What's new

ABF | Any results from the 7% giveback?

canaryinthemine said:
I also think it's funny that nary a word has been said about the ..."offer"...of purchase YRC CEO James Welch had made to ABF CEO Judy McReynolds during the middle of our contract talks. Somehow,...that meeting got......"leaked"....to DC Velocity magazine just prior to our contract vote. If I was a shareholder, ...and my first notification that the company was to be potentially sold to a competitor,.....was a ...."leak"....to an industry magazine,.....I think I'd be pretty upset. And,.....after confirmation of the tender offer from both CEO's,......somehow, in the following years,....ABF never again became a potential acquisition for YRC,....or anyone else, for that matter. You mean that after taking a cut-rate contract, and almost immediately showing a profit,....YRC executives would be chomping at the bit ,.......shareholders, too,........to make another offer of purchase? I've asked these questions to various VP's and managers that have come through our terminal,.....and the answer I've invariably gotten was that: "The market is full of vagaries and possibilities that a layman.....(...meaning, in this instance: a big dummy truck driver....)......could never understand the hows and whys of corporate purchases, and why it was..."good"... then, and not now. In other words: Sit down, shut up, you don't have the education to understand......A year before the contract ratification, ABF purchased Panther,......and where did that money come from? And,.....why was that good in a contract negotiation year, when potential Labor costs could've risen dramatically? And.....why wasn't an...."official"....announcement made when Mr. Welch offered to buy ABF?....instead of a....."leak".... to a magazine? And,........Of course,.........Where was Mr. Hoffa?...Mr. Sweeton?,....Mr. Johnson? As I've stated,....I'm just a Big Dummy Truck Driver,......but after 40 years, I've learned a few things,....and I am completely flummoxed as to why Mess'r's Hoffa, Sweeton, and Johnson didn't IMMEDIATELY throw on the brakes on the contract talks and tell the company no contract negotiations UNTIL the potential buyout offer is either approved or disproved......Kind of a waste of time to finalize a contract,...and a week later, have a new "owner" to contend with.....Plus,.......I don't know much,...but I think it would've made a great tool for putting pressure on the company to negotiate HONESTLY,.....instead of through...."leaks"....in trade papers,....that could potentially affect the outcome of contract votes.....But,.....I guess we live in a New Age now,.....where lies and deception are standard and accepted business practices,.....and that corporations disdain their employees so much that they can't bear to NEGOTIATE with them,....so they must use......"leaks"....to affect the contract talks..........Easier to Trick 'em, than to Talk to 'em....
Click to expand...
That might be the best post I've ever read on truckingboards. VERY well stated.
 
muddog said:
That might be the best post I've ever read on truckingboards. VERY well stated.
Click to expand...
Thank you, Sir.....I think a lot of us think this way,....I'm just putting into words the general frustration we all seem to have with the......"leadership".....from both the company side, and the Union side......And, if you saw on the Teamsters United. org site,.....they only needed roughly 31,000 names on petitions to be accredited candidates to run against Mr. Hoffa,......They were shooting for 50,000,.......and they ended up with 63,000!.....There were only 187,000 Teamsters that voted in the last general election,......63,000 names on a petition means you've ALREADY locked up a third of the vote,....Before you've campaigned! I think if Mr. Hoffa needed a Wake-Up call,....especially on how his minions have treated Freight,.....I think he got it this Monday, when they presented those petitions to the election supervisor.
 
canaryinthemine said:
Thank you, Sir.....I think a lot of us think this way,....I'm just putting into words the general frustration we all seem to have with the......"leadership".....from both the company side, and the Union side......And, if you saw on the Teamsters United. org site,.....they only needed roughly 31,000 names on petitions to be accredited candidates to run against Mr. Hoffa,......They were shooting for 50,000,.......and they ended up with 63,000!.....There were only 187,000 Teamsters that voted in the last general election,......63,000 names on a petition means you've ALREADY locked up a third of the vote,....Before you've campaigned! I think if Mr. Hoffa needed a Wake-Up call,....especially on how his minions have treated Freight,.....I think he got it this Monday, when they presented those petitions to the election supervisor.
Click to expand...
And I thank you as well..
 
