ExpeditersOnline.com The Expedited Freight Information Center

Last night, more than 75,000 attendees to the Democratic National Convention in Denver heard from a real-life truck driver -- Teamster Roy Gross from Taylor, Michigan.


Gross, a 49-year-old business agent for Teamsters Local 299 in Detroit, came to the attention of Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama when he spoke at an Obama rally in Warren, Mich., in May. During that speech, he outlined the troubles he's facing as a blue collar worker in Michigan.


During a less-than-three-minute speech, Gross explained how he had earned a good living for his family for 18 years as a Teamster auto transporter -- until the Bush Administration, when everything changed, he said. While he is still lucky to have a job, he said, many friends and co-workers have lost their jobs and their homes. This "so-called new economy," he said, isn't working, and called for a "renewed economy." Barack Obama, he said, would enact fair trade policies that would help boost American jobs.


Gross was part of a lineup of other "real people" scheduled to speak, including an Indiana railroader and an Iowa mother, reported USA Today. Professional speechwriters helped prepare their remarks, timed to about three minutes each.