ABF | ABF Attacks Pensions?

Kennesaw Kid

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I'm not sure how I feel about this. I don't want anyone to lose their pension dollars but I want a raise and vacation. I also wonder if something like this might put more pressure on the government to legislatively fix what they legislatively broke. I wonder what is in the rest of the tentative agreement?
 
Teamsters council in New England urges ABF members to reject contract proposal

A Teamsters union council representing members of 22 locals in six New England states called on ABF Freight Systems' rank and file today to reject a collective bargaining agreement proposal hammered out last week by Teamsters leaders and ABF management, saying the proposal will dramatically reduce worker pensions.

Teamsters Joint Council 10 New England
, which represents 45,000 Teamsters, said the proposed agreement would allow ABF to freeze its current pension contribution rate for the next 63 months starting April 1, which would be the tentative date of the new contract. As a result, workers would see their monthly benefits cut by 60 percent effective on that date, according to Sean M. O'Brien, the Joint Council's secretary-treasurer. They would also lose the right to claim a pension before age 64 and would not be eligible for disability-related pensions before age 64, O'Brien said in a letter today to ABF workers.

In the letter, O'Brien said ABF had the chance to either transition to a new liability payment pool, as other Teamsters employers have done, or to continue paying an 8-percent-a-year increase to maintain the status quo. O'Brien said the proposed hits could reduce the value of each member's pension by about $9,000 per year. The union represents about 8,600 of the Fort Smith, Ark. -based less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier's workers.

Kathy Fieweger, an ABF spokeswoman, said the company is studying the letter and may have comment next week.

Since the bargaining process began late last year, ABF has made it clear that the pension issue was a top priority, especially since the wide cost gap between it and rival YRC Worldwide Inc. had made it difficult for ABF to remain competitive in the marketplace.

YRC workers receive benefits amounting to $1.75 an hour. The ABF pension, by contrast, provides benefits equal to $7.83 an hour, ABF management said.

In February, the company warned in a memo that unless the pension issue is resolved, 'we must find other ways to achieve an affordable contract."

O'Brien, who also heads Teamsters Local 25 in Boston, had been named in early 2017 by General-President James P. Hoffa to head the union's package division, whose main mission is to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with the small-package operations of Atlanta-based giant UPS Inc., which employs about 256,000 Teamsters. However, Hoffa fired O'Brien in September 2017, capping a feud that had erupted between the two about who should be included in the UPS negotiation process. O'Brien returned to his dual roles in New England.

http://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/2...ract-proposal/
 
I'm not sure how I feel about this. I don't want anyone to lose their pension dollars but I want a raise and vacation. I also wonder if something like this might put more pressure on the government to legislatively fix what they legislatively broke. I wonder what is in the rest of the tentative agreement?

I know how I feel Homesick... all for one and one for all... they have already divided us enough. We have to remember... it is us... the ABF Teamsters that are holding most of the cards this time around. IMO... if Judy has her way again... ABF Freight will end up being just a shell of it's former self in the near future.

We must all remember...the raises and the vacations benefit the company just as much as the ABF Teamsters... don't let them fool into giving up something in return for something that benefits them just as much.
 
1st off not taking sides here, but when YRCW only pays in 25% of the older rate , ABF does have a right to be angry and want a sweet heart deal to like YRCW gets ! And think about it all these pay giveback & pension cuts problems started because YRCW did it first ...............
 
I know how I feel Homesick... all for one and one for all... they have already divided us enough. We have to remember... it is us... the ABF Teamsters that are holding most of the cards this time around. IMO... if Judy has her way again... ABF Freight will end up being just a shell of it's former self in the near future.

We must all remember...the raises and the vacations benefit the company just as much as the ABF Teamsters... don't let them fool into giving up something in return for something that benefits them just as much.
 
