As I watch their signs bob outside my rig's window, I can not truck the order 2500 miles backward. But I sympathize that the union's efforts seem undermined with the arrival of truck after truck. I would be angry too. Facing each other under the yard lights, I know the strikers just want me to go away. Hurling the scab word, as they spit it out, I recoil.
Nothing is that simple.
Just as their jobs are on the line, so is mine. If I were to turn the load around, in the grand scheme of things, my actions would be irrelevant. There is always someone to take my place. Whatever eventually happens to the strikers walking the line, I know that for the truckers, there will be no contract-signing bonus when the conflict is resolved, wage increases, or profit sharing. With most of the trucking unions broken under the pressures of deregulation, drivers lack union backing and union benefits.