Drivers Vs Trucking Companies

Unless you are under the Master Freight Agreement chances are you will not make the big union wages you hear about. The unions are just like the companies and just like you and me .... What I mean is, they are first and foremost looking out for number one.... THEMSELVES ! Many people who work for smaller companies that vote the union in get disenchanted when they find the dream of big wages and bennies is just that, a dream. These smaller companies (in a lot of cases) can not pay a whole lot more then they currently are. I have worked under the Master Freight Agreement and for a manufacturing compampany with 12 drivers, even though both were union jobs the smaller company couldn't come close to meeting the higer pay. The Teamsters got voted out while I worked for the smaller company and I have to admit things impoved between the drivers and management... Do I want to see the demise of the unions ? Heck no ! Look at all they have accomplished, but they will never have the clout they did in the past.

 

This was last Monday, June 9, 2008, that I talked to the gentleman. But this guy was also saying he had a DUI in his past, along with a failed drug test in his early years. May be the only job he can get!

I would disagree that the only reason companies hate unions is that they have to open their books. Some companies like to deal with employees directly, not through a third party. Sometimes bad employees need to be fired, not given 4-5 different chances.

 

I worked commercial construction for years and it was union. I have to say that they were some of the laziest people I have ever had the displeasure of working with. They were nearly impossible to fire and they knew it. I also found out that back then it cost $500 - $600 a day to have a union worker on the job and I don't think I grossed more than $200 a day so where did all that money go?

 

Agreed. I remember my uncle saying the same thing back in the late 70s.

Union workers must be some of the dumbest people in the labor force. Many will act as if there is no tomorrow, and they'll mooch like tonight is their last night on earth. And the hard workers who know that there will be a tomorrow just allow it all to happen. If I were in a union, I'd probably be secretly rooting for the employer at times if it meant the leeches would disappear.

Unions are like a democratic government. Those who are lucky enough to be members must work hard and participate, and even be proud of what they have and have built. Those members of the club who sit on their hands ruin it for all. Luckily, albeit they'll encounter great resistance, unions can throw the moochers overboard. This is the real reason unions have declined the past 30 years or so. The union freeriders have been kicked to the curb by the unions themselves.

 

Im not much for union but each his own.Why should a company have a Supertendant a foreman and yet there has to be a union stewart on the job for each catagory of jobs heck is there enough left to work.Sounds like a lot of extra exspense to me. Old saying To many Chiefs not enough Braves.

 

Someone has to pay for your bennies, and that someone is you . No matter what the benefit is it is factored in to what you cost the employer. Things like insurance, paid holidays, paid vacations... It's all figured in to your pay package. Then factor in the overhead ( buildings, company trucks, office supplies, etc. ) the company has and you can see where the money goes.

 

I doubt 60 percent of the cost to me being on the job was going to my bennies. There is a lot of red tape to having union workers, it kinda works like the government IMO. I agree that at one time unions were needed, but now I think a lot of bottom feeders are attracted to union jobs because they don't have to work hard to keep it....just pay those dues. This by no means is a slam at all the union workers out there. My Dad was one, and one of the hardest workers I have ever seen. Its the people (and you know who they are) that make you scratch your head every day wondering how they still have a job, and make the same amount of money as you, when you work twice as hard. I think unionizing the trucking industry would bankrupt a lot of companies.

 

Unions per se' aren't really necessary anymore.
What is needed is a co-op of services at prices that only a million truckdrivers can secure.
The basics like healthcare & legal, retirement & maybe loans etc.
OOIDA is a good start but there's not enough membership to get a real discount.
I don't see any reason why a million drivers can't get Union-like benefits for the same costs.

You just have to get behind someone en masse'.
Membership is buying power.
It's also voting power..not always so different than buying power in some circles.