canaryinthemine said:
And,..,..If I may gently admonish my Brother Teamsters, let's keep in mind that just because a Brother has a different opinion than we do, doesn't make him management. We've got a responsibility to educate the next generation of Teamsters as to why we think the way we do. We know we're not dumb or greedy,........and we know that management is ever so....."helpful" in pointing out to the younger employees just how........" dumb and greedy" ......we are. You guys who are on here a lot know that I use that cumbersome term "Brother" quite a bit, probably ad nauseum, as they say.......Well, I'm trying to prove a point, in my old-fashioned, 19th Century-style way. I will take Brother NextGen Teamster at his word,.......if he's lying about who he is,......that'll be between him and whichever god he prays to,.........In the meantime, I will use this open forum to help educate ALL the Next Generation Teamsters out there as to why and how I've arrived at my opinions about upper management, and our so-called......."leadership".......with the IBT. Hopefully, many younger Brothers,.....and Sisters,........... will begin to look at some of the company's propaganda, with a rather more jaundiced eye.
Click to expand...
I totally agree with you, Brother canary! We need to come back HARD in 2018, and I DO mean hard! I'm guessing this driver shortage will continue. And, with ABF 'proudly' at #2 on the lowest-paid LTL carrier list, the opportunity in 2018 will be to bring them to their knees. What happened to us in '13 was DEAD wrong.
 
Trucker 206 said:
I totally agree with you, Brother canary! We need to come back HARD in 2018, and I DO mean hard! I'm guessing this driver shortage will continue. And, with ABF 'proudly' at #2 on the lowest-paid LTL carrier list, the opportunity in 2018 will be to bring them to their knees. What happened to us in '13 was DEAD wrong.
Click to expand...
How about if a new General President, and a younger, closer to the rank-and-file group of executive officers,......forces ABF and YRC to re-open and re-negotiate those stinking heaps of offal that are our current contracts? How about they do it immediately after they win election next year, Brother? Why should we wait until 2018? I'm close to retirement,....but I want to stick around long enough to see a new General President in office,...One that will raise the Teamster name back to respect,........I'd like to retire with an immense amount of pride in my Union,......along with a pension,...and a toy truck....
 
Trucker 206 said:
I totally agree with you, Brother canary! We need to come back HARD in 2018, and I DO mean hard! I'm guessing this driver shortage will continue. And, with ABF 'proudly' at #2 on the lowest-paid LTL carrier list, the opportunity in 2018 will be to bring them to their knees. What happened to us in '13 was DEAD wrong.
Click to expand...
I see the older generation fleeing the business and a newer generation that doesn't know what has been lost. I won't be around to help but I wish you luck next time around.
 
canaryinthemine said:
How about if a new General President, and a younger, closer to the rank-and-file group of executive officers,......forces ABF and YRC to re-open and re-negotiate those stinking heaps of offal that are our current contracts? How about they do it immediately after they win election next year, Brother? Why should we wait until 2018? I'm close to retirement,....but I want to stick around long enough to see a new General President in office,...One that will raise the Teamster name back to respect,........I'd like to retire with an immense amount of pride in my Union,......along with a pension,...and a toy truck....
Click to expand...

If only we can be assured this will happen, That would be great.
 
canaryinthemine said:
How about if a new General President, and a younger, closer to the rank-and-file group of executive officers,......forces ABF and YRC to re-open and re-negotiate those stinking heaps of offal that are our current contracts? How about they do it immediately after they win election next year, Brother? Why should we wait until 2018? I'm close to retirement,....but I want to stick around long enough to see a new General President in office,...One that will raise the Teamster name back to respect,........I'd like to retire with an immense amount of pride in my Union,......along with a pension,...and a toy truck....
Click to expand...
True...why should we wait? But I was just using that year as an example, since that is when the current heap of poop is up. If it were me, I'd re-open it tomorrow.
 
