What's new

ABF | About ABF's next contract

Trucker 206 said:
I pray this is true.
Click to expand...

Can I get a hearty "Amen!" to that?

Was watching the PA Conference of Teamsters on the public tv channel, and the leaders on the podium all were saying the same thing. They recognized the members were angry in the direction the Teamsters were heading, especially in the last contracts, and that a different philosophy,........ more in mind with the member's wishes,....... must be taken.

I don't think that was all hogwash,...... for public consumption. I think they truly realize that our "leadership" in the last decade was putrid, to say the least.......

Ernie Soehl was there. I hope he wasn't napping in his chair while the speeches about ineffective leadership were going on....

Let's go, Ernie......... you got a lot of rectifying to do about pay, vacations, uniform policies, scabby subcontracting......... ( punctuation marks and periods in contractual language.... you can borrow my thesaurus if you need..... you know what I'm talking about...
..)
 
Last edited:
nbaug said:
Had a talk with my BA today and was surprised. ABF talked to Ernie Soels and asked for a contract extension. Supposedly Ernie told them nooo, and we want our weeks vacation back and more ,or we will go on STRIKE. Time will tell, but at least he's showing some balls!!!!
Click to expand...
That would be a pleasant surprise, a shocker even. I'll stick to being hopeful but pessimistic. A step below cautiously optimistic. I see another week of vacation for those with none and one but no more than that. I can't call it a 'recovery' of vacation because most of them never had it to start with.
Trucker 206 said:
I pray this is true.
Click to expand...
Now there's something we can all agree on!
 
canaryinthemine said:
Was watching the PA Conference of Teamsters on the public tv channel, and the leaders on the podium all were saying the same thing. They recognized the members were angry in the direction the Teamsters were heading, especially in the last contracts, and that a different philosophy,........ more in mind with the member's wishes,....... must be taken.

I don't think that was all hogwash,...... for public consumption. I think they truly realize that our "leadership" in the last decade was putrid, to say the least.......
Click to expand...
Talk is cheap, money talks, bullshit walks, we shall see. One thing that is certain is that if they don't realize that there is a problem they sure as hell won't fix it. Let us pray.
 
nbaug said:
Had a talk with my BA today and was surprised. ABF talked to Ernie Soels and asked for a contract extension. Supposedly Ernie told them nooo, and we want our weeks vacation back and more ,or we will go on STRIKE. Time will tell, but at least he's showing some balls!!!!
Click to expand...
The sooner this goes down the better. Waiting give arcbest more time to get Panther fully staffed to handle abf strikers freight
 
canaryinthemine said:
I've said it time and again........ you don't pay "healthcare" co-pays to your employer...... if it was really for healthcare, you would be writing a check to your healthcare provider.

When your employer takes money out of your check, he is adjusting his labor costs under the guise of a "healthcare maintenance fee". It does NOT go to your healthcare.

This is one of the biggest shuck'n'jive scams perpetrated on working people...

Look at the npn-Unions...... When they get a pay raise, ...... sonofagun! Their "healthcare" cp-pay raises shortly thereafter just as sure as the sun rises in the east.

What they have left in their pocket is exactly the same as before their "pay raise".
Click to expand...

I beg to differ, my pay has gone up 20% in 3 years due to wage increases and payscale graduation, and my healthcare costs have gone up no more than a total of $10/week in that same timeframe.
 
LTLIndentured said:
The sooner this goes down the better. Waiting give arcbest more time to get Panther fully staffed to handle abf strikers freight
Click to expand...
Let's pay attention to this. Please, everyone, keep your eyes open for ads asking for drivers at Panther. Here in the West, I've only seen about 7 or 8 Panther trucks since the acquisition. They'd have to hire an UNGODLY amount of people to even make a dent in the volume of freight that ABF Freight handles.
 
Songremainsthesame said:
I beg to differ, my pay has gone up 20% in 3 years due to wage increases and payscale graduation, and my healthcare costs have gone up no more than a total of $10/week in that same timeframe.
Click to expand...

I was speaking in a general way about how companies use the "co-pay" generally, Brother.
If they did it every time and shortly after you got a raise, it would be starkly evident to everyone what they were doing, and many questions would be asked. Corporations are much more devious than that.
I still stand by my assertion that there is no reason ........ other than corporate greed ....... to have a "co-pay" for health insurance taken out of your pay.

How about this? Tell your employer for tax purposes, you'd rather write your own check to your healthcare provider instead of them deducting it from your pay.........

Think they'll argue with you? Then tell them you need proof that the money deducted is being handed over to your healthcare provider specifically for YOUR healthcare, and that there is no "kickback" fee to your company for collecting that money.

Be prepared for 18 yards of B. S. flung at you,...... and questions like: " Don't you like working here?" Ask for an answer in writing .....

Good luck in that quest for the truth!
 
ABFer said:
That would be a pleasant surprise, a shocker even. I'll stick to being hopeful but pessimistic. A step below cautiously optimistic. I see another week of vacation for those with none and one but no more than that. I can't call it a 'recovery' of vacation because most of them never had it to start with.

