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Long hours, low wages, and unsafe workplaces characterized sweatshops a hundred years ago. These same conditions plague American trucking today.Sweatshops on Wheels: Winners and Losers in Trucking Deregulation exposes the dark side of government deregulation in America's interstate trucking industry. In the years since deregulation in 1980, median earnings have dropped 30% and most long-haul truckers earn less than half of pre-regulation wages. Work weeks average more than sixty hours. Today, America's long-haul truckers are working harder and earning less than at any time during the last four decades.Written by a former long-haul trucker who now teaches industrial relations at Wayne State University, Sweatshops on Wheels raises crucial questions about the legacy of trucking deregulation in America and casts provocative new light on the issue of government deregulation in general.
This book investigates the economic and social consequences of the 1980 deregulation of the American interstate trucking industry. Michael H. Belzer, a former long-haul trucker turned industrial relations scholar at Wayne State University, utilizes historical data and labor statistics to argue that deregulation has systematically eroded worker wages and safety standards. The text provides a critical examination of how policy shifts intended to increase market efficiency have instead created a precarious labor environment for drivers.
What You Will Find
Experts and labor historians frequently cite this work as a foundational text for understanding the negative externalities of deregulation in the transportation sector. Readers often note the academic rigor of the author's analysis, which effectively bridges the gap between personal experience and systemic economic critique.
Page Count:
272
Publication Date:
2000-08-24
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0195128869
ISBN-13:
9780195128864
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