Any union drivers here?

Most non union companies that compete with union companies, still pay Union scale. They don't want to leave a crack open to invite the union in.

 

Union LTL here....it goes either way like others have said, there are slugs on both sides that take advantage of every opportunity. We have free health care, OT after 8 and holidays/vacation/sick days....the trade-off is we are just a number in the big scheme of things.

 

Union is a lot better pay and benefits and pension.

 

Union pays good and you don't have to work for it.

WIsh I could make $40 per hour to just show up and SPANK my monkey.

 

Union truck drivers don't just sit around.

 

lol ups is the only company i know in the 30 buck range no one i know is 40

 

I had several oppertunities to become Union along the Docks in Baltimore, I had too much wanderlust in me to see the United States to be tied down doing some sort of 27 dollar a hour job there in Baltimore. It had no value to me.

As luck would have it, some of those Unions got busted up when the jobs went away so... I consider myself fortunate. I have no preference one way or the other actually. But generally Union work pays two to three times better than average hourly in a given area. And if that is what you like, then that is what you go for.

The bad side is you have to be a people person and if you are nice to everyone, they will consistently call your name in the long house come morning to go to work. Otherwise you will sit there waiting on work that wont be called for you due to a problem or other.

And that completes my one and only post about Union Stuff, it has a potential to get really strong and heated when people talk about it. There are powerful feelings dating back a hundred plus years over this question and I find it's best just to leave it be. If you are unionized, you have a voice and management wont walk all over you with no benefits and no pay worth doing. However if you are not a union you have a certain amount of freedom so it's a trade off for many.

 

I drive for a union company.. everything is great minus being union lol.

 

The first inception of the Teamsters Union, in theory, was to "protect the worker." In practice, it was to line the pockets of whatever criminal enterprise running the racket.

How has it changed today? I'm not sure. Most of my driving jobs have been Union. The dynamic , in my experience, is an over-politicized workforce and a hierarchy of seniority. One guy thinks he's "shop steward" and will corner you in the break room with a rusty knife for talking to management without him being present. Management is always working against the Union, trying to weasel out of nuances of the contract, and will not guarantee you contractual rights unless you vocally enforce them. There's a push and a pull between employees--union members--and management. The union is a third-party, supposedly on the side of the driver, but in reality they are only on their own side. Their sole function is to collect your union dues, and do as little work as possible.

My take on this... no thanks. Not again. If I need representation, I'll pay a guy on retainer to straighten them out with a demand letter. Which is essentially what a union does. But what if your employer violates your rights under say, a strict Federal law? If you have a collective bargaining agreement, this works against you. You must first exhaust the arbitration/grievance procedure through the union before you can threaten to take these idiots to court. So in that respect, the union protects the company from lawsuits. A union business agent is far less threatening than an attorney's draft complaint, ready to be filed on a moment's notice.

Here's the bottom line. Unless you're getting an actual Teamster's pension with Teamster's medical benefits, that union can sodomize a limping goat for all I care. That contract isn't worth the paper it's printed on, and it's a pretext to scam you for your money. You want to offer me a real pension and nearly free medical benefits? Then we can talk. Until then, keep your hands out of my paycheck, you aren't due #### from me.