Truckers Using Social Networks to Organize Strike
With diesel prices in the US hovering at just under $4/gallon nationally -- up over a dollar from last year -- independent truckers especially are starting to feel pain at the pump as operating costs are driven higher and higher. One idea to combat the all-time high fuel prices that's apparently being kicked around inside the trucking community is a protest strike. As we're seeing with a growing number of social movements, the organization of this idea seems to be coming together through online channels like social networks and forums.
A truckers strike is not without precedent. Following an OPEC oil embargo against the US and other western nations in the 1970s, a ten-day strike by independent truck owners and operators over high fuel costs that was intended to force the government to change policies in order to lower oil price had serious reprocussions. That strike actually prompted violence on a scale that caused the governor of Pennsylvania to activate the National Guard to protect roadways in that state. However, a smaller strike in 1994 of about 75,000 teamsters as 22 trucking companies has a far smaller impact.
The current planned strike is being organized mainly over the Internet via social sites. A MySpace page for the strike has over 1900 friends, for example, while two Facebook groups (here and here) have over 5,000 members each. A Topix thread on the strike has over 4,800 replies, and a dedicated strike forum at TruckerForum -- a site with over a thousand members -- has 1,500 replies.
Unfortunately for protest organizers, who are aiming for May 5th as a potential strike day, as impressive as those numbers are on paper, they're not nearly large enough to effect the nation's shipping industry that much. If 75,000 truckers in 1994 didn't do much, a few thousand in 2008 won't have anyone calling for Congress to intervene.
But that said, in the past year we have begun to see movements that were started online take hold and have a serious impact. A protest organized on Facebook in Columbia a couple of months ago drew as many as 2 million people, and there is some evidence that the eBay protest organized via MySpace and YouTube in February had at least a small effect on the auction site.
What we're seeing over the past few months is the emergence of social networks as incredibly powerful organizational tools. Due to the inherently viral nature of most social networking sites, people are figuring out ways to leverage these networks to organize quickly on a massive scale and potentially effect real social change.
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Maybe they should start calling them "Socialism Networks".
Hey, truckers, ever thought of charging more?
Or we could just fund my idea already for smart routing of independent mobile service workers (towing, delivery, over the road medium range):
http://snurl.com/23ybv
http://snurl.com/23yc3
http://snurl.com/23yca
I am not crazy.
You hear about truckers striking all of the time. If they are not in a union then the strike never amounts to anything.
I suspect this will not amount to anything either.
this seems to be a funny news..
but anyways their are people using technology in right direction.
ther wernt but maybe 900 hundred truckers shutdown /strike in ga , there were a lot more in ga but the others that shutdown for the strike had no showing were the ones who stayed at the house i will bet that if there was a showing of the strike on major highway`s and truck stops there would be bigger impact ! as one the drivers who got this strike started and will start one again in the near future ! but i need help drivers i cant do this by myself im only one driver ,the original date for the first strike was april 1 2008 till the 10 th of april , things got so mixed up that they were talking on channel 19 about it one was saying april 3 to the 7 th , one was saying april 1st to 7th another one april the third to the 10th , it doesnt matter drivers we need to get organized and do this the right way and the right way is for all of us to be in this get our time right and strike on the highways the truck stops ill garuntee this there is not enough law enforecement on the planet to tell us we cant strike have a shutdown. we can do this strike / shutdown without any violence if we all stick together all across america ,. my e- mail is jlsspink@yahoo.com /jlsspink@myspace.com now lets get this organized and do it the right way !
You truckers have the power to do what no one else can do,
shut down this dam messed up goverment of ours,and make that dumb ass Bush and his boys listen!!!!
we regular people support the hell out of you drivers because we all are going broke paying these priceses for gas and every thing you haul.
Itis bankrupting this whole dam country and we cant get any relief from the goverment because there all big engery guys, so please go for it as long as you can and we will back you any way we can, we will march to.
You failed to mention www.theamericandriver.com