Employees at two more Overnite Transportation terminals went on strike July 8, bringing the total number of strikers to 1,430 at seven of the firm's 166 terminals, Teamsters union officials said. Earlier, the company flatly rejected the union’s offer of a meeting.

The latest attempt at a long-haul trucker strike, which began with a bang July 5, ended with a whimper two days later. Truckers Against Discrimination organized the stoppage to protest split speed limits, stiffer traffic fines for commercial drivers and lane restrictions.

The battle over proposed ergonomics rules intensified late last month as a House of Representatives committee voted to pass a bill that would delay implementation of the rules pending further study. The Clinton administration quickly threatened a veto if lands on the president's desk.

The deal Teamsters officials cut with Anheuser-Busch June 24 is getting a less than bubbly response from local union leaders and their rank-and-file members.The five-year contract covers 8,000 Teamsters at 12 breweries nationwide, and comes after nearly two years of often bitter negotiations.

It’s almost an annual rite of appropriations: Trucking politics show up in surface transportation spending bills. And this year is no different, with a provision in a House bill to cut funding to the Office of Motor Carrier and Highway Safety as long as it remains within the Federal Highway Administration.

Dockworkers and truck drivers at six Overnite Transportation terminals went on strike Monday, according to the Teamsters union. About 1,400 union workers walked off their jobs at three terminals in the Atlanta area and one each in Memphis, Tenn.; Kansas City, Mo., and Indianapolis.

A Public Citizen and Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways study reported that between 1993 and 1998 trucking made $14 million worth of political contributions and spent more than $15 million on lobbying. “The more money they give, the less they’re regulated. It’s congressional protection money — you pay them to leave you alone,” said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen.

The contract between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the group that represents company management on the West Coast waterfront expired July 1. An extension of the deadline was expected so that negotiations can continue. American Trucking Associations has threatened to sue if the agreement includes a provision to let ILWU members take over trucking work, which is now done by independent contractors in the ports.

Comdata Corp. and 18 Wheels of Hope organizers put the final nail in the coffin of their partnership with Oklahoma City-based charity Feed The Children. The decision to detach from the charity came days after a news report that Feed The Children founder Larry Jones defaulted on nearly $1 million in a business deal that the charity had financed.

The General Accounting Office is placing the blame for federal highway safety regulators’ ineffectiveness on a dearth of useful information on truck crashes. The report, commissioned by Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) and released June 29, rehashes much of the congressional testimony given three months ago by Phyllis F. Scheinberg, associate director for transportation issues at GAO.