Let me start with introducing myself... which you referred to me as 'Docker' in your 2013 article. You know... the one who displayed the image of a button with the 'idle, even foolish, threat' ... 'We Don't Want to Strike, But We Will'.
Will you please explain just what it is that you have against the ABF Teamsters because it's getting very tiresome hearing the same old rhetoric coming from your articles around contract time when referring to the ABF Teamsters. In 2013... we were referred to as the pugnacious rank-and file who have been known to march to their own collective drummer who defied their own leadership in 2010 and now... we are the truculent group who almost shut down ABF Freight because it took four months to ratify the 2013 contract. Would you please tell me... just what is so pugnacious about voting no on a 15% pay reduction and since when did turning down a proposal become defying? Tell me... if our leadership would of turned down ABF's 2010 15% giveback proposal... would they have also defied ArcBest's leadership? Would you also please tell me just what's so truculent about taking four months to ratify a contract and what facts can you produce that almost shut down ABF Freight in the process?
I tell you what... if you want to print a worthwhile article that's not full of misconceptions about the ABF Teamsters for a change... how about writing a piece about Judy McReynolds and ArcBest when it comes to spreading misinformation around contract time. Like when she stated in the 2017 4th Quarterly Report video that was recently shown around the terminals claiming that 70% of ABF's costs are in wages and benefits when in her own SEC filing... the 10-K Annual Report... Page 43... it was reported as 56.5%...
That's 56.5%... not 70% and that's also in salaries... wages and benefits. You do realize who collects salaries and why that may have been omitted in the video... right? That's also a pretty big deficit... 13.5% considering the amount we are talking about here is $1.9 Billion which come to over $269 Million. Tell me... what fancy words would you use in your article when referring to Judy McReynolds and ArcBest about that?
Contrary to what many may think... the ABF Teamsters are not just a bunch of greedy ABF haters that bash ArcBest without good reason. All we seek is to keep what ABF Freight has always been and hopefully always will be... a well respected and profitable company that the ABF Teamsters have been proud of being a part of all these years. That... along with all the respect Mr. Young gained from all those dedicated ABF Teamsters that worked right along with him making it the company it has become. I... for one... am very thankful for both... ABF Freight and the Teamster's union for everything that I have today and will always fight to try and keep it that way for all the ABF Teamsters in the future... just like all those before me had done in the past. Now... if you want to call that truculent... fine.
That said... I can't speak for all the others but... me... personally... I have much resentment when it comes to ArcBest and it's CEO these days and IMO... rightfully so seeing everything first hand in what has transpired since 2010 and many questions that went unanswered over the years along with many that were answered with only half-truths. And here's another thing... if you were to have the opportunity to watch that 4th Quarterly Report... you would see what many ABF Teamsters saw... the ABF Freight President being used as nothing but an insignificant tool for ArcBest to spread more propaganda. Seriously... using scripted phrases such as 'I'm glad you asked that Tim'... is an insult to every ABF Teamster that even has half a brain. We may not have a college degree but we aren't simpletons and idiots either... and in all honesty... that video deserves all the mockery it gets from the ABF Teamsters!
So you see... you have no idea what all us ABF Teamsters that have been with the company for decades know and saw first hand over the years but yet you write about us like you're an authority on the subject. My recommendation to you would be to apply some due diligence and actually do some research next time you decide to write an article about ABF and the Teamsters... not just assume the company's true to their word and run with the information they provide. If you do that... you just might be surprised with all the discrepancies you find... and who knows... you may find us to not be as pugnacious and truculent as you do right now. But then again... you can always take the easy way out... save time and just run with what the company feeds you like you have been because that's how obvious it is when an ABF Teamster is reading your article!!! And worry not... if you do decide not to consider my recommendation... I won't go around stating that you defied me like you do when writing articles about the ABF Teamsters and it's leadership.
One last thing that I also want to mention is this fine jewel of an article that you printed while the negotiation process was ongoing in 2013...