1st off not taking sides here, but when YRCW only pays in 25% of the older rate , ABF does have a right to be angry and want a sweet heart deal to like YRCW gets ! And think about it all these pay giveback & pension cuts problems started because YRCW did it first ...............
True, wong....but this is where we turn it around. Right here, right now! Any improvements that we get is gonna benefit YRC next year when that contract is up. Keep that in mind as well.
 
I know how I feel Homesick... all for one and one for all... they have already divided us enough. We have to remember... it is us... the ABF Teamsters that are holding most of the cards this time around. IMO... if Judy has her way again... ABF Freight will end up being just a shell of it's former self in the near future.

We must all remember...the raises and the vacations benefit the company just as much as the ABF Teamsters... don't let them fool into giving up something in return for something that benefits them just as much.
I agree with everything you say! Then I think of YRC. I don't fully agee with wrongway but he does have a point. And YRC doesn't seem to be having labor problems; their turnover rate may be up but they are able to hire people quicker than ABF. And most of all, I want a raise, I want better working conditions, I want more vacation time, I want more seniority (more employees with less seniority) and better shifts/runs. These are my main concerns, not my pension. And yes I want a pension but I'm also saving in my IRA and 401k so I can afford less of a pension. But I'm not willing to reject those teamsters who made the teamsters what it is. I would like equal sacrifice with retired teamsters too.
 
1st off not taking sides here, but when YRCW only pays in 25% of the older rate , ABF does have a right to be angry and want a sweet heart deal to like YRCW gets ! And think about it all these pay giveback & pension cuts problems started because YRCW did it first ...............

I agree... ABF did have that right to be angry wongway... and I didn't blame them one bit back in 2010... that is until 2013 when the IBT offered up the ABF Teamsters in exchange for that lawsuit to go away. And they took it... after all... they didn't care where the money came from... the IBT and YRC... or the ABF Teamsters themselves... just as long as they got a piece of that pie. Well... no more pie for them because right now... it's the ABF Teamsters that are angry and we just don't give a damn how angry ABF or even the IBT will be when the tentative agreement is turned down if it turns out to be the way it's starting to look now.

I was pissed at the IBT for bringing the pension deal to the table in the first place back in 2009 and the YRC Teamsters for accepting the pension deal.
 
I agree... ABF did have that right to be angry wongway... and I didn't blame them one bit back in 2010... that is until 2013 when the IBT offered up the ABF Teamsters in exchange for that lawsuit to go away. And they took it... after all... they didn't care where the money came from... the IBT and YRC... or the ABF Teamsters themselves... just as long as they got a piece of that pie. Well... no more pie for them because right now... it's the ABF Teamsters that are angry and we just don't give a damn how angry ABF or even the IBT will be when the tentative agreement is turned down if it turns out to be the way it's starting to look now.

I was pissed at the IBT for bringing the pension deal to the table in the first place back in 2009 and the YRC Teamsters for accepting the pension deal.
Really good points
 
True, wong....but this is where we turn it around. Right here, right now! Any improvements that we get is gonna benefit YRC next year when that contract is up. Keep that in mind as well.
Agree , it is time to turn it around & for YRC in 2019, it's time to "Pay the Rate or Lock the Gate " , Enough of us doing all the giving and time for Driver's to stop being Yes SHEEP , time to stand tall & fight back !
 
I was pissed at the IBT for bringing the pension deal to the table in the first place back in 2009 and the YRC Teamsters for accepting the pension deal.
Agree, and yes the YRC Teamster "SHEEP" let it happen and IBT for letting it happen, so in 2019 it's "Pay the Rate or Lock the Gate " ........................
 
Agree, and yes the YRC Teamster "SHEEP" let it happen and IBT for letting it happen, so in 2019 it's "Pay the Rate or Lock the Gate " ........................

I know exactly what you mean wongway... after all... we at ABF let the 2013 ABF contract happen too. I was dumbfounded when that national agreement passed without even the slightest attempt of a fight.

