ABF | “No Givebacks!”: ABF Bargaining to Start

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Earlier this fall, the IBT mailed contract surveys to ABF employees. The survey results have not been revealed to members or local unions, but the survey itself was worrisome. Some of the questions were fine, but others looked like they were prepared by management, asking which concession we would like to give to the company.

It’s true that ABF is operating in hard times: the economic recovery in trucking is painfully slow.

TDU has done outreach to active members, and found that Teamsters are reasonable but have a bottom line of holding firm on no givebacks on the contract.

“Every ABF Teamster I talk to says the company doesn’t need any help from us when it comes to money,” commented Larry Capesius, a utility driver for ABF in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

“We do our jobs and ABF is making a profit,” he continued. “We voted down givebacks once and we’ll do it again if there’s any attack on our wages, benefits or pension
contributions.”

Also, Teamsters have seen that ABF has the money to pay bonuses and salary hikes to top execs, and to buy Panther in 2012.

“No Givebacks!â€: ABF Bargaining to Start | Teamsters for a Democratic Union
 
Earlier this fall, the IBT mailed contract surveys to ABF employees. The survey results have not been revealed to members or local unions, but the survey itself was worrisome. Some of the questions were fine, but others looked like they were prepared by management, asking which concession we would like to give to the company.

It’s true that ABF is operating in hard times: the economic recovery in trucking is painfully slow.

TDU has done outreach to active members, and found that Teamsters are reasonable but have a bottom line of holding firm on no givebacks on the contract.

“Every ABF Teamster I talk to says the company doesn’t need any help from us when it comes to money,” commented Larry Capesius, a utility driver for ABF in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

“We do our jobs and ABF is making a profit,” he continued. “We voted down givebacks once and we’ll do it again if there’s any attack on our wages, benefits or pension
contributions.”

Also, Teamsters have seen that ABF has the money to pay bonuses and salary hikes to top execs, and to buy Panther in 2012.

“No Givebacks!â€: ABF Bargaining to Start | Teamsters for a Democratic Union
I think this post may upset you know who! YOUR BROTHER ALWAYS!
 
Fight the power!

Good luck to my Teamster Brothers and Sisters at ABF during these contract negotiations! Keep the heat on your Local Unions and the IBT Freight Division
negotiating team to get you a good contract with NO concessions! The rest of the Teamster Freight Division membership has a big stake in the outcome of your negotiations! Stay informed and UNITED!

:smilie93C_peelout:
 
I think this post may upset you know who! YOUR BROTHER ALWAYS!

You're a funny guy Muler. I get upset when people endure hardships not when they're fighting to at least keep what they have. I look at things thru a business aspect. Union does not factor in. That it’s true ABF is operating in hard times: the economic recovery in trucking is painfully slow. I don't see it improving. To be honest I think Fort Smith has to act. On what is the question. The pension is out of the question unless they are willing to pay the withdrawal fee and transfer to the hybrid plan...UPS saw a long term benefit doing this in New England. They may go after wages they may not. ABF is making pennies on the dollar. That will not fly. They have to keep the investors fat and happy with dividends and a healthy stock price. That ain't happening. YRC may surpass ABF in stock price after the dust settles. Flex work rules is huge..maybe they be happy with that?
 
You're a funny guy Muler. I get upset when people endure hardships not when they're fighting to at least keep what they have. I look at things thru a business aspect. Union does not factor in. That it’s true ABF is operating in hard times: the economic recovery in trucking is painfully slow. I don't see it improving. To be honest I think Fort Smith has to act. On what is the question. The pension is out of the question unless they are willing to pay the withdrawal fee and transfer to the hybrid plan...UPS saw a long term benefit doing this in New England. They may go after wages they may not. ABF is making pennies on the dollar. That will not fly. They have to keep the investors fat and happy with dividends and a healthy stock price. That ain't happening. YRC may surpass ABF in stock price after the dust settles. Flex work rules is huge..maybe they be happy with that?


Tell me now Joe...do you think that Muler was referring to you?
 
