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ABF | why is A.B.F. hiring ?

LTLIndentured said:
What is a UE run, and why are they being cut? Purpose of question is to gain info to see if it will affect abf in my area
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UE=Utility Employee. The utility employee is allowed to work across all classes of union employees at multiple locations. i e they can work the dock at home terminal, drive to another terminal, work the dock there and continue on doing the same elsewhere. They are typically used to move next day and two day freight within one or two adjoining regions. Two things have happened that have thrown a monkey wrench in a system that was working fairly well. 1) Some new guy with a name like Mike Moss and 2) Recent implementation of the ELD's (electronic logging devices), which prevent manipulation of the hours of service so the company has had to eliminate some runs that used to be run but no longer can.
 
ABFer said:
UE=Utility Employee. The utility employee is allowed to work across all classes of union employees at multiple locations. i e they can work the dock at home terminal, drive to another terminal, work the dock there and continue on doing the same elsewhere. They are typically used to move next day and two day freight within one or two adjoining regions. Two things have happened that have thrown a monkey wrench in a system that was working fairly well. 1) Some new guy with a name like Mike Moss and 2) Recent implementation of the ELD's (electronic logging devices), which prevent manipulation of the hours of service so the company has had to eliminate some runs that used to be run but no longer can.
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Ahhh, so the work didn't leave, just the way it was distributed. Thx for the info
 
I could recommend anyone to work here........but my son is working at a Union flatbed company.......He's family, so I couldn't recommend him to come here.....
 
If you are on the bottom of the board, as a new hire will be, it will be rough going for wait a while at ABF. That is the case for any location!
 
Trucker 206 said:
Must be a little tougher dealing with a Unionized carrier. Can't just change things each time you fart.
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Making too many changes sounds like the dart throwing method of ruining a freight company. YRC's been utilizing that method for quite some time now. I'm sure us lowly peons will never know but one has to wonder on who's terms he left.
 
All this "casual, preferred casual, new hire, probationary " is 20th century hiring tactics. They don't work in the 21st century.......

If the factory down the street,..... or the plumbing company,... or the warehouse,.... can hire someone and find enough work to give that person a full-time paycheck and health benefits........ why can't trucking companies do the same?

They've cheapened the wages down to where it's no longer worth it to play the casual game for a year or two while waiting to get hired,....... so now they're in competition with the factories and the warehouses and plumbing companies for whatever is available in the shrinking labor pool,........ and they wonder why it seems like only the recently fired or the chronically unhireable are applying.

There was a reason truck driving used to be the highest paid blue-collar job in this country,......... and those reasons are still valid today. Trucking management is nostalgic for those halcyon days when they had a flood of highly experienced drivers applying every time another company bit the dust from deregulation.
 
I've been retired 6 years and it saddens me to see what the unionized LTL industry has come to. When my 1st Teamster job shut down in 77 I started shaping as a casual at Red Star in NJ. It was a Local 560 job. It only took 8 days to make the seniority list back then. Red Star seemed to always walk a few drivers every morning from the shape. Every morning the stewards from other 560 jobs would call and offer work for us. Jobs like Maislin, McCleans, Cooper Jarrett, Tose, Mason Dixon, Carolina and, Hemingway. I had 7 W2s from 560 jobs that 1st year. We only need 8 days to get our benefits. They were the good old days...................................And 1977 was the year that ABF opened it's 1st terminal in Newark Nj.
 
Crystal said:
I've been retired 6 years and it saddens me to see what the unionized LTL industry has come to. When my 1st Teamster job shut down in 77 I started shaping as a casual at Red Star in NJ. It was a Local 560 job. It only took 8 days to make the seniority list back then. Red Star seemed to always walk a few drivers every morning from the shape. Every morning the stewards from other 560 jobs would call and offer work for us. Jobs like Maislin, McCleans, Cooper Jarrett, Tose, Mason Dixon, Carolina and, Hemingway. I had 7 W2s from 560 jobs that 1st year. We only need 8 days to get our benefits. They were the good old days...................................And 1977 was the year that ABF opened it's 1st terminal in Newark Nj.
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In the time period you speak of, about 75 percent of the LTL freight in this country was moved by union companies, and none of the drivers with H1B visas either....
 
BIG R GUY said:
In the time period you speak of, about 75 percent of the LTL freight in this country was moved by union companies, and none of the drivers with H1B visas either....
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You're probably right but I'd guess more like 95% union In the NY-NJ metropolitan area................When USF shut down Red Star in 2004 there were only only Roadway, Yellow, New Penn and ABF left in the NMFA. I was very lucky at age 57 to get hired on at ABF. It gave me 6 more years in the 560 pension fund. But it was tough making the list. 75 days as a casual and 25 days on probation with a tiered pay scale. No work on the 8 AM shape meant waiting for a phone call for fill in night dock work. The contracts we selfishly voted for came back to bite me on the ass
 
BIG R GUY said:
In the time period you speak of, about 75 percent of the LTL freight in this country was moved by union companies, and none of the drivers with H1B visas either....
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Unions will find it hard to grow in our present day culture. Too many people are mortgaged to the hilt and cannot run the risk of a layoff
 
on the bottom of board means waiting for phone to ring ,it may not ring for several days, will always work on the weekend and if you are not available to work on weekend ,you may not work at all. That being said ABF has excellent benefits and if you can hand in for a year or two it will be a great job.
 
LTLIndentured said:
Unions will find it hard to grow in our present day culture. Too many people are mortgaged to the hilt and cannot run the risk of a layoff
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Very true, LTL. The wife and I launched a 'major offensive' on what little debt we have and are pretty much debt-free, except for the mortgage and monthly's, at this time. We're getting oh-so-close to retirement, and don't want or need that black cloud hanging over us. It saddens me to see how far people are in debt and don't even bat an eye.
 
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