As a retired carhaul Teamster of 21 years and a 37 year Trucking career

[Beachnutt]

I say this to the antivaxxers in Canada,

Real Truckers get the Shot
and KEEP ON TRUCKIN..

The guys at the bridge are nothing more than steering wheel holders.

[PortTack]

1. Amen! I understand the real truckers in Canada don't want any part of this nonsense!

[SheltieLover]

2. I'm sure they don't!

[PortTack]

5. 😉😉😉

[GB_RN]

8. I Figured They Were Like Jerry Falwell's "Moral Majority"...

They only represented about a tiny fraction of the GOPQ, and so never were a majority in any sense of the word. They just screamed louder than everyone else.

[2naSalit]

9. Totally astroturfed.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

13. The Canuck QAnon Truckers are a shrivelled minority in Canada, even among truckers.

[cab67]

19. The Moral Majority was neither.

[GB_RN]

36. No doubt.

Just like these Freedumb Truckers don’t represent most truckers, nor are they correct in what they’re doing/how they’re doing it.

[sop]

46. Have they figured out who's paying these steering wheel-holders to shut down the border?

[Joinfortmill]

3. 👍

[markie]

4. my Dad was a trucker

he would have gotten the shot and been on the road... the people protesting are spoiled brats

[ProfessorGAC]

12. Same Here!

My dad wasn't OTR, but he drove a semi to deliver milk to a chain of supermarkets in Chicago's south suburbs. Teamster.
He got to be home every night, but he was still putting in half his 9 hour day behind the wheel of 65,000#.
He would have been first in line for the vax. He wouldn't need a mandate.

[calimary]

6. Thank you for that long-haul work, Beachnutt.

We know this jerk doesn’t speak for all truckers.

[Cha]

7. Thank You so much,

Beachnutt!


Excellent Commentary!

[2naSalit]

10. Astroturf warriors.

[mwooldri]

11. Na. They're Swift rejects.

I still not figured out what makes a trucker vs a steering wheel holder but I got vaxxed, boosted, and my colleagues who have got the shots have been doing a lot more cross border work, making bank as they go. I effectively drive regional on a dedicated contract so I don't go to Canada anymore. But if I were OTR I'd happily go Canada.

[Beachnutt]

14. Google this :

Steering wheel holder vs Trucker
Good explanations there.

[TygrBright]

15. I will never forget back when my stepdad was teaching me to drive...

...what he told me about the big rig jockeys.

I was complaining about how they reduced visibility on the highway.

And my stepdad said "Don't forget, you're in their office. Give them space, give them respect, and they're the best drivers sharing the road with you."

He went on to explain what the drivers' life was like, what they could and could not see from their cabs, the rules they had to follow, the long hours they worked "To bring YOU your groceries and your clothes and your mail and your just-about-everything-else!"

So I have always tried to be courteous in sharing the road.

The scariest time I ever had car trouble - on a northern Minnesota highway very late at night, miles from anywhere and cold as allgetout, in the days long before cell phones - I thought I might freeze out there, and then after more than an hour, a state Highway Patrol car pulled in behind me and the trooper told me a trucker had alerted him on the radio to a stranded motorist.

I wish I knew which trucker, he mighta saved my life.

I just wish there were better rules to protect the employee-drivers from being treated like disposable parts by the big corporations, and some protections for the owner-operators to make the competition a little fairer to them.

In the mean time, I'm grateful to the long-haulers who keep bringing me "my groceries and my clothes and my mail and my just-about-everything-else"!

appreciatively,
Bright

[Beachnutt]

