I enjoy that 3 day weekend that comes with christmas and new years. I also get teenager pay, 13.58/hr. I deliver lumber in s. california in 5 counties. sled dog. I'm so poor I cant afford the 200.00 teamies want to carry me o'er the threshold. so, they said they're gonna get me removed from dispatch and, presumeably, the 35.00 /mo dues I've been paying. It will be beautiful when the axe falls.
there should be a new model of labor organizing that could simply be based on a centralized informational website. something that informs drivers to avoid evil in an organized way, without burning all the overhead of a hall and bargaining committee, etc. there would be no bargaining and members vote simply with their feet. a good example would be the national sick out, just to establish/ prove it's mandate, or the strangling of workforce sources from evil companies. no correspondence with them, just among the members, which would be every cdl in this great nation.
driver independance intact.

So we should organize without having a bargaining comittee? Who would negotiate with employers?

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TEAMSTERS LOCAL 200

Brtecson, you can really tell most of these guys are truckload, they have never had any experience with a union, nor do they know anything more than what they have heard on the chatter box, if any of them ever worked union they would change their tune. It really amazes me that someone can form an opinion about an organization when they really know absolutly nothing about it..lol. Thats a driver for you though, first to open their yapper and spout off about something they know nothing about..the ultimate BS artist!

Truck drivers are an independent bunch by nature, even more so than the average independent American. Let's face it we run up and down the highways and the biways for the most part by ourselves. So, I can see how maybe the mindset would be more independence....NO UNION. But without the unions we would all be making minimum wage...there would be no middle class, you would either be rich or poor and no in between. The elite class in this country has done a very good job of selling all of us the idea that organized labor is a bad idea. And it sounds like most of us truckers have bought their idea...while they have managed to ship millions of jobs to foreign countries that pay slave labor. Is this what you want for our labor force? I doubt it. Read the label on almost anything you buy today and see where it is made...China, Pakistan and on and on. It may be too late for a turn around but I hope not. I'm not saying everything has to be union because it doesn't. But I am saying we have been sold a bill of goods in this country to bust up organized labor.

First of all I didn't argue for NAFTA. I didn't say anything bad about Unions. Chill out and LISTEN for a change. I said that when the Government ends NAFTA, etc (including lowering taxes, etc.) it ALLOWS BUSINESS to prosper, it doesn't CREATE the job, the BUSINESS does. Who writes your paycheck, Bubba? I am for ending NAFTA to create jobs here in the U.S. Read the Post, not what you wanted to read or imagine I said. As I said, when the Government ends NAFTA, it's still going to be the BUSINESS that creates the job. You ain't working for the Union, pal, even though as I've said before, they are needed. You're working for the BUSINESS. Get it? But the Government doesn't create the jobs, they only open the door for the PRIVATE BUSINESS OWNER to create more jobs within his business. The Union doesn't create jobs, they assist the worker by negotiating with the PRIVATE BUSINESS OWNER for better wages, more positions, fairness in treatment, etc. Unions only help regulate and control employee conditions. The only time government creates a living for someone is called WELFARE. OR if the Government creates a job within itself, as I said, the IRS, FBI, etc. (using tax money, paid by people who work for businesses)

Last but not least, my point about shipping firearms through UPS was that they forced us, meaning business, to use a more expensive service, other than normal ground. We used to ship guns by standard ground, and kept shipping costs to a minimum. However, when UPS had the problem of THEIR EMPLOYEES stealing, they forced US (business) to use the more expensive method of Next Day Air. We used next day air saver, because it is a couple of buck cheaper, than using the REQUIRED next day air. THAT WAS MY POINT. Regardless of what you and the Union did, UPS dropped the ball, and rather that take responsability for what was happening on their turf, they decided to make US (again business) pay through the nose to ship our product. They in turn, blamed the gun dealers and manufacturers, saying we made and sold a product that was highly desireable for theives, therefore we had to accept total responsibility that someone would steal them. HUH? Yeah, that's good. What about shipping Jewelry, or pricey electronics. Aren't those high risk for theft? We are having our products STOLEN BY UPS EMPLOYEES, but it's our fault. How about Policing their own, instead of making someone else pay for their crimes. That was my point. Therefore, since the cost has to be passed on to the customer, for outrageous prices of shipping even one item, we are having to resort to other means. Meaning someone other than UPS, who will do it cheaper. Sorry to disappoint you, but FedEx will and has shipped it cheaper for us, AND the Postal Service will now do it Priority Mail which is less than 1/5th of the cost of Next Day Air "SAVER". So please, while you accuse me of talking out of my *ss, please get your head out of yours. Read the post.

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It's one thing to work Union, but it's another to spout off about how ALL drivers are a bunch of cry babies. The last job I had was working 17 years in a Union job in an AFL-CIO Union. Before that I worked in another AFL-CIO Job and worked another part-time job along side Teamsters. There are cry babies everywhere, or have you been blinded by the BS where you work. Some drivers complain, INCLUDING UNION DRIVERS. Please read my previous posts in this thread that are positive about Unions. Please stop acting like a numbnuts and lumping everyone into the same category. I'll bet if you listen, you might even hear some of fellow union guys whine occassionally. I also didn't read that many negative posts by other drivers about being Union. I think some of the better jobs out there probably are Union driver jobs. Only one or two of them were negative about it. Quit listening to the CB and the whiners as the gospel. We're all human.

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As a Teamster, I also despise delivering to ANY grocery warehouse, unionized or not... its a test of patience, tongue biting, and did I mention patience?

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Here are the 3 points I'll touch on. #1 I wasn't talking directly to you Mary, stop wearing your heart on your sleeve, you must be a cryer or you would not have thought I was speaking directly to you.

#2 My nuts are not numb, they work fine thank you very much.

#3 Don't come back to me with something I already said, be creative, find your own insult.

I'm so proud that you worked union so have I, big deal, I was talking to Brtecson, not you, simmer down. Don't assume that I am speaking directly to you, if you want to know if I am, just ask, I will tell you, when you do things like this you make yourself look like an #####. Don't make me put you on my ignore list..LOL

This is the fourth union for me. carpenters, machinists, uaw, and now hamsters. I am painfully aware of the shortcomings ofem. also know that a driver will eek around an obstruction rather than wait 50 seconds for the backhoe to scoot up. I know how drivers are.
thats why I offered up the skeletal model of the new "union", as it were. with the wifi that will be common in coming years, we can see em when theyre sleeping, and see them when theyre awake. We'll know whos been bad or good and treat them in kind.
Its all about individuals deciding for themselves who to avoid, and advertising the results far and wide [on the net].
we dont need no stinkin bcommittee! let the offender raise the anty until they get a good hand or fold. who cares!
you dont stand a chance of winning a negotiation until you are willing to walk away. first one to mention a number loses anyway.
why would I wanna pay some bargaining committee to punt on first down?
no dues, either. lobbying would be a comm to your senator via you.
some o'ya don't like it, but we can talk ourselves out of anything

afterthought---lets build a graph table of compensation for each employer and grade them. when new people have queries, they can go there . It'll be worth a thousand words.
LETS BUILD A DAC ON THEM--TURN IT AROUND--WHO NEEDS WHO MORE?we'll see............