Never Stand Still

Not yet it might but we just started the 1990s so it might be coming.

 

There will be plenty of time to read soon. She's very busy.

 

I'm no where close to #1 on her list. I don't even think I'm #10. I asked her if she wanted to go out Saturday night and she almost said no. Then realized that was the wrong answer and rechecked her schedule.

 

So true...last night we had a cable/internet outage. They just got it fixed now and I had to do about 3 "power cycles" to get my internet back on track, but here I am.

 

Here's what happened with CEX. Conway Management wanted loser work rules. I.E. drivers to also work the dock. The union at CEX said no dice and were not going to do that.

CEX was losing $1million dollars a month and the union contract was up and ready for renegotiation.

CEX and the teamsters stalled out on contract negotiations and the teamsters really didn't know just in how bad of financial shape CEX was in. The union thought CEX was some huge "cash cow" (in there words) for CF.

Well it wasn't not under the CEX flag. Remeber CEX was wrong from day one and started off on the wrong foot. Every successful Conway Operating Company was started from the ground up I.E. CCX and CWX which were the two most successful Conway Companies.

Well, for whatever reason one of the bigwigs and CF decided naahhh we don't need to start a Conway in the east up from scratch will just buy out this regional LTL hauler named Penn Yan Express from Penn-Yan, New York. Never mind Penn Yan Express is Union (strike 1) Has there own New York State Thru Way Equipment that's not compatible with any other CF or Conway Company (strike 2) and Penn Yan Express is circling the drain ready to go down the toilet (strike 3).

So CF did what they seemed to have a propensity to do and that's buy a company going straight down the toilet. CF had a few big blunders they may have been successful for a bit and made a lot of money i.e. they were very well run on the Longhaul LTL and Regional LTL market, but that didn't mean they didn't have a few screw ups.

I.E. CEX and Emery Air Freight (which almost bankrupt the company.)

Now CEX wasn't nearly the same size of screw up as Emery nothing was as screwy as Emery.

Anyhow at the cost of $1million a month and no way out CF shut down CEX. The teamsters literally never saw it coming. Literally at 5am Sept 7 1990 CF managers and utility men from other Conways went to all 14 CEX terminals grabbed the tractors and trailers and vacated all the terminals at once and parked the equipment at an Emery Air Freight facility in Edison, New Jersey.

The plan worked with "military precision."

The teamsters union never saw it coming. When they called Conway back to see when they could go back to work Robertson the head of CEX said "You can't go back, were done and your out."

Just like that it CEX was done never to return again.

Now shortly after CEX was killed off, Conway applied for operating authority in New England and they rolled that operation into Conway Central Express aka (CCX). So they weren't out of the north east for very long.

The CEX equipment was all tallied and redeployed into other parts of the Conway System probably most of it went to CCX or CSE.