Why said:
life is going down the drain
Click to expand...
We've identified the root problem, Brother, which is corporate greed,.........Now help us become the metaphysical "plunger",...... if you will,...and work for a fairer contract and responsive Union leadership,..........If nothing else, as a hobby, ......it should keep you from despairing,... Probably, with as much work that needs done,......for a good twenty years.
 
NextGen Teamstr said:
I don't keep track of which customers we gain and which ones we lose. But I know at my barn we have been overflowing with business so much that we are looking into expanding our yard and possibly even the dock to accommodate the increased traffic. I don't know how it is in other cities, I can only speak for my barn. We even had to park many of our trailers on the street (until the cops put a stop to it).
Click to expand...
Thanks for your reply. I'm glad your barn is doing well. Our barn is dead. One big customer is keeping people working. Our barn is small enough to notice gains and losses. Lately it's been losses.
 
In our area, FedEx keeps taking away big accounts. We have a 12 man terminal, they have a 35 man terminal,........both cover roughly the same area........We go into a place with 5 skids, they back in next to us with half a 53'er..........We pick up 3 shipments, 5 skids,....they pick up a loaded pup.....They recently took away a huge outbound move for us that was a pup and a half every day. Currently, their top rate in this area is $ 26.73.......OD, Estes, Ward and Pitt-Ohio are all between $25 and $27 an hour. There's a steel mill in this area who starts guys at $23 an hour, and their top rate is $28 an hour.......Gee, I wonder why we can:t hire anyone? I wonder why we can't grow our business....
.
 
canaryinthemine said:
In our area, FedEx keeps taking away big accounts. We have a 12 man terminal, they have a 35 man terminal,........both cover roughly the same area........We go into a place with 5 skids, they back in next to us with half a 53'er..........We pick up 3 shipments, 5 skids,....they pick up a loaded pup.....They recently took away a huge outbound move for us that was a pup and a half every day. Currently, their top rate in this area is $ 26.73.......OD, Estes, Ward and Pitt-Ohio are all between $25 and $27 an hour. There's a steel mill in this area who starts guys at $23 an hour, and their top rate is $28 an hour.......Gee, I wonder why we can:t hire anyone? I wonder why we can't grow our business....
.
Click to expand...
Looks like we need next gen's salesforce in our area ! We drive by alot of potential customers and see fed-ex, conway ,old d and the others at the docks. Not much on our trailers to deliver and not too many pickups on the other end either.
 
Grow our business that is funny! Here at 050 I heard we left 9 full 53ers in the yard last night because the outbound dock couldn't get to them. I think we were behind 400 bills starting on Sunday night. We can't get caught up. Customers are pissed off everyday. But according to our great leaders at the Ft. we our over staffed!!!! At least according to the "metrics". I think they just want to lose the freight to match our employee levels.

There are those who say that upper management reads these posts, well read this "The metrics you are using are worthless" If you just want to justify your job by coming up with a way to cut costs why don't we just close that will save a lot of money
I know I'm just a stupid teamster truck driver and all I do is suck money away from that big multi-million dollar office building down at the Fort. (Since that is obviously where all the money is made!) I guess if I could shuffle money from this company to that company and show how this one made money but that one didn't even though we are just one company but by doing that I could get a big bonus. I would come up with some stupid "metrics" as well.
I would imagine a High School economics student could come up with a better plan that we have now.
And by the way this has nothing to do with my thoughts or opinions about our contract and being paid less than almost every other truck company.This has to do with the STUPIDITY that is running/ruining our company. You know who you are!
 
To me, simply comparing our hourly wage vs theirs is very narrow minded. A more accurate comparison would be to compare our wages AND the complete benefits package. I still think, ALL things considered, that we are among the best compensated companies still. Maybe no one has told you guys about our retirement plan? FREE medical, dental, and vision? Overtime pay after 8 or 40? Shouldn't EVERYTHING be included when comparing our wage vs theirs? Our retirement plan is amazing!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top