Benadryl hasn't kicked in yet. I did say equivalent to $45 per hour, as in real wages, adjusted for inflation. As in...if you made what they made back then in today's dollars, you'd be getting $45 per hour.
You wanted a more general scope? In 1980, the average trucker made 38k. If you made that today, adjusted for inflation, you'd make 111k.
https://www.overdriveonline.com/trucker-pay-has-plummeted-in-the-last-30-years-analyst-stays/
This is widely known. I don't know HOW you're saying that the corporocracy known as end-stage capitalism in ANY way benefits us. Competition? Pffft. One phone call on the topic of collusion saves both companies a lot of money.
Stop acting like unions aren't useful. You're still getting screwed, but if truckload carriers are any indication, without the existence of unions, you'd be utterly and unconscionably screwed.