advocates say would make roadways more dangerous for all drivers.
Rep. John Boozman, an Arkansas Republican whose district includes Wal-Mart's headquarters in Bentonville, is sponsoring a bill that would allow a 16-hour workday as long as the trucker took an unpaid two-hour break. The proposal is expected to be offered as an amendment during debate over the highway spending bill on Wednesday.
More here: http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/08/trucker.rules.ap/index.html
-------------
My thoughts about this:
It is a stupid, stupid idea. Truckers already put in long days and forcing them to work up to 16 hours will put millions of Americans who drive on our highways at night in even more risk. Since we're doing this, why not remove the hours limitation for pilots as well? That would be the free-market, libertarian(Hear me EarlCat, natedogg?) thing to do. But it's also a stupid thing to do.
This thing will hopefully fail. If so it will be due to the Teamsters who put pressure on the Republicans who wanted to vote for it.
Come on now. 16 hours a day? That's just ridiculous. If this thing is passed, it would result in so many more accidents on our highways.
But I'm sure our resident libertarians will have no problem with this new proposal. I bet they'd like to eliminate the hour cap entirely.