How Canada's Freedom Convoy could be a wake-up call for the Teamsters

Will the next great trucker protest be by UPS workers?

A protester.
(Image credit: Illustrated | iStock)

This week, a "People's Convoy" of truckers aggrieved by COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates will descend upon the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area with a goal of blockading economic activity in the nation's capital. The American convoy models itself off similar trucker demonstrations in Ottawa, which were able to temporarily shut down over a quarter of the daily trade between the U.S. and Canada.

One protest organizer, Bob Bolus, told D.C.'s Fox 5 News that he analogizes the goal of the Washington convoy to "a giant boa constrictor that basically squeezes you, chokes you, and … swallows you, and that's what we're going to do the D.C. [region]." Residents of the area are understandably nervous about another large group of conservative protesters coming in from out of town with the goal of shutting things down.

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Saoirse Gowan

Saoirse Gowan is a writer and researcher with a focus on public policy from a left perspective. She was born and raised in Ireland by an American mother and Irish father, and moved to Washington, D.C. in 2018. She currently lives in Hyattsville, MD, and spends her free time on art and dancing.