If the members would of only did their due diligence back then and actually checked and studied the SEC filings... they would of learned the company was being deceptive with their lies and half-truths along with the fact that the IBT either didn't do their due diligence or like I stated before... threw the ABF Teamsters under the bus to make that lawsuit go away. So IMO... the IBT can choose the option they want... incompetence or treachery.

And Judy is still going around spreading falsehoods like that 70% of costs are in wages and benefits when it turns out to be only 56.5%... and that's in salaries... wages and benefits.... according to the SEC filings which Muler has shown. And where is our representation... not saying one word about it... with one terminal manager in Winston Salem even stating that the IBT recommended the company show that BS video to the members which several Winston members told me they heard him say it. So... either that TM was lying or they really did... and if they did... it doesn't take a genius to realize the role that the IBT will be playing this time around too.

That 2013 contract passed due to fear and threats so don't be surprised to see both... the company and IBT taking the same route because IMO... the IBT used the strike threat against it's own members in 2013.
 
ABF's.......Excuse me,....ArcBest's... position, both this contract and last contract, has been a race to the bottom with their "designated" competitor,...YRC. Cuts to pension contributions will only exacerbate the demise of defined-benefit pensions . Once they're gone,.......you'll never get them back.......

Let's....remind...the negotiators the reason Congress voted a permanent 15% tax cut for the private sector,......was so that the WORKERS could share in the largesse of a bigger profit base.

ANY removal of any sort of benefit just adds to the corporate bottom line ....at OUR expense.

And,.........this does not even begin to address the driver shortage issue. The companies do everything they can to deflect away the fact that,......anyone with a CDL,....especially with a HAZ-MAT endorsement,....is a SCARCE commodity.

In business,....you pay DEARLY for a scarce commodity....

How Ernie and Co. can even contemplate stepping any of our benefits backward,....is beyond me. Let alone not coming up with equitable pay raises that bring us up to the NON-UNION level,....not the YRC level.

Trucking industry across the board,...is looking at the ABF contract as a bellwhether,.....as to whether the IBT is going to play footsie with the companies again,.....or whether they're going to live up to their chartered purpose,....and negotiate for the rank-and-file,...for a change.....

I thought the "rumor" was that we were going to...."like"....what's in this tentative agreement.

Once again,...it seems like ArcBest is going to roll the dice, and bet on the gullibility of it's employees........
 
ABF's.......Excuse me,....ArcBest's... position, both this contract and last contract, has been a race to the bottom with their "designated" competitor,...YRC. Cuts to pension contributions will only exacerbate the demise of defined-benefit pensions . Once they're gone,.......you'll never get them back.......

Let's....remind...the negotiators the reason Congress voted a permanent 15% tax cut for the private sector,......was so that the WORKERS could share in the largesse of a bigger profit base.

ANY removal of any sort of benefit just adds to the corporate bottom line ....at OUR expense.

And,.........this does not even begin to address the driver shortage issue. The companies do everything they can to deflect away the fact that,......anyone with a CDL,....especially with a HAZ-MAT endorsement,....is a SCARCE commodity.

In business,....you pay DEARLY for a scarce commodity....

How Ernie and Co. can even contemplate stepping any of our benefits backward,....is beyond me. Let alone not coming up with equitable pay raises that bring us up to the NON-UNION level,....not the YRC level.

Trucking industry across the board,...is looking at the ABF contract as a bellwhether,.....as to whether the IBT is going to play footsie with the companies again,.....or whether they're going to live up to their chartered purpose,....and negotiate for the rank-and-file,...for a change.....

I thought the "rumor" was that we were going to...."like"....what's in this tentative agreement.

Once again,...it seems like ArcBest is going to roll the dice, and bet on the gullibility of it's employees........
Turncoat..what do you think? As for me...pay a good rate or lock the gate..as I have already posted, the local FedEx mgr (one of our ex supv would hire me in a minute!
 
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