Now there's something we can all agree on!
Click to expand...
I damn sure had it finally got my second week back should have three by now!!!!
 
canaryinthemine said:
I was speaking in a general way about how companies use the "co-pay" generally, Brother.
If they did it every time and shortly after you got a raise, it would be starkly evident to everyone what they were doing, and many questions would be asked. Corporations are much more devious than that.
I still stand by my assertion that there is no reason ........ other than corporate greed ....... to have a "co-pay" for health insurance taken out of your pay.

How about this? Tell your employer for tax purposes, you'd rather write your own check to your healthcare provider instead of them deducting it from your pay.........

Think they'll argue with you? Then tell them you need proof that the money deducted is being handed over to your healthcare provider specifically for YOUR healthcare, and that there is no "kickback" fee to your company for collecting that money.

Be prepared for 18 yards of B. S. flung at you,...... and questions like: " Don't you like working here?" Ask for an answer in writing .....

Good luck in that quest for the truth!
Click to expand...

I agree, it's a shame that healthcare is tied to our employers in the first place. I don't know what the answer is to fix it because I've seen the dollar amount my employer pays over and above my contribution for health insurance, and I couldn't swing that much weekly if I had to pay it all myself.
 
Songremainsthesame said:
I agree, it's a shame that healthcare is tied to our employers in the first place. I don't know what the answer is to fix it because I've seen the dollar amount my employer pays over and above my contribution for health insurance, and I couldn't swing that much weekly if I had to pay it all myself.
Click to expand...

Yes, Brother,....The only industrialized nation in the world to have your "healthcare" tied to your employer. And,.....of course, at such an exorbitant rate that very few could afford to pay on their own. The average person pays,......or rather, their employer "pays" for them,........about $1400.00 a month. Our contract requires that a monthly statement be sent to the Union,.....and as steward, I had always posted the statement in our bulletin board, along with the contractually required pension payment,........so I know exactly what the supposed cost,.....or at least what they are billed for,....of our "healthcare"

Most people have no clue of the actual cost of their "healthcare" until they quit, get fired, or retire,...and receive the mandatory COBRA insurance notice. Employers love to have control of their employees' healthcare payments because it makes for a quiet and docile workforce. You don't dare speak up if it may cost you your "healthcare".

Well, we are entering the Trumpcare era. We'll see if it gets any cheaper, or if the insurance company lobbyists got what they were shooting for in the last seven years. Employers certainly don't want to lose control of "healthcare" and not have the ability to hold you and your family as economic hostages......

Oops! Looks like Mr. Trump spilled the beans, and admitted on national television that Australia's single payer national health system is better than our insurance/employer-based system........I'm starting to like the guy,.......if only for his propensity to occasionally blurt out an inconvenient truth or two.......
 
Songremainsthesame said:
$35 copay no deductible in network $15/$30 prescription-my premium is $45/week for my kids (I've got 3 on the plan but there's no maximum number covered). My insurance is covered 100% and my wife is on her own plan at her job.
Click to expand...

Well,.....If you deduct $45 a week,.....plus whatever you are required by your employer to set aside weekly for your retirement,.....say a minimum of 5% of your weekly check,.... another $60,.......that would be $105 off the top of your gross per week,...........Factor in your hourly wage and deduct,...... and that would give you your true hourly wage,......or what actually goes in your pocket. It's not your gross pay, but your "adjusted" gross pay,.....once the company gets done taking out all the mandatory deductions,.....that becomes your actual wage.

My point has always been, that when your employer has an open-ended ability to arbitrarily set deductions on your weekly pay,........and more importantly,...... have the ability to arbitrarily raise them with no input from the employee affected,........then that employer ( and there's many, many of them...) is controlling his labor costs in a sneaky, under-handed way. It's awfully hard to prove that money taken out of your check by your employer is going to where your employer alleges it's going to............It may very well be going to the "healthcare" insurance provider,........And that insurance company may very well be handing that money right back to the employer.....minus a small "handling" fee,.........as a legal kickback just to maintain the illusion that , yes, that money did go to your "healthcare"..............Freight companies "discount" freight rates all the time for volume business,......Who's to say they ain't using those same tactics while dealing with a "healthcare" insurance company for their employees?

There needs to be some sort of paper trail,.....with the appropriate responsible signatures,.....guaranteeing that the money deducted for "healthcare" is actually going for your healthcare,......so you know you're getting your dollars' worth of what they're.......taking........from your paycheck.
 
canaryinthemine said:
Well, we are entering the Trumpcare era. We'll see if it gets any cheaper, or if the insurance company lobbyists got what they were shooting for in the last seven years.
Click to expand...
IMO there is no chance that health insurance will get cheaper unless/until we have the opportunity to buy it a la carte. I'll pass on the $20,000 medivac ride and spending $200,000 to keep me alive for one more low quality year at the end. That should provide me with a reasonable policy premium.
 
Songremainsthesame said:
Well wherever it goes they pay a hell of a lot more than I do and I don't pay much out of pocket for much of anything related to healthcare.
Click to expand...
And the sad part about this line of thinking is that too many share it. Those copays should never have gotten started to begin with and now this new crowd sees them as usual and customary. Life will never get better with that attitude.
 
ABFer said:
And the sad part about this line of thinking is that too many share it. Those copays should never have gotten started to begin with and now this new crowd sees them as usual and customary. Life will never get better with that attitude.
Click to expand...

But what's the answer then? Until the cost of healthcare comes down we're kind of stuck with the model we have...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top