17. Your dad was right

I could tell story after story of my experiences, I trucked all over this country, pulled 2 trailers for years, pulled a flatbed for for 4 years, never did pull a tanker or a reefer.
I finished up carhauling working out of GM plants but still hauled out of Ford, Toyota, and off Railheads
Any town with a GM dealer from Tx/Nm line to the east coast I have been there more than likely. except new england states, I avoided them like the plague due to low bridges low tree limbs and narrow streets.
Back in the late eighties used to pull doubles out to LA area, Santa fe springs drop em and hook another set and run up to Modesto Ca drop and rehook and go back to Santa fe springs Ca and drop and hook and head back to dallas.
Been over grapevine, tahatchpi, cabbage and snowqualme pass many times, rode over eisenhower, loveland and donner pass many times.
I have many good memories and many scary memories, experienced alot and a lot of lonely times.
We used to run using an atlas no gps or google maps, no cell phone and no tablets or qualcom.
If any of you reading this are looking to get into trucking go Union, you'll be glad you did.
Find a local near you and go ask how to get into a Union job.

https://teamster.org/

[ancianita]

24. You hit it: "employee-drivers from being treated like disposable parts by the big corporations..."

This is exactly why we need to recognize that long haulers are the essential workers of our essential workers.

THIS is why Beachnutt is a badass critic of anti-vaxxer truckers.

This is why I claim that the Canadian and U.S. governments should hold every goddam pathological for-profit corporation in contract with every single truck blocking bridges between the U.S. and Canada. These companies got not one damn excuse. NONE

[oldsoftie]

25. I STILL carry an Atlas. And its STILL better than a GPS

Although I do use that as well

[ancianita]

16. Spoken like a true Teamster!

AFT Local #1 in solidarity!

[Beachnutt]

20. Gm gypsy here

Local 745 Dallas Tx Arlington.
Local 568 Shreveport La
Local 327 Nashville Tn Springhill
Local 745 again
Local 89 Louisville Ky Bowling Green.
Corvette plant

Also worked article 48 lansing Mi,
Kansas City, clay como.
when they needed help.

[ancianita]

21. I LOVE your union commitment. Most truckers wouldn't even bother. Because they don't THINK.

I admire you.

I have to say that you could write an important op-ed somewhere, anywhere, that explains why union truckers are thinkers and not tools of corporate attempts to intimidate their nation's governments. Truckers have no idea how much government still does to improve their lives when their own companies won't. That corporate promoted ignorant shit has got to stop.

Every last damn company should be FINED by every government until they get their asshole truckers in line with what SOCIETY needs, not what their bosses want.

Unions know that workers and management have nothing in common.

Thanks for your post, Beachnutt!

[Beachnutt]

23. Thank you and

your statements are right absolutely correct imo.

[jaxexpat]

44. "Unions know that workers and management have nothing in common", Amen.

Our society's inability to humanely integrate the lightning paced development and implementation of electronic technologies into a sustainable workplace environment lays on the short-sighted national toleration for the destruction of PATCO by Reagan. It put non-facts in people's minds about socialism v conservatism, set in stone the top-down stratification of wealth and stopped meaningful unionization in its tracks. It laid the groundwork for the replacement of human livelihoods with corporate robotism. Unions and the empowerment of their bargaining powers are the only alternative to the wealth inequality that destroys joy and purpose in America. The disempowerment of unions has brought the US to the divided state enjoyed by Russian plutocrats today.

[CaptainTruth]

18. They're just stroking their gearshifts.

I could make a joke about Ram Ranch & putting it in "R," but I won't.

[Nevilledog]

26. *snicker*

v

[dawn5651]

22. well said and not only that they are idiots

[Ford_Prefect]

27. To what extent an we thank the MSM for blowing this out of all proportion????

IMO between them all they have managed to exaggerate every single RW meme thus far as if each one were the latest word from God.

In this case they have made it seem as if a majority of truck drivers were on board with it and would continue to be.

[dlk]

28. The Canadian Trucker Alliance has said

A great number of the protesters have no connection to the trucking industry. Apparently, a significant element from the US was involved in the organization & funding of the truckers convoy. More faux outrage has been stirred up by the the same old cranky American billionaires. They continue using the same playbook because it’s been very effective thus far.

[Ford_Prefect]

30. Imagine that!!! Russian agitprop just as Vlad is preparing to invade Ukraine.

What will he get up to next????

[dlk]

31. Putin's goal is to create as much chaos as possible the west

Sadly, too many make the job easy.

