Experience with your LTL company

Problem with union / nonunion discussion is that it always ends up in an argument. Doesn't matter if it is online or at the terminal. I stay away from it. You ever come up through Billings? Guessing you are a Denver driver?

 

Ithink brandonpdx nailed most of the local driver questions, we run team line haul, top out at .64 CPM, probably start at 60cpm depending on exp. Solo line haul tops at .55 CPM.

Paid uniform , united health med, dent, vision - 401k matched , short and long-term disability. 2 weeks vacation, 3 after 7 years, and 4 days "all purpose".

Like I said before , you have trouble telling people what they pay - they don't believe there are jobs that pay decent out here!!

 

Because people on both sides have their mind set on what the other is all about. Very rarely does a union vs non-union debate end well because of this. I have only had 2 driving jobs in 17 years of driving. One non-union and my current one is union. I'm not going to praise unions, but I will say that once you work somewhere that has a good union, you wouldn't want to work anywhere else -- and it's next to impossible to tell non-union workers the reasons why.

 

The difference between us is I am non-union and you are union. What we both have in common is we are happy with where we work. If you are happy with where you are, then it shouldnt matter if you are union or non-union. I just drive the truck. I absolutely hate dealing with management and politics. Which is why I am happy as a clam working nights.

 

That's one of mine too. When I worked for Estes I had an assigned truck and it was nice. Just before they cut my run they bought me a brand new one. Life was good back then!

 

I think the reason Odfl ( nonunion ) pays so well is that the drivers know they can go to a Union ltl company for the same or better pay. Therefore I support unions. My reasoning is - if corporations have the right to organise, then why shouldnt workers?

 

I don't see much correlation between union and non-union in terms of pay. The correlation I do see is that the larger companies do tend to pay better. They can afford to.

 

The fact that we have daily home time plus better pay than some of our OTR counterparts makes wonder why we get paid so much. I guess they make enough profits to make some of it go around. How the hell otr guys put up with 22-31 CPM is beyond me. They are getting seriously shafted.

 

In my area a union job pays around 40k more a year than a non-union. This includes health benefits. Also, not alot of non-union shops offer any kind of retirement packages. There are other reasons why I choose union over non-union, other than pay.

~ Management reprimands you over anything and everything, while letting other employees get away with murder. You can file a grievance to get your record expunged.

~ a managers pet driver wants the run you've been doing 6+ years, so they take you off it and put them on it. They can't do this at a union shop.

~ many other reasons

Because the majority of OTR drivers have no home and have no family. They take the low pay because they have no responsibilities. Little do they know that it is drivers like that who ruin the industry for others.

It's also worth noting that no student will ever make as much as a veteran within their first few years. This holds true for any industry. Not just trucking. The day students start off with 70+k a year is the day I turn in my keys.