Random LTL Rants (all are welcomed)

My old company pulled the old switcheroo trick on us (small part why I quit). They took our quarterly $1k safety bonus and replaced it for a $1/hour raise. They told us that this was a "significant financial benefit forward that would solidify our workforce and make this the premier company to work for in the region".

Hmmmm.. $1/hour * 40/hours a week * 4 weeks a month = $160 a month. Multiply this by 3 months and you are at $480 a month to replace that $1k. Congrats, you just made us a "premier company" that gave their workforce a $2k+ annual paycut.

I kinda wanted to bring up that point to set up the ground for my next one. Keeping in mind that TTR has rules on discussions about unions, I want to make sure I communicate within those boundaries @MACK E-6

Wether you believe in capitalism or not, we participate in the system on a daily basis. We sell our labor, skill, and experience to our companies on a hourly (or mileage) basis. Our labor has a fair market value. Which is why most of us make right around the same. Yeah you can bring home more with one company, but pay out in benefits in return. This whole thing is a wash. Companies know this and are constantly competing against each other for labor.

So the whole union thing really isn't about more money or benefits. The fact that you got a bump in pay probably isn't about appeasing the workforce and prevent a unionization. They are probably doing a pay raise to stay competitive. This goes back to my previous point. You can not pay a driver below fair market value. If you pay someone less than they are worth, another company will just hire them from you. This is what happened to me. My old company cut our bonus and paid us $18/hour. Fair market value in my area is $22. My current employer scooped me up on the spot.

So the real benefit of a union has nothing to do with pay and benefits. It's more about a layer of protection. My last job was non union and one of my senior drivers said some pretty racist and disparaging comments against me. With the way our satellite hub was laid out, I didn't have any avenue to file a complaint.

So with a union based organisation, you got this safety net. Everything about your job is outlined in a contract, and if your company does something that falls outside of that, you can file a grievance. It's like giving everyone a cattle prod. Step outside your bounds and I will zap you.

Non union carriers also sees all of this. And they might not try to come down as hard. You may end up in a more favourable work environment with more leniency. I mean, there is a reason why some barns are union and others are not. This whole thing factors back into my original point. You might make a lot but not have a union. You might make less, but have a union to protect you.

There is good and bad in both.

 

Welp, our workplace is officially now down with the sickness. They had to send in a hazmat team to disinfect everything. I don't want to dig too deep into the politics, but he checked all the right boxes in terms of wearing a mask and doing all the recommended stuff. Either way, he still got sick.

So of course we had a mandatory meeting and of course the name wasn't released (rightfully so). But it doesn't take much to narrow it down based on what person is missing but doesn't have any scheduled time off on the public calendar.

Anyway, I just want to point out the impracticality of everything going on and what is expected of us. 95% of us do not wear masks when we work the dock. We are constantly competing against the noise of our forklifts so most of us don't wear masks. The inability to read lips on top of that muffled sound makes masks too disruptive. We are also constantly handing off bills and clustered together trying to help each other break trailers. We would be working at less than half the pace if we tried to keep six feet apart at all times.

Anyway, our guy is fine. Just has the really bad sniffles. He'll be back next week and things will go on until the rest of us get sick.

Curious how the rest of you guys are holding up. Just seems like for us it's business as usual.

 

And it's technically a multi county requirement that we wear those masks. Management doesn't enforce the mandate, hell they do not even wear them themselves. Now I am not advocating that they should enforce the mandate, but it does highlight the obvious frustration of having a communication barrier in a fast paced environment of putting together routes and breaking trailers.

I am over here breaking and telling the load out guy ABC Supply X 6 pallets. It's impossible to differentiate "behind Door 7' from "right side of trailer #7" without being able to read his lips.