Personally under this Utility Worker, I feel as though the International sold it's members out.

They said one thing and it's the complete opposite.

I do work at HOLLAND and with our current system of kick and pick, we were moving freight further and faster then any utility worker can do on a short haul.
With less movement of the freight from truck to truck.

What it will do, and what it has done with us, is to eliminate jobs in LINE HAUL.
MY opinion is that they want everything to become city cartage.

It will reduce the membership in the UNION. Because they have NO plans of calling drivers back.

To me, YRC and the UNION would have been further ahead to have our LINE HAUL do the cross dock while city is working.

When they cut and eliminate jobs and wages, this will affect the entire industry as a whole.

Other companies are watching and waiting to see how this works in the union. It has undermined the entire industry.

Just the reason many locals memberships voted down the contract - and yet the larger hub areas passed it with flying colours...


having a "no" vote under my belt almost allows me to call out "I TOLD YOU SO" when I hear guys at home and away complain.

The language and general template of the the Util driver was cloudy and ripe for abuse.

example of abuse as seen last week.

Atlanta LH drivers have a local rule that keeps them on a shorter leash than out art 43. (out 3 +pay)...

most of them are home every night.

and to do this they rely on short turns and butt head meets. (non district runs).

Last week a bunch of the guys were complaining in Atlanta that they had not "gotten out" for 3 days - then they found out why... The company did not have any work for the util guys - so they were running linehauls to valdosta to turn and running buttheads in N.C.

nice huh?


the only thing we can do now is stay vigilant - and eyeball the util guys to ensure they are doing their part and staying on local cartage only.

I dread the day when I run into one of our local util guys out in KC or in Philly...

If nothing else this next change (YRC phase II/200 should open up the util door even further with an increase in util positions at all sat's and breakers.

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TEAMSTERS LOCAL 100


Faster than a 60 MPH bullet....

Lantana could you indulge me and define some terms, ie..utility, city, line haul. What is the short version of what they do? Why would you dread meeting the local utility guy in Kanas City?

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Bad spellers of the world...UNTIE!!!

HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?
You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids.

Line haul is one who goes from terminal to terminal.

city brakes the trailers, loads, picks up and makes deliveries, loads out bound trailers for line haul, etc.

Utility is a combination of both.

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The Truckers Report Merchandise

first off - thanks Cybergal.

second - What she typed is the general template of the job descriptions.

Linehaul is a seperate seniority list or "board" as is "city" "utility" is a part of the City board (also known as local cartage).

The creation of the util driver was to allow the companies (union) a logistical edge in getting the initial movement of freight started sooner.

In theory it looks good (for the company) on paper.

But the few months working around util drivers has shown me that the company is, in some cases, using them to cover loads and runs already cut and ready for linehaul. This results in less work for linehaul (less work = layoffs). Or if not a layoff for the bottom men - then a pay shortage for the rest of us. Theory...


anyway - the contract says that the util operator will work under local cartage - and will not infringe upon the linehaul operation..\


BUT

examples are popping up all over where the util drivers are being used to run shuttles (linehaul work)

i.e. Roadway in Atlanta was using util drivers to run Valdosta turns (200 some miles down and 200 some miles back) which has always been linehaul work.

The pups they ran down were preloaded and did not require breaking at the other end.... thus - The company used util drivers for linehaul.


Now the reason I mentioned KC and running into a util driver from my own barn out there -

think about it - If you CHOOSE to run linehaul and you are running the big mile runs for .58 cpm - ( 36 bucks an hour) and all of a sudden you are surrounded by util drivers(who CHOOSE to be util) running the same runs but making a flat hourly rate of 24 bucks an hour you will see where I get concerned.

Util drivers were supposed to be an extention of local cartage for the benefit of the freight - not for the benefit and utilization of the dispatchers.

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TEAMSTERS LOCAL 100


Faster than a 60 MPH bullet....

I get it now, you meant a utility guy from the Natty being in KC, that makes sense. So what you're beefing about is no different that the big carriers giving the cream puff runs to new hires and leaving the local bs runs for the more seasoned ie more expensive crowds.

__________________
Bad spellers of the world...UNTIE!!!

HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?
You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids.

Its also a way for the company to save big dollars which is OK , but not at the loss of more jobs to the industry.
Especially when you already have a major carrier in place doing the utility work, We can move freight further and fast, I do not think yrc knew nor under stood Holland's concept of freight movement . So I do not understand there thinking.

Sounded like the number of jobs was staying static just the work being reassigned to different folks making less. I can see why a company would want to do that but also understand why Lantana is having to keep an eye on his rearview mirror. It just strikes me as odd in that I look at the other drivers in my company as being on my (For lack of a better term) team. They have been over the top helpful in getting me started which made the transition so much easier for me. The deal over there at Roadway seems like there are drivers working for the same company but on different teams. I'd just be concerned at contract time if there are more of them (The utility guys) than the line haul crowd when it comes time to vote.

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Bad spellers of the world...UNTIE!!!

HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?
You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids.

well knd of - but it runs pretty deep..


if we were non union - and this was a free for all (like a common carrier like swift) then it would almost be accepted - but the company is the one who agreed to the terms - now we are holding them to it.

We are all Union brothers - and we ultimately work as a team - the blame lies on the company on this one - not the util drivers.

local cartage is local - a util driver runing 600 mile turns is our territory - not theirs.

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TEAMSTERS LOCAL 100


Faster than a 60 MPH bullet....

could you explain some of the terminology here? Thank you.