
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, October 28, 1993                   TAG: 9310280119
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PHOENIX                                LENGTH: Medium

ANGRY TRUCKERS SET THEIR BRAKES FOR BIG STALL-OUT

Jim Bowman has some advice if his fellow truckers go on strike: "Tell your momma to stock up on groceries because . . . there won't be anything in the stores."

Bowman was referring to a nationwide trucking industry shutdown planned Nov. 11-17 to protest rapidly rising diesel fuel prices. Truckers are spreading the word on CB radios and toll-free numbers.

Big trucking companies and the Teamsters union oppose the effort organized by independent truckers.

Independent trucker Bob Mackin is one of those ready to park his 18-wheeler for a week. He says rising fuel prices amount to a $10,000-a-year pay cut.

"This will be a big bite in my pocketbook, but it's worth it," he said of the action.

It's unclear how many of the nation's estimated 4.5 million truck drivers - including up to 500,000 independent owner-operators - might participate.

Spokesmen for the American Trucking Associations, which represents big trucking companies, and the Teamsters, which represents about 100,000 long-haul drivers, said they expect few employee drivers to take part.

But the Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Associations, a Grain Valley, Mo., group that represents 20,000 independent truckers, is getting many supportive calls, said Todd Spencer, executive vice president.

Some protest organizers say thousands of independent operators, who account for much of the long-haul traffic, are expected to pull their rigs off the road for a few days.

Diesel prices jumped early this month when the federal fuel tax rose 4.3 cents a gallon and federal clean-air rules required refiners to replace their old product with cleaner-burning, low-sulfur fuel.

Shortages of the new fuel and distribution problems have added to the price spiral, the American Petroleum Institute said.

The average price of diesel rose from $1.14 a gallon on Sept. 28 to nearly $1.28 a gallon on Oct. 18, with steeper increases in parts of the West, according to the Interstate Commerce Commission.

by CNB