anyone ever had to cross a picket line in your truck ?

Years back, I worked for a heavy equipment dealer. We were non union. We had decent pay, the bennies were good, management was good, it was a nice place to work.
A local union decided we needed to be organized. They got one of their guys hired as a mechanic. He then got one of his friends hired as a mechanic. Things were OK for a month or so, until those guys announced that they were members of said union, and were here to try and organize the employees. None of the employees wanted union organization, but they still tried.
It was the summer from Hades! "Informational" picketers out front, meant no union driver would cross the line. We had to meet UPS down the street. Got no LTL shipments from Teamster carriers. Had people follow me home, follow other employees home, to try and convince us that they were right. Ended up firing one of the guys, because he screwed up equipment from several customers. The other quit shortly after. The company was taken to court by the union, cost them thousands of dollars to represent themselves.
So you can't convince me that the majority dictates how things go every time. I've lived it when it went the other way.

 

Few days back, the same day the west coast port strike was settled, there was an article that 14% of Americans can't feed their families, this was an online article, it followed right after a story about the wages of the W. Coast port workers.

Unions are on the decline because they have done it to themselves, inflexible, unwilling to understand the state of the economy or the reality of the world. CF, Nationsway, two big union companies that were essentially brought down by greedy unions, yes I know there was more to it than that. I know Nationsway drivers in the Denver area that were promised jobs by the union and ended up taking non-union jobs to avoid losing homes. The moment when the teamsters finally woke up was YRC, and excepting the layoffs, wage freezes/cuts, benefit freezes was the smartest thing they did, because had YRC gone under, the ripple would have been worse.

As much as we complain about the way fedex drivers drive, why is it that across the board fedex has newer equipment, more modern equipment, and UPS is still running trailers built in the early 90's, and tractors that are 10+ yrs old? What's the biggest difference between them? Union vs. non-union. In 1999, the teamsters tried to organize the container haulers in Denver, they handed out flyers, talked up a good game. In the end, at the first meeting to explain everything, of 200 drayage drivers, only 20 showed up, they never tried again.

 

Have a source ( link ) ?

 

Based on some of the answers, i'm gonna guess there aren't many NON-Union LTL P&D drivers responding. Go ahead and cross a picket line for a customer that you frequent daily weekly or multiple times a day. Let us know how your treated after the strike is settled and the workers don't get what they want. Think they won't remember you? Have at it Heros

 

The port is a different union ( International Longshore and Warehouse Union )

then the teamsters, Such as teachers is represented by a different union and ect ect ect. No union is created equally and the majority thinks its all one big happy playground 1 union HQ controlling the branches

YRC is a dump of company leadership, that's why.
UPS vs Fedex. UPS pays 2.5x the wage of Fedex. Fancy equipment not needed. UPS doesn't need several logos under a brand umbrella and thousands of contractors to make revenue either, Fancy smancy equipment not needed and wow eye candy contractors to pay more contractors.

other rambling above my pay grade

 

Interesting thread indeed.

Continue old folgies...

Never got to do this one though I'd claim some of those union workers were on mini strikes unloading windows by hand.

 

1) That lady was a snoot deloot, and is teaching her kids to be the same. It will end up hurting both her and kids in the long run.

2) That lady does not realize that the country would cease to operate if there were no workers to do the jobs that she "looks down" on.

3) That type of behavior is an outright lack of respect for someone who is earning an HONEST living, vs. committing criminal acts.

God bless every American and their families! God bless the U.S.A.!

 

I'm no union man, but I'm not totally unsympathetic to their cause. We have to remember why unions were created in the 1st place. Companies clearly screwed the worker over, and unions helped balance that out for the worker, however, I think they can get carried away. I'm reminded of the Chrysler/Jeep engine plant in Kenosha, Wis. several years ago. With benefits, these people were making over $35 dollars an hour, building an outdated engine that was designed in the '60's, with a plant in Mexico doing the same thing, paying their workers $7.50 an hour. Now, I have no love for Chrysler, but they pleaded with the union to make some concessions. The union refused and Chrysler pulled the plug, laying off 800 workers. So what did they gain?

 

Picket lines are different these days. There are rules they have to follow and the union has to pay for police duty officers. Get out of line and your arrested. We have a strike going on in my home town with the electric company. There are maybe 5 picketers and 3 cops on duty.