20 years ago this week

I had a friend I worked for years ago say this to me. It has stuck to me ever since and I live this way to this day. ONLY Guarantee is work and get paid. All the rest are extras to keep you loyal , offered by companies . There's NO law making them offer you vacation or any other extras.

 

I guess GM really soured me on the unions, I guess because I had friends who worked for them but Theyd always talk about how good they were paid, then theyd get a layoff here and there, though theyd usually always get recalled eventually. Just seems to me though if you average it out, the money they lost while being laid off combined with the dues they paid to the union would bring their salary down to about what a non union worker would make. Maybe I just looked at it wrong?

 

Yea that's pretty much the sum of it.

 

Great example. Tho my Aunt in Ohio retired from there in 80 s she got lucky. Company went cheap on parts to make cars cheaper to battle the cost of unions . Which in turn results to their demize of the recalls we're dealing with the past several years. Look at Boeing. Moved huge operation from union territory in Washington I think or Oregon few tears back to South Carolina - Non Union a Territory.

 

Georgia was pretty much always an Employ At Will State so workers didn't have a lot of options there.

 

Youd be surprised at how many hours I spent in a truck. The big thing is I think, when they changed HOS in 92 that's when shippers and receivers started laying trucks around waiting to get loaded and unloaded. You cant make any money if youre sitting around. I never sit anywhere in the 70's and 80s hardly. Every now and then Id have to sit around an hour or two. From the 90s til the time I retired, that's about all I was doing.

 

Uncle died 6 months shy of 30 years/ retirement with yellow freight. A closed shop must join union. I know first couple years your a on call employee. Never know when or how many hours you will get any day. Till someone dies or retires your stuck. Please explain how when that rookie joins that company benefits anything from that union he's paying dues on for 2 years? They don't pay well cause of the union. They pay well cause of their customers they promise guarentee freight time delivery , which in turn pays yellow big rates for their great service and great employees that are loyal and do their job safely and professionally. Each day a union crashes America will bounce back and get our jobs back we deserve. I would love the numbers on how many of those companies that moved overseas were union compared to non union.

 

I understand your point. What happens is The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation(PBGCl) which is an independent agency of the federal government, takes over the pension plan and prorates it to a lesser amount. I know some guys that after years of work, now only get $151.00 a month and can only start drawing it at age 65. In my opinion, the best way for a driver to have a comfortable pension is to max out on a 401K and never take money out until retirement. Also never let the company your work for administer the 401K and never buy stock from the company you work for; only take company stock if it's free.

 

An IRA was a good thing at one time but since all of those bank failures and all of the changes in banking, I kind of question its worth anymore.

 

I don't trust no one. Not even family with my money. I'm happy to keep it insured at bank for free and earn my little 5% or whatever it is. 0% risk . Brother Mgr. For Publix.......decent grocery chain here, worked there 17 years. Market crashed and lost almost 30 k in 401k . Thank god I didn't make that mistake. I'm not greedy. I want Guarentees. No risk. When it comes to my money. But have to admit at same time I'm taking risk now doing what I'm about to do with it ,becoming 0/0. Sticking foot in my mouth hu? Lol