No, not to mention any names there are a couples on here who are suicidal over the fate of the company. But not to be a spokesman for doom I can't see you coming out of this unscathed


So...what do you think our best case scenerio and our worst case scenerio would be?
 
No, not to mention any names there are a couples on here who are suicidal over the fate of the company. But not to be a spokesman for doom I can't see you coming out of this unscathed
I hope you are not talking about me joe. My terminal operates very well.
 
So...what do you think our best case scenerio and our worst case scenerio would be?

Being the negative pessimist person I am it depends on how much Ms McReynolds values her job. It's been said on here a couple times ABF has the best workforce in the industry. I'm sure ABF Inc does not
want to create a "YRC" attitude in the workplace. ABF Inc seems to be labor friendly as was Yellow. Roadway on the other hand hated teamsters and would think nothing of losing business to destroy morale..whatever it took to make your life miserable. They were as nasty to the customer as they were to the teamster work force. You always had the fear this would be your last day. I managed to dodge a few bullets.:coffee1:

Back to your question. I'll take a wild stab at it. Worst case scenario you work with out a contract maintaining full scale while ABF uses Panther Expedited freight in the background causing poor service, customer defections and layoffs. That may cause a problem with the stand up posture strategy

Best case scenario ABF Inc transfers over to the hybrid pension and they defer payment of the withdrawal exit fee to the ABF teamsters for the next 50 years to help pay for it
That's about as positive as I could be, thank you for having me


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Nobody has ever regained what they have given back. Everything in our contract was earned by the blood & sweat of all our past members. They haven't given us anything
 
HandsOffPensionsNoConcessions.jpg



It is a myth that by accepting concessions, workers can save their jobs. Often, even after workers have given concessions to their employer, the business closes or moves or the work is contracted out anyway. Unions help workers resist this power grab by fighting the employer’s demand for concessions and ensuring that workers are paid fairly for their labour. The financial problems faced by most employers are a result of the restructuring of the global economy, labour is only one of many factors in the equation. Employers often use the argument that they must have lower wages in order to compete with lower wage levels in other companies, at home and in other countries. This argument must be taken head on.

Workers don’t join unions so they can negotiate lower wages and benefits. Concession demands are part of the employers’ bargaining agenda and unions work to make sure their bargaining actions move the union’s goals forward, not backwards at the bargaining table.


Myths About Unions
 
If ABF is so concerned about losing money over the past 2 years, then why spend 180million dollars on a Gypsy trucking company. Sorry but, you wanna play, you gotta pay.
 
I think ABf would be more flexible on wages etc. if they weren't the only company paying full NMFA wages & benefits. If YRC was still paying what was agreed to on the last contract the playing field would be more level. If YRC was was paying the wages/benefits that ABF is that would pressure the non union companies to up their wages to attract & retain employees. ABF would then be competitive with pricing. That may be the reasoning behind a two year contract which would put YRC to the end of the wage reduction agreement if there isn't another extension given before 2015. The discounting that YRC gives takes ABF out of contention for a lot of freight. I don't any way to force YRC to pay full wages & start paying into the pension fund but that would solve a lot of ABF's problems.
 
I think ABf would be more flexible on wages etc. if they weren't the only company paying full NMFA wages & benefits. If YRC was still paying what was agreed to on the last contract the playing field would be more level. If YRC was was paying the wages/benefits that ABF is that would pressure the non union companies to up their wages to attract & retain employees. ABF would then be competitive with pricing. That may be the reasoning behind a two year contract which would put YRC to the end of the wage reduction agreement if there isn't another extension given before 2015. The discounting that YRC gives takes ABF out of contention for a lot of freight. I don't any way to force YRC to pay full wages & start paying into the pension fund but that would solve a lot of ABF's ................................................................................................................................................................ Abf is very flexible on wages as long as they decrease. You can bet they will want a reduction in pay for the next contract. As for the non union companies they have no pressure to raise pay because if their drivers dont like there pay rate they simply show them the door. There are a lot of unemployed drivers who will take their place. Unemployment benefits do expire you know. The reasoning behind a two year contract is to force yrc to pass concessions for abf. Yrc will never come back to full scale and lets face it they can out vote abf every time. In two years they will pass a substandard contract for all of us. Best deal will be an ABF only contract now!!!
 