[Ford_Prefect]

32. And yet the MSM can only blame the fools in front of the camera?

[dlk]

33. Without a doubt, the MSM has its flaws

The profit motive…

[Ford_Prefect]

34. Along with having their collective heads up their ***** about so many things.

The lack of common sense among the general press can be quite staggering at times. I find they are sometimes nearly as dangerous as the RW, however unintentional the effect.

I can remember when this was not as true as it seems today. I suppose that is the effect of consolidation along with having so many outlets owned by so few Oligarchs, RW and otherwise.

I can recall a time when marketing had not invaded the news or editorial offices, too. It was imperfect and messy with diverting opinions and uneven coverage but it was also a time when the news was not so homogeneous.

[iluvtennis]

29. Beachnutt - thank you for truckin' for us all. I have two brothers that are big rig drivers. One

for nearly 25 years and the other 20. I understand from them how hard y'all work and the wear/tear on your bodies from so many yeas in those trucks.

Thank you!!!

[Beachnutt]

35. It's a hard life for sure

I have many good memories and have seen things and places alot of folks never get to see.
Its hard but not a bad life really, old truckers say it gets in your blood.
I retired in August 2020 and I do have thoughts of hitting the road at times as it seems as if the highway is calling.
I'm sure your brothers know what I'm talking about..
and thank you as it was my pleasure.

[SunSeeker]

37. Thank you for your service Beachnutt!

Every industry has its idiots, and these guys are making it easy to spot them.

[Generic Brad]

38. This feels as manufactured as the Tea Party was

Rich people manipulated a group of disaffected Americans and whipped up their anger through AM talk radio. They convinced them their voice will be heard if they demand it loudly enough. Here we go again.

[eppur_se_muova]

45. Yeah, the Confederate flags and Trump flags (in Canada!) are kind of a giveaway. nt

[Demovictory9]

39. k&r

[Emile]

40. As a retired old slip seating company driver myself, I agree!

These people are not real truck drivers!

[Beachnutt]

41. P&D driver ?

or line haul ?
I never did slip seat thank goodness although most carhaul terminals had slipseat bids for local work, slipseating night drivers and day drivers, I've seen slipseat guys work like a smooth running clock always on time and get along because they respected each other and kept the truck clean and maintained, and I've seen em cuss each other for always being late and trashing the truck too..
Enjoy your retirement, I'm gonna ride my retirement pension into the sunset ...

[Emile]

42. The last ten years I drove for a company that made automobile

bumpers for all the big car companions. The last 5 years I drove 600 miles everyday to Grand Haven, Michigan, did a drop and hook. 3,000 miles per week and home every night. Most times I was grateful because they knew I had a long run my trailer would be loaded and ready to go. Trailer would be loaded with heavy draw bars, which was nice to have the weight on the return trip with all the lake effect snows. The second shift driver also did a run to Michigan, but his was a 525 mile run. I got mad a couple times with other drivers. One time I had dried up snot on the steering wheel, another driver left a half full piss bottle behind the driver seat. I always liked a clean truck and would often have to clean the interior before departing.

[Beachnutt]

43. Hats off to you my friend

Running up north is no picnic for sure and 600 mile days is one helluva job.
I delivered cars from 250 to 1300 mile trips with back hauls most of the time and some 3 leg trips.
You are a dedicated Trucker for sure.
👊

[The Jungle 1]

47. They are terrorists

These fascists have been displaying nazi flags and treasonous confederate flags. Their goal is insurrection.
They are terrorists and we do not allow known terrorist into the USA.
Get their identification and ban them from crossing the border.
Maybe we need a wall. :O Clearly Canada is not sending their best.

[Roy Rolling]

48. Real Truckers

Real truckers are Teamsters. I would never hire anything less, and always ask delivery drivers at my door their union status.

How many union drivers—secure in their financial and social position— are willing to throw it all away by protesting to support “freedumb” organizers who don’t give a shit when they’re unemployed and their families go hungry?

These are pretend truckers blocking the roads and preventing real truckers from delivering goods.