Dear Editor:

The Continuing Resolution just passed by Congress has something for everyone. For Sen. Susan Collins, it was an opportunity reward the transportation industry who generously contributed to her campaign. She did this by liberalizing the hours truck drivers can spend on the road.

Back in the good old days, truck drivers were well paid for their hard work. Families of truck drivers were able to send their children to college, save for retirement and take family vacations. But those days are long gone. Thanks to vigorous lobbying by the transportation industry and the new world view of supply side economics; the industry was deregulated in 1980 and truck drivers’ earnings trickled down to what they are today.

Not only did deregulation reduce costs, but it also gave logistics managers a boon of free rolling warehousing. This is how it works; the drivers are paid by the mile so when they are not rolling, you do not have to pay them. So if a truck arrives at your warehouse, there is no real incentive to unload the truck until it is convenient for the manager. That is why we have drivers waiting in line at ports and warehouses for many hours.

But this creates another problem that the transportation lobby asked Sen. Collins to solve for them. Because drivers spend a lot of time waiting to unload, and safety regulations limits the time that drivers spend on the road, the Collins amendment to the spending bill would increase the amount of time that drivers could spend on the road without rest.

Susan Collins got reelected, the transportation industry was further enriched, our roads are less safe and no new jobs were created.

Fred W. Nehring

Boothbay