Teamsters Traveling a Rough, Narrow Road : Trucking: One of deregulation’s effects on the union is 30,000 independent carriers that are taking away business.

A lot has happened in the trucking industry since Life magazine warned its readers in the spring of 1959 that if Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa wanted to, he could “bring a major portion of U.S. transportation--and thus the entire economy--to a halt.”

With almost 90% of the nation’s intercity trucks operating under Teamster contracts 35 years ago, the 1.6 million-member union had the power to choke off freight shipments almost anywhere.

Not anymore. Hoffa is gone, no one is quite sure where, and the union is now in the hands of reformers struggling to overcome his legacy. But more important for those Teamsters--less than 10% of the membership--who earn their living behind the wheel, the trucking industry has been deregulated.

As in the case of airline deregulation, the end of government restrictions on trucking competition in 1980 has been devastating for the union. The Teamsters have lost more than 100,000 members in the industry and the shrinkage continues.

Since the end of regulation more than 30,000 independent carriers have swelled the competitive ranks of the industry.

When Teamster President Ron Carey called a strike at midnight Tuesday against the 22 companies covered by the union’s national master freight agreement, the public hardly noticed.

The master freight agreement covers what are known in the industry as “less-than-truckload” shipments, those weighing less than 10,000 pounds. Most of the shipments are parts used in manufacturing and other non-perishable raw materials.

The union has $15 million in its strike fund, which pays benefits of $200 a week, and has secured lines of credit for $80 million from the AFL-CIO and the Union Labor Life Insurance Co.

Like unions in the airline, auto, steel and other industries, the Teamsters face the prospect of fewer jobs and a lower standard of living because of competition.

In the past, when the Interstate Commerce Commission determined routes, a trucking company did not have to fear cheaper competition entering its area.

Today, in a parallel to the airline industry, the unionized segment of the trucking industry is being overpowered by competition from small, non-union carriers unburdened by the work rules that can weigh down a labor contract.