Unions are a red herring, they've been mostly confined to specific economic niches (like port work) for decades and in trucking being in a niche pretty much always pays better.
This has nothing to do with unions and everything to do with regulation and better administrative technology making the "mega-fleet body shop" business model more viable and owner operators and small fleets less economically viable.
Swift has always paid crap and we've regulated everything else out of existence, same story as many other industries.
I'll play this one the way you play them. I'm gonna post my disagreement and then take my sweet time finding some links (of dubious relevance and quality) and then I'll edit my post to add them. Or not. Time will tell.
"driver wages were highest in the “Other” category at 67.7 cents per mile, reflecting the specialized skills and credentials that carriers in this group require. For instance, many Tank haulers are involved in the movement of hazardous materials, which require a special endorsement on a driver’s CDL."
This has nothing to do with unions and everything to do with regulation and better administrative technology making the "mega-fleet body shop" business model more viable and owner operators and small fleets less economically viable.
Swift has always paid crap and we've regulated everything else out of existence, same story as many other industries.