Union trucking VS. non union!

Discussion in 'LTL and Local Delivery Trucking Forum' started by yankatank, Dec 15, 2018.

  1. yankatank

    yankatank Medium Load Member

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    My neighbor used to work for Lorillard(tobacco) and was in the union. Although it wasn't a 'trucking union' type of job....he paid into it, but never understood the union. I know this sounds funny, but we all 'live and learn'. Lorillard has since been bought out and done. He was asking me about trucking unions(he's NOT a driver) and if they are the same as any 'union' or different. What I find interesting is his union was a 'grocers union', which is weird because big tobacco I would find in a different 'kind' of union. So any ABF/UPS drivers care to explain, please?
     
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  3. ZVar

    ZVar Road Train Member

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    The hospitals around here have a few thousand nurses in the local Teamsters.
    I was kinda shocked when I found that out.
     
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  4. MidWest_MacDaddy

    MidWest_MacDaddy Road Train Member

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    I worked white collar office work for many years... a few of our plants were Union the rest were not.... nobody got anything more, everyone got the same... and actually, the union drivers didn’t get some of the “voluntary good guy hand outs”... well, it wasn’t in their contract...

    And those guys had to Pay Dues too... lol

    Seemed like a waste to me.
     
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  5. Boinger

    Boinger Bobtail Member

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    The biggest thing union trucking companies have going for them to most nonunion these days are vastly better benefits. With the price of health insurance going up double digits every year and a good portion of that being passed on to drivers is probably the best example of where being in a union job these days pays off. Like anything drivers need to do their due diligence when looking at companies to work for.
     
  6. REO6205

    REO6205 Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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  7. Jazz1

    Jazz1 Road Train Member

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    Last union trucking company in my city turfed the union a couple years ago. The company was the lowest paying and still is so the union was just leaching the employees. This is not always the case.
    If company treats employees fair unions not required.
    There are many pros and cons to unions in trucking
     
  8. duckdiver

    duckdiver Road Train Member

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    I know this will turn into a piss war real soon. I unfortunately work for a non union company, worked for a union company and it was a huge mistake leaving them to go non union.

    I get paid the industry standard but otherwise we get treated poorly, only 2 holidays off the entire year and no holiday pay when we have to work it. Our health insurance is literally the worst (worse than blue shield which is crap) we have extremely high copays and deductibles.

    My mom was a retired RN, in a union she has an excellent pension, she pretty much got 3 months off every year.
     
  9. REO6205

    REO6205 Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    It doesn't have to. If everybody refrains from insults and other prohibited behavior the thread can stay. All the usual rules apply.
     
  10. Rideandrepair

    Rideandrepair Road Train Member

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    Trucking was once the largest unionized occupation. I think it was around 37% . I am a Teamster belonging to local 337 and 299 in Detroit.Still have my withdrawal card, I believe cost me .70 cents at the time. Having it will avoid paying initiation dues ( well over $500 I hear) if I ever work at a Teamster Job again. The benefits being the best as stated.When I started the Union pay was almost double that of non union Jobs. It was hard to get in anywhere as many others with seniority from other defunct Companies had priority. The Master Freight agreement was the Gold Standard. Despite Popular Opinion Union Jobs were the hardest. The Trucks had no frills.But the pay was the best. The writing was on the wall. Corruption was always and still is a problem. If you didn’t have pay stubs to prove prior employment you were cheated out of pension funds. While others in charge collected 3 pensions from 3 different positions held. That was enough for Me. I still support others choices as I did back then.Its just not something I wanted to rely on for my future. It’s too bad really because Union Drivers had the best of everything much better than the UAW workers. UAW adjusts your pension amount after SS kicks in. Teamsters did not 26 yrs ago Guys were retiring with $3500 pensions with soon to get $1500 SS benefits. Literally making more retired than working. Over time the pay gap has closed somewhat,but the few left still do pretty good. As for Me I have no regrets as all the so called good Jobs I once wanted are gone. If I had a crystal ball the job would have been ABF but who knew? Deregulation killed the Union that was already Self Destucting IMO. It’s a double edge sword though. Because of Deregulation a Guy like Me can get his own authority and have a shot at being Independant. I’d rather be Independant in the most purest form of the word.Union Job Trucking? Good Luck with that. Very few left. UPS slavery not for Me.
     
  11. SteerTire

    SteerTire Road Train Member

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    All this BS about trucking unions. And no one has answered the OP’s question.

    No wonder the union has so many members. Nobody can read the fine print, much less the bold.
     
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