Any union drivers here?

My dad retired from a union company. My problem with it is how they cut his pension, took pay from the drivers and all the while ridiculously overpaying the president and having race cars. It also allows for sorry people to keep their jobs, but that happens every job.

 

They've sold the story that "the big bad union made it impossible to be profitable " to every sucker that would buy it (plenty of them apparently). Truth is the the execs (non union) killed hostess with their MASSIVE bonuses

 

"Our lowest pay is $36.40/hr. + bennies."

How much are the total monthly cost of union dues and other union-related obligations?

In Texas we have some union jobs and some non union jobs across many industries and companies. Right to work, right to be summarily discharged, right to be in a union.
The question is slightly apples and oranges but seems worthwhile because one can choose to work in a union shop or non union.

My last job before I retired paid $36.hr plus bennies and was non union. The pay in many trades seems about alike union to non union, but some employers will take advantage of workers and keep wages as low as possible. They do of course get what they pay for. Other companies see the value of paying for what they get.

 

Yes.

 

M818 total lowest hr pay+benefits= $51.17- $100.00/mo. dues.

 

My girls dad drove for yellow back in the day. He made a lot and had too many good stories. He died before the pension drama though.

 

Unions are both good and bad. So are companies and employees. All union jobs are not necessarily good jobs. I have seen contracts that lock in bad practices and policies to the detriment of the employees or the company. Sometimes both. Then these become weapons used by both sides.

You are best off looking at each company and deciding the pluses and minuses of each. Just because it's a union shop doesn't mean it's a good place to work. It also doesn't mean it's not. You have to look at each company individually.

The two things that bothered me the most about being union were that I was funding a political party I strongly disagreed with as a condition of employment and that we couldn't just resolve issues like adults we had to go to battle with lawyers and union reps.

That adversarial dynamic led to some of the most ridiculous, knuckleheaded contract provisions. Provisions that usually did more harm than good and generally did not address the issue that they were intended to address.

For example: We wanted double time for any hours worked on the seventh consecutive day to incentivize management to give us a day off a week (24/7 operation with 5 days on, 2 days off). Well management couldn't just agree to that. No, those geniuses decided double time after 52 hours was their counter and that is the only thing they would accept in the negotiation.

So they ended up paying way more money way more often than they would have if they had just agreed to our request. But they couldn't let the union get exactly what it wanted. Anything but THAT.

 

Not every union company is in the pension fund. Mine has a 401k.

 

You would be ####canned by us before your probationary period was up.

 

Non-union driver here. I couldn't imagine working in an environment where rewards are based on seniority rather than hard work, perseverance and skills development. Getting a raise or promotion because you've "put in your time" at a company and done nothing to truly earn it? It's an attitude that has baffled me since I entered the work force 12 years ago.

I worked both retail and security for union member companies and only found that the unions protected the weak employees from discipline for being poor employees (the employer's hands are tied), and I was never once rewarded for going above and beyond and achieving more than just my job description (in fact, I risked discipline on several occasions because of it).

Now I work for a company that in the past two and a half years has recognized my skills, dedication, hard work and ability to learn new things and are rewarding me greatly for it. I couldn't imagine a better working environment. I understand the importance of unions for teachers and nurses, they are constantly under threat from those that oversee them... but trucking?