Michael H. Belzer is an internationally recognized expert on the trucking industry, especially the institutional and economic impact of

deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...

. He is a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

in the economics department at

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

. He is the author of ''Sweatshops on Wheels: Winners and Losers in Trucking Deregulation'' (

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2000). Along with Gregory M. Saltzman, he coauthored ''Truck Driver Occupational Safety and Health: 2003 Conference Report and Selective Literature Review'',

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH, ) is the United States federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. NIOSH is part of the C ...

, 2007. He has written many peer-reviewed articles on trucking industry economics, labor,

occupational safety and health Occupational safety and health (OSH), also commonly referred to as occupational health and safety (OHS), occupational health, or occupational safety, is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at wor ...

, infrastructure, and operational issues.

Background

For ten years, he was a long-haul

tank truck A tank truck, gas truck, fuel truck, or tanker truck (American English) or tanker (British English) is a motor vehicle designed to carry liquids or gases on roads. The largest such vehicles are similar to railroad tank cars, which are also design ...

driver, one of the leaders of

Teamsters for a Democratic Union Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) is a grassroots rank and file organization whose goal is to reform the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), or Teamsters Union. The organization has chapters nationwide in the United States and Canada ...

, and a member of the

International Brotherhood of Teamsters The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), also known as the Teamsters Union, is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of The Team Drivers International Union and The Teamsters National Union, the un ...

. These experiences had a direct impact on his research, writing and career. Belzer received his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

in 1993. His thesis, "Collective Bargaining in the Trucking Industry: The Effects of Institutional and Economic Restructuring," focused on the transformational dynamic of changed regulation and institutional structure on industrial relations in the trucking industry.

Research

Belzer studies the industrial and labor relations of the trucking industry, including motor carrier safety, driver safety and health, and intermodal freight and logistics. He is a proponent of “safe rates” and believes that that driver working conditions and compensation is a major determinant of motor vehicle driver safety and health. His book ''Sweatshops on Wheels'' was critically well received. Low pay, bad working conditions and unsafe conditions have been a direct result of deregulation. "

his book His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School, in ...

argues that trucking embodies the dark side of the new economy.""Sweatshops on Wheels," '' U.S. News & World Report''. "Conditions are so poor and the pay system so unfair that long-haul companies compete with the fast-food industry for workers. Most long-haul carriers experience 100% annual driver turnover.""Sweatshops on Wheels." ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' As the ''

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

'' wrote: "The cabs of 18-wheelers have become the

sweatshop A sweatshop or sweat factory is a crowded workplace with very poor, socially unacceptable or illegal working conditions. Some illegal working conditions include poor ventilation, little to no breaks, inadequate work space, insufficient lighting, o ...

s of the new millennium, with some truckers toiling up to 95 hours per week for what amounts to barely more than the minimum wage.

is eye-opening in its appraisal of what the trucking industry has become."

Published works

* .

Research reports

*"Pay and Safety Report, September 2002"
The Jobs Tunnel: The Economic Impact of Adequate Border-Crossing Infrastructure
(Nov. 2003).

Selected scholarly publications

Pay Incentives and Truck Driver Safety: Case Study
" With co-authors Daniel A. Rodriguez and Felipe Targa. Abstract published in Compendium of Papers CD-ROM of the 82nd Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, January 12–16, 2003, Washington, DC.
Effects of Truck Driver Wages and Working Conditions on Highway Safety: Case Study.
With Daniel Rodríguez, Marta Rocha, and Asad J. Khattak. Abstract published in Compendium of Papers CD-ROM of the 82nd Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, January 12–16, 2003, Washington, DC. *"Effects of Truck Driver Wages and Working Conditions on Highway Safety: Case Study." With Daniel Rodríguez, Marta Rocha, and Asad J. Khattak. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, no. 1833 (Freight Policy, Economics, and Logistics; Truck Transportation), pp. 95–102. 2003.
The Case for Strengthened Motor Carrier Hours of Service Regulations
(with Gregory M. Saltzman). Transportation Journal, Volume 41, No. 4 Summer 2002, pp. 51–71. *"Trucking: Collective Bargaining Takes a Rocky Road." in Collective Bargaining: Current Developments and Future Challenges, edited by Paul F. Clark, John T. Delaney, and Ann C. Frost. Champaign, IL: Industrial Relations Research Association 2002, pp. 311–342
Technological Innovation and the Trucking Industry: Information Revolution and the Effect on the Work Process.
Journal of Labor Research, Volume 23, No. 3; Summer 2002, pp. 375–396.
Truck Driver Security Issues: The New World of Secure Surface Transportation
" Perspectives on Work: The Magazine of the IRRA, Vol. 6, No. 1; June 2002, pp. 13–15.
Worker Representation in the Truckload Sector: What Do Truckers Want?
in the Proceedings of the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Industrial Relations Research Association, January 5–7, 2001, New Orleans, Louisiana. *"Deregulation and Decentralization: The Impact on Employment Relations." Twenty First Century Labor Studies International Academic Conference," Chinese Culture University. Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China. October 12–13, 2000, pp. 1-45.
Government Oversight and Union Democracy: Lessons from the Teamsters Experience
(with Richard Hurd).

Journal of Labor Research The ''Journal of Labor Research'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal which publishes articles regarding labor relations in the United States. Its articles cover the nature of work, labor-management relations, welfare-to-work, flexible employmen ...

, Volume XX, Number 3, Summer 1999.
Labor Market Regulation: Balancing the Benefits and Costs of Competition
(with Dale Belman). In Government Regulation of the Employment Relationship, Bruce Kaufman, ed. Madison, Wisconsin: Industrial Relations Research Association. 1997.

Industrial and Labor Relations Review 48:4 (July 1995). *"Labor Law Reform: Taking a Lesson from the Trucking Industry." Proceedings of the Forty-Seventh Annual Meeting of the Industrial Relations Research Association. Washington, DC. January 6–8, 1995. Madison, Wisconsin: Industrial Relations Research Association. 1995.
The Motor Carrier Industry: Truckers and Teamsters Under Siege.
In Contemporary Collective Bargaining in the Private Sector, edited by Paula B. Voos. Madison, Wisconsin: Industrial Relations Research Association. 1994.
Paying the Toll: Economic Deregulation of the Trucking Industry.
Washington, D.C.:

Economic Policy Institute The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit American, left-leaning think tank based in Washington, D.C., that carries out economic research and analyzes the economic impact of policies and proposals. Affiliated with the labor mo ...

. 1994.

References

External links

Wayne State University Faculty Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belzer, Michael H. Living people Wayne State University faculty American economics writers American male non-fiction writers Transport economists Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations alumni Year of birth missing (living people)