Freightmaster1
TB Legend
- Credits
- 616
ABF | ABF Contract Shows Hoffa-Hall Have Given Up On Teamster Power!
- Thread starter Freightmaster1
- Start date
If it were me I would pay the dues. If needed, you should get the best representation available. I believe our members can be a part of a needed change when the time comes.
Understood.
I pay my dues because of the union I receive my better than average wages. Although the benefits imo are below average, I still see paying the dues as a right thing. Even though our union leadership on the national sucks beyond belief, and they could care less about any prive sector Teamster.
Its like taxes. I hate our current Administration in the White House and Congress, but I still have a duty to pay my taxes.
It's more about supporting the union that is going to represent you.
canaryinthemine
Retirement....The Job I Was Born To Have!
- Credits
- 0
Leadership will also change, in the future,...responsive to the members. You pay dues to support the idea and philosiphy of a Union...not the current leadership.
You had to ask, get a contract book and read it rolly!Serious statement.
Got one. Can't learn it all in one day
As a past labor rep @ VP level in another big union with 13,000 transportation people represented and over 800,000 total people represented, I can tell you your (our) elected officials have a responsibility both constitutionally and legally to work in our best interest or suffer the consequenses from within (a constitutional referendum) and or from "without" - Dept of Labor
Well they failed miserably with our contract....
The problem is in the words “in our best interest.” Those words are vague and ambiguous. The best interest of a single 25 year old is different from a married 45 year old with a family and still different from a 65 year old who has reached retirement age. So whom are our elected union leaders responsible to and for?
I don’t like this contract and I hate way it makes me feel like I have been sold down the river but I do believe our elected officials are trying. Now a question; how many of us contacted those elected officials prior to the contact negotiations to let your voice be heard? Who kept after them to remind them that you needed a better contract and were willing to strike to get it?
canaryinthemine
Retirement....The Job I Was Born To Have!
- Credits
- 0
They've kind of insulated themselves from the rank-and-file, Brother Homesick. I believe the complaint-and-pressure chain goes from your Local B.A., to your "Two-Man Committee"....in the case of the Joint Council#40 Western Pennsylvania Supplement,...that was a one woman committee...who didn't have a freight barn in her jurisdiction for the last 5 years,..let alone an ABF barn....and then the complaints and pressure were supposed to go onto TNFINC ,...and then possibly onto Mr. Hoffa's desk. If your "Two Man Committee" was mentally absent in this process,...your "complaints and pressure" got no higher......probably went right into the circular file.....Write a letter?....same file...The Teamsters will not respond to e-mails, nor do they maintain a social network site......They do secretly monitor this site, and others,....but they certainly don't act on the "complaints and pressure" they see here.....Seems to me that they don't want to hear from us dummy drivers......They know what's best for us,...so we should shut up, sit down, and take our medicine.....
vongrimmenstein
I stand for our flag, & kneel for the fallen
- Credits
- 112
Been reading & posting on these boards for about a year now. I have come to the conclusion there are only 2 ways to make changes inside the IBT. 1. The election of its officers. The problem with that is it takes too long to be effective and the lack of Solidarity with in the membership 2. A Lawsuit in Federal Court or some form of legal action within the NLRB. Both require attorneys that are expensive and time consuming. And you have to have a strong case to present to the courts to have any chance of a ruling that would have a serious effect upon the IBT leadership. Money and having a solid case makes # 2 difficult. Your thoughts are welcomed. von.
D
Deleted member 5115
Guest
Von, I think you have an accurate assessment there. What we need is better, cheaper access to the vehicles necessary to get our cases heard. A government body that we could go to and get matters investigated and prosecuted would be fine with me.
canaryinthemine
Retirement....The Job I Was Born To Have!
- Credits
- 0
I think there is recall language in the IBT constitution, but you have to get probably two thirds of the rank-and-file to sign...that means the nurses, police, janitors, train engineers, sanitation workers, school bus drivers, airline mechanics, car rental attendants,....and, Oh! ..Let's not forget the truck drivers..... I think we,...as a company,....ABF....should petition the IBT to have our grievances heard by a panel of our ABF peers, our contracts negotiated by our ABF peers,...and any other little thing the IBT does for us,...to be handled by ABF employees, instead of the...."professional"...negotiators with the Teamsters National Freight Negotiating Committee....TNFINC....can't do no worse than they did,.....and you'll have people negotiating the contract THEY would have to live under....That petition should go to both the IBT and the NLRB.....maybe send a copy to the Dept. of Labor just to make sure. If you send it to the IBT alone.....after all the hard work of gathering names,....they'll put it aside in a closet in case they run out of toilet paper down there on Louisiana Ave. D.C........