Ask yourself... was that strategic or just sheer coincidence?
Will you please explain just what it is that you have against the ABF Teamsters because it's getting very tiresome hearing the same old rhetoric coming from your articles around contract time when referring to the ABF Teamsters. In 2013... we were referred to as the pugnacious rank-and file who have been known to march to their own collective drummer who defied their own leadership in 2010 and now... we are the truculent group who almost shut down ABF Freight because it took four months to ratify the 2013 contract. Would you please tell me... just what is so pugnacious about voting no on a 15% pay reduction and since when did turning down a proposal become defying? Tell me... if our leadership would of turned down ABF's 2010 15% giveback proposal... would they have also defied ArcBest's leadership? Would you also please tell me just what's so truculent about taking four months to ratify a contract and what facts can you produce that almost shut down ABF Freight in the process?
I tell you what... if you want to print a worthwhile article that's not full of misconceptions about the ABF Teamsters for a change... how about writing a piece about Judy McReynolds and ArcBest when it comes to spreading misinformation around contract time. Like when she stated in the 2017 4th Quarterly Report video that was recently shown around the terminals claiming that 70% of ABF's costs are in wages and benefits when in her own SEC filing... the 10-K Annual Report... Page 43... it was reported as 56.5%...
That's 56.5%... not 70% and that's also in salaries... wages and benefits. You do realize who collects salaries and why that may have been omitted in the video... right? That's also a pretty big deficit... 13.5% considering the amount we are talking about here is $1.9 Billion which come to over $269 Million. Tell me... what fancy words would you use in your article when referring to Judy McReynolds and ArcBest about that?
Contrary to what many may think... the ABF Teamsters are not just a bunch of greedy ABF haters that bash ArcBest without good reason. All we seek is to keep what ABF Freight has always been and hopefully always will be... a well respected and profitable company that the ABF Teamsters have been proud of being a part of all these years. That... along with all the respect Mr. Young gained from all those dedicated ABF Teamsters that worked right along with him making it the company it has become. I... for one... am very thankful for both... ABF Freight and the Teamster's union for everything that I have today and will always fight to try and keep it that way for all the ABF Teamsters in the future... just like all those before me had done in the past. Now... if you want to call that truculent... fine.
That said... I can't speak for all the others but... me... personally... I have much resentment when it comes to ArcBest and it's CEO these days and IMO... rightfully so seeing everything first hand in what has transpired since 2010 and many questions that went unanswered over the years along with many that were answered with only half-truths. And here's another thing... if you were to have the opportunity to watch that 4th Quarterly Report... you would see what many ABF Teamsters saw... the ABF Freight President being used as nothing but an insignificant tool for ArcBest to spread more propaganda. Seriously... using scripted phrases such as 'I'm glad you asked that Tim'... is an insult to every ABF Teamster that even has half a brain. We may not have a college degree but we aren't simpletons and idiots either... and in all honesty... that video deserves all the mockery it gets from the ABF Teamsters!
So you see... you have no idea what all us ABF Teamsters that have been with the company for decades know and saw first hand over the years but yet you write about us like you're an authority on the subject. My recommendation to you would be to apply some due diligence and actually do some research next time you decide to write an article about ABF and the Teamsters... not just assume the company's true to their word and run with the information they provide. If you do that... you just might be surprised with all the discrepancies you find... and who knows... you may find us to not be as pugnacious and truculent as you do right now. But then again... you can always take the easy way out... save time and just run with what the company feeds you like you have been because that's how obvious it is when an ABF Teamster is reading your article!!! And worry not... if you do decide not to consider my recommendation... I won't go around stating that you defied me like you do when writing articles about the ABF Teamsters and it's leadership.
One last thing that I also want to mention is this fine jewel of an article that you printed while the negotiation process was ongoing in 2013...
Ask yourself... was that strategic or just sheer coincidence?
