Randy Grider
Editor
rgrider@rrpub.com

The 1970s were turbulent years for trucking, and times were lean for many truckers trying to earn a living for their families. There were the 55-miles-per-hour speed limit, fuel shortages from the oil embargo and wildcat trucker strikes.

The various strikes were memorable for me because they were scary to a youngster with a trucker for a dad. Sometimes I feared for his safety. Other times, I was selfishly upset I could no longer tag along with Dad because he worried we might run into trouble.

I vaguely remember the issues. One strike involved the labor unions trying to unionize workers when my dad was hauling coal locally in North Alabama. Other strikes centered around government regulations and fuel.

Here we are some 30 years later, and trucker strikes are back in the news. In early April, there were widely scattered trucker protests that included shutdowns and slowdowns to object to the ever-increasing price of diesel fuel.

The percentage of truckers taking part in last month’s protests pales in comparison to the strikes three decades ago. And, thankfully, at press time there was no reported violence.