Sorry for the long post...
I work in the logistics group of my company where our trucking spend is $50 million annually... One of my jobs is to monitor the diesel fuel prices weekly and adjust our fuel surcharge matrix accordingly. I have also read several industry articles on the strike, so I have some direct knowledge of what is going on.
The idea of the strike started at a T/A truck stop in Iowa by an owner-operator (someone who owns their truck and either works as a contractor to a big trucking company or only works for them). The fuel prices have skyrocketed, but the fuel surcharges have not move enough and/or fast enough to keep up. Typically, and my company does this, we base our fuel surcharge on the previous week's average according to the government (http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/gdu/gasdiesel.asp). The last three weeks, the US average for diesel jumped over 30 cents to just under $4.00 per gallon. That said, if their is a 10 cent jump in price, a driver is losing at the pump immediately and he will get reimbursed on the previous week's low price. Add to the problem is that the driver may not get reimbursed for the cost for up to 30 days. The driver is always behind directly at the pump.
Every shipper is paying a fuel surcharge. It can be anywhere from $.35 to $.55 per mile. This added onto the freight bill. Most freight charges are net 15 or net 30 days. The driver has to wait. If he is a contractor, the company he works for may not share the fuel surcharge completely. The company takes a cut. The driver is out more.
Another factor killing the owner-operators is insurance. Insurance for a lot of the drivers is based on their credit. If they are losing money because of fuel, they are probably relying on credit to get by. The more credit/debt they take on, the lower their credit score and credit worthiness. The insurance companies see the lower credit ranking and raise their premiums to the driver due to what they feel is increased liability (that's another soap box issue).
So you have three issues impacting the drivers: huge jumps in price where fuel surcharges don't keep up, drivers not getting their full fuel surcharge and having to wait for it, and the insurance premiums going up. Those factors can crush an independent owner operator. Unfortunately, striking could hurt a driver more. Obviously, they have to have loads to stay in business. However, if they strike, it may cost them more is lost shipments, lost goodwill with customers, and losing their equipment due to their inability to pay for it.
I feel their pain, but at the same time, my job to is to prevent my company from also feeling the pain. I push back against mid-year rate increases and our fuel surcharge matrix is about $.20 lower than the average. That said, I am part of the problem. My company makes plastic bottles/containers for milk, juice, syrup, cat litter, and just about anything else you might have in your house. We build the fuel in and past the cost onto our customer.
The government is a part of the problem and the solution. A cap on fuel prices won't solve the problem...the costs and loss will still be passed onto the consumer in increased prices as we have been seeing. The government did pass more stringent fuel economy standards for the large trucks. That is still being phased in. It is helping...average fuel economy for big trucks is improving, but not fast enough. A big contributor is federal and state fuel taxes. At the current average of $4.00 for diesel, taxes make up around 14 to 15%, which is around $.60. That gets the cost down to $3.40 per gallon, but where does the money come from to fix the roads? Bad roads beat up the trucks and the maintenance costs are passed onto the consumer, so taking the taxes out won't help per se.
I don't know if their is a right answer. Our economy needs to improve, the dollar needs
If you do not like the price of fuel, buy fuel somewhere else. If a company os price gauging you, do you really want to buy fuel from them?