I think ABf would be more flexible on wages etc. if they weren't the only company paying full NMFA wages & benefits. If YRC was still paying what was agreed to on the last contract the playing field would be more level. If YRC was was paying the wages/benefits that ABF is that would pressure the non union companies to up their wages to attract & retain employees. ABF would then be competitive with pricing. That may be the reasoning behind a two year contract which would put YRC to the end of the wage reduction agreement if there isn't another extension given before 2015. The discounting that YRC gives takes ABF out of contention for a lot of freight. I don't any way to force YRC to pay full wages & start paying into the pension fund but that would solve a lot of ABF's problems.
How would that solve any of ABF's problems. ABF has for decades been one of the Highest paying carriers. To say yrc is the reason is ridiculous. And when people talk about us being the highest paid do you want us to now drop below the lowest paid truck drivers so ABF can be more competitive? Which trucking companies do you want us to make less than. Just give me the names. How about Saia or maybe Central Transport they are one of the lowest paying trucking companies so should we go down to or below their compensation package? ABF will not discount with monies saved through any wage or benefit reductions. They even stated that in their BEG BACK OFFER. That is not my opinion that is what they said. So how low do you suggest we go? Any money we lose will end up in the pockets of others. There are many different ways to level playing fields and they don't all go through our pockets.. YOUR WAITING TO HEAR HOW LOW WE GO BROTHER ALWAYS!
 
How would that solve any of ABF's problems. ABF has for decades been one of the Highest paying carriers. To say yrc is the reason is ridiculous. And when people talk about us being the highest paid do you want us to now drop below the lowest paid truck drivers so ABF can be more competitive? Which trucking companies do you want us to make less than. Just give me the names. How about Saia or maybe Central Transport they are one of the lowest paying trucking companies so should we go down to or below their compensation package? ABF will not discount with monies saved through any wage or benefit reductions. They even stated that in their BEG BACK OFFER. That is not my opinion that is what they said. So how low do you suggest we go? Any money we lose will end up in the pockets of others. There are many different ways to level playing fields and they don't all go through our pockets.. YOUR WAITING TO HEAR HOW LOW WE GO BROTHER ALWAYS!

I think that if YRC would be paying what ABF is I dont think that they would be trying to take money out of our pockets. I understand what YRC brothers & sisters had to do to keep there jobs. ABF doesn't have the debt that YRC does so for me I will vote NO on any kind of give back. The best thing that I'm willing to do is a pay freeze thats it. NO GIVE BACK
 
I think that if YRC would be paying what ABF is I dont think that they would be trying to take money out of our pockets. I understand what YRC brothers & sisters had to do to keep there jobs. ABF doesn't have the debt that YRC does so for me I will vote NO on any kind of give back. The best thing that I'm willing to do is a pay freeze thats it. NO GIVE BACK

I bet ABF would take a pay freeze if it came with some sort of solution to the pension issues. The govt could play a role there but in the near term, something has to change. ABF is losing market share due to the inability to compete on price. Quality only goes so far. ABF cant hold on forever if SOMETHING doesn't change in the competitive marketplace.
 
I bet ABF would take a pay freeze if it came with some sort of solution to the pension issues. The govt could play a role there but in the near term, something has to change. ABF is losing market share due to the inability to compete on price. Quality only goes so far. ABF cant hold on fore ver if SOMETHING doesn't change in the competitive marketplace.
In case you haven't heard ABF did get a break in the pension at our expense. The 8% annual increase has been discontinued and they did not have to pay the 65 cents an hour into the funds. This saves ABF roughly 15 to 18 MILLION A YEAR. They have taken relief from the pension funds and that is that. YOUR BROTHER ALWAYS!
 
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