According to social media posts by members of some trucking groups, a number of drivers plan to idle or slow their rigs to a crawl on Tuesday, Aug. 31, in protest of mandatory workplace COVID-19 vaccinations and virus-related travel restrictions.
Although it’s unclear just how many truckers will actually participate in the one-day protest, social media groups, including StopTheTires2020 and The Disrespected Trucker on Facebook, both primarily followed by professional drivers, seem to be supporting the effort.
There is currently no known nationwide movement to require mandatory vaccines for truckers. Several major corporations such as Walmart and Tyson, which employ thousands of truck drivers, have mandated the vaccine for some workers but, as of now, not for their transportation fleet employees.
In Australia, truckers have recently protested mandatory vaccinations by blocking roads and slowing the movement of goods. Many U.S. truckers say the Aug. 31 protest here is in solidarity with their Aussie brothers and sisters of the road.
Jeremy Rewoldt, founder of the Facebook group StopTheTires2020, said in a recent post that he had warned fellow U.S. truckers about coming policies that are designed to stifle freedoms.
“Well, I told you it was about future policies and how the(y) would effect [sic] every American. Remember without any consumers all of us drivers are useless. With out us product don’t get to the people. It’s a circle,” he wrote in a Aug. 14 post.
“Now do you believe me? Now is it time to wake the hell up?,” the post continues. “I have said it from the start it’s not about me. It’s not about you (yes you reading this), it’s about every hard working American in this great country. It effects [sic] everyone.”
Facebook user Diana Tolle wrote the following on the Facebook group We The People: “I believe our truckers should shut this country down. America stand up due to these vaccine mandates and passports and so much more that is BS. Turning one another against each other because we should all be vaccinated I don’t agree.”
One of the most outspoken truckers against the vaccine is TikTok user @disrespectedtrucker3. TikTok, which has millions of users, allows members to post video clips up to 90 seconds long and on just about any topic.
“On August 31st, on Tuesday, we’re asking that everybody not go to work,” he said in a video posting last week. “If they’re out on the road, shut your truck down. There are guys that plan on putting their trucks across the road. There’s guys who plan on parking on the side of the road, parking at home, and at truck stops.”
Beyond that, he didn’t offer any specific instructions about how to protest, saying only that he’s “just telling people to shut your trucks down, and nobody go to work at least for Tuesday. Maybe for the rest of the week. Until we get their attention in DC, we’re going to have to keep putting up with bulls**t mandates. What’s going on with the nurses and the military right now isn’t right. So, we’re going to stand up for Freedom.”
While the concept is not popular among some drivers and other workers, employers can legally require employees to get the shot.
According to the American Trucking Associations, in December 2020, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued guidance on how COVID vaccines apply to existing labor law. In sum, the guidance affirms an employer’s right to mandate that their employees receive a vaccine, as the law permits employers to set “a requirement that an individual shall not pose a direct threat to the health or safety of individuals in the workplace.”
In doing so, regulations require the employer to show the duration of the risk, the nature and severity of the potential harm, the likelihood that the potential harm will occur, and the imminence of the potential harm.
However, the guidance also notes two exceptions — protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Acts — for employees with disabilities or “sincerely” held religious beliefs that prohibit them from receiving a vaccine. In those cases, employers are required by regulation to provide “reasonable accommodations.”
Efforts to reach the U.S. Department of Transportation regarding mandatory Covid vaccines on Monday, Aug. 30, were unsuccessful.
Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and raised in East Texas, John Worthen returned to his home state to attend college in 1998 and decided to make his life in The Natural State. Worthen is a 20-year veteran of the journalism industry and has covered just about every topic there is. He has a passion for writing and telling stories. He has worked as a beat reporter and bureau chief for a statewide newspaper and as managing editor of a regional newspaper in Arkansas. Additionally, Worthen has been a prolific freelance journalist for two decades, and has been published in several travel magazines and on travel websites.
The people have a right to be safe in their workplace the rights of all should trump an individuals rights. Safety and health of all is the priority here. Why anyone would say my personal opinions rank higher than every ones right to health.
Baaaaaaah…GFY you scummy, librat sheep.
Take your vax.. Hope it eliminates you and all those like you.
Absolute trash and selfishness all around! Vaccines save lives!
This isn’t an actual vaccine and people are still getting the VIRUS and dying, still have to wear the mask, etc, etc. But anyway, tell us-If you get sick and the doctor tells you it is a virus….what does he do?
@ Justin – Wrong again librat scum.
REAL vaccines like polio and smallpox have success as those diseases have no ANIMAL HOSTS.
There has NEVER been a successful vaccine for a virus that has animal hosts.
The GARDASIL vaccine killed my daughter and has injured over 100,000 Americans since 2010.
GFY
Hope you got every shot and every booster you fool.
Watching you liberal scum drop like flies over the next year will be glorious.
Wow, what an angry person you are. Everyone is disagreeing in pretty much civilized way, while you spout GFY, and wish people death. Your mother must be so proud. Are you capable of of a normal conversation? Forget about how others act…you. Stop being such a shit, will ya?
Lemme guess…GFM? Classy. Smh.
Its your choice. Most people have nothing to worry about. If you feel like getting the jab… get it.
Leave the rest of us alone and we’ll decide for ourselves.
Do not confuse the rights of one vs. all. The right for one means the rights for all.
I am fully vaxxed but here are somethings to consider.
Now a vaccine that does not obviously protect you from getting the illness, nor does it protect anyone else from you transmitting the illness to others it actually proves itself to be useless for long term use due to the efficacy of the product. If this was a drug brought to market in normal times it would be scrapped due to the ineffectiveness. I wish there was more time through clinical trials, but I think we are going through them now.
We should use current Drugs that actually cure the illness and treat the patient immediately- Drugs that are safe and have been in use for years by millions of people and that actually impact the patient that is ill, Drugs such as HCG, Ivermectin and budesonide are a better alternative use of medicine today then an experimental MRNA emergency use that only reduces the symptoms but does not eliminate the illness. These drugs are readily available and are not expensive at all, and that could be the issue.
Let’s think logically if you have survived the last year without a vaccine then your immune system is working properly. What if the vaccine is safe….what if it’s not?….. The Government continues to change the narrative with the regards efficacy, duration and safety of this shot, and this does not raise concern for your own health? It does for millions.
Spend sometime on the VAERS website or the cdc site and research the side effects and deaths associated with the vaccine, and then decide for yourself.
Let’s spend more time educating people on the importance of health, exercise and proper nutrition. Let’s get rid of type II diabetes and obesity for starters, but we all know you can’t mandate people to eat correctly and exercise. Or can we?
Once you mandate a product or an action under the guise of Safety other mandates will erode your freedoms in time as well.
Self Accountability is best, because everyone wants to be healthy.
I support the truckers and our rights!
I support the tuckers!!! and our freedom to choose!!
I support the truckers!!! and our freedom to choose!!
WRONG. They cannot mandate a vaccine. Period. Just because some agency says so doesn’t mean it’s possible. Stop this nonsense. What next yellow badges, rail car rides and showers? And stop calling it a vaccine. It’s an mRNA shot! This is like calling both a goldfish and a shark – a fish.
This author is insane.
And when they get sick with COVID or its variants, they can sit in their rigs and refuse treatment until they die!
This is BEYOND selfish; it’s foolish and DEADLY!
Wish the truckers would incorporate shut the boarder and finish the wall, in their protest! That would be perfect! Seems like at this point, their the only ones that could possibly make that happen! God bless all the truckers, keep them safe!