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Shifterknob

Shifterknob

The Last Wordslinger
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Well, I hear the company is firing the first salvoes across the bow in regards to contract negotiations. The March "Bullet Points" posting had a "question" regarding upcoming union-company negotiations.

The company response said that the Family had been personally attacked in the last negotiations, and so that made them reluctant to go into negotiations again, and also made accusations that the union didn't do what they said they would do, whatever that means.

First off, I certainly do not remember anyone really attacking the Vander Pol family, but I certainly do remember a fair amount of anti-union propaganda being put out by the family towards the union employees of this company. I do remember quite a few union officials being attacked by rank-and-file for not doing a very good job of representing their membership in the negotiations.

I also remember the company's labor man being quoted as saying that himself and the family were very unhappy at the contract that they ended up signing, implying that they were somehow "screwed" by the union.

Hmmmm... let's see. The employees have been screwed for every contract since we left the NMFA in '85, and we finally get one decent contract and the family feels screwed?

I got one comment about that...

WHAAAAA WHAAAAA WHAAAAA!

Let's get one thing straight here. The union or unions are not who you are dealing with here: it is your own employees. We happen to choose to be represented by a union, as is our right under U.S. labor law. I personally find it unfortunate the family is such denial about this fact, but that does not make it untrue.

I have heard about the one-on-one meetings in Eugene when they tried to unionize, when Dave and Ed told the employees they and the family would be personally offended if Eugene went union.

Somehow tactics like these are considered okay, but when the unionized employees stuck together last contract to vote down a crappy offer and hung together to get a better contract, we are somehow playing dirty?

I would definitely love to know just what kind of deal certain union officals had with the family and your labor man, because he definitely had a bug up his butt after the first recommended offer was voted down by the employees.

You and Bob and these union officals seem to forget one little fact, though: the union does not ratify these agreements... THE EMPLOYEES ARE THE ONE WHO VOTE YEA OR NAY! We are the union!

I suggest you all learn to deal with the fact that the unionized employees of this company are not idiots who cannot think for themselves or are robots programmed to do what we are told. I'm saying this to the family, and I'm saying this to certain union officials who probably badly need to retire or go elsewhere, since they cannot seem to represent their members in a honest and upstanding manner.

We the employees certainly have our demands and our issues that need to be addressed in these upcoming negotiations, but we are not looking to push this company off of a cliff, either. Play fair with us, and we'll play fair with you. On the other hand, if games continue to be played like last time... well, you are taking some huge risks and you know not what you will be unleashing.

So let's not go down that road, okay? Fair warning...
 
and so it begins

hey shifterknob hope all is well working for the rolling roadblock,i hope you all get what your looking for in the up comming contract's,seem's to be the same old crap as alway's the vander pol's playing the same game's,thinking that the true working employee's that can think for themself's are out to screw them once again.If they would only look into thier own management rank's they would find the problem's that exsist.I myself am enjoying the life without oak harbor i thought it might have been a bad ideal to leave at first but everyday get's better and better knowing that i never need to be bagered by a company that does not believe in the men and women who put food on thier tables and roof's over thier head's,good luck to all of you who deserve it and even those of you who dont.
 
Bribed union officials, empty threats from the owners sounds like a skipping record. This posting brought back old anxiety that I have not felt for a long time; I feel better knowing that I don't work here anymore.

The VP was on Trucking Boards "reaching out" to us it seems he has abandoned this avenue of communication, I suppose he just hates the ideals behind free speech and people saying what they want and feel. Kind of like a group of people forming a union and standing up.

You can say what you want about union contract elections at Oak Harbor, but the guy standing behind the ballot box has allot more power than you lead on. Majority of the members will vote what the local recommends.

ANYONE who reads this... please push the issue of the union supervisors this contract, some of the people in our local may disagree, and think its fine to have managers moving freight, and voting in union elections. Trust me it is the first step to eroding the solidarity of a union workplace, demand them out!

If the company again refuses to open there books than I say no mercy. Masterfreight all the way the master contract is a little behind on wages so I would bear that in mind, no matter what they say or what kind of pre-fab numbers they wave in your face, assume they are extremely profitable to dispute that assumption all they have to do is open the books, and remember they do not have the ability to replace you quickly in a strike.
 
A couple of points...

First of all, I think we are all well aware in this company where the problems lay. Every day and every terminal, I hear the same thing over and over. Poor management, bad decisions, and a real lackadaisical approach to dealing with the issues as they crop up.

This company has so much potential that I see going down the drain every day. Senior management seems more concerned about Band-Aid solutions than dealing with the underlying issues. They seem more concerned about micro-managing certain operational numbers than they do in what got us here to begin with, i.e. premium service.

And it really bums a lot of us out. Seriously. For all they talk about improving communication, it just keeps getting worse and worse.

Dave, DVDs are well and fine, and letters and BBQs and such, but what your employees really want to hear is that when they give management valid and experienced input, advice and criticism that we are being listened to. We don't like being condescended to, or ignored, or patted on the head like a retarded child.

We have as much at stake in the survival and performance of this company as the family does, and many of us out here in the company feel as if the wheels are coming off of the wagon.

Those of us who choose to be represented by a union are not worth any less than those who are not. We built this company. I daresay the southern expansion of this company has come off of our union backs, and from years and years of concessionary contracts that gave you lower labor costs and gave you increased capital for expansion.

Something you need to think about, Dave. When you dad asked us to leave Master Freight in the mid-Eighties so the company could survive, we did it. For him. Because we had loyalty to him. If you were in the same situation right now, do you think your employees would have that same loyalty to you and Ed? Henry earned our loyalty. You have not. And many of your actions over the last ten years have created a gulf between you and many, if not most, of your employees.

We didn't create that rift... you did.

Talk is talk, but action speaks way louder than words, and that is the basis that you are judged on. If you felt you got screwed in this last contract, I highly suggest you go look in a mirror if you want to see who to blame for it.

You don't have to listen to me. You can ignore my post as you seem to ignore most of your front-line employees. But I am trying to impart a little honesty to the discussion here, and you can buy or not buy it, but if you choose to keep going down the path you are heading down, it's going to get ugly for everyone.

And I for one would find that a shame, because I really enjoy many things about this company, and would dearly love to retire from here. But my confidence about the long-term future of this company is not what it once was, and while the situation can still be turned around, I wonder if anyone is listening or even caring.

I really do wonder...:shrug:
 
shifterknob said:
patted on the head like a retarded child.
Click to expand...

That pretty much sums up the Oak Harbor experience; I think I have a bald spot!

Its not that I feel that management should take every suggestion a trucker mumbles and run with it, but, when there is a clear, consistent message that resonates throughout all frontline employees and it is ignored repeatedly, you have to wonder.
 
shifterknob said:
Well, I hear the company is firing the first salvoes across the bow in regards to contract negotiations. The March "Bullet Points" posting had a "question" regarding upcoming union-company negotiations.

The company response said that the Family had been personally attacked in the last negotiations, and so that made them reluctant to go into negotiations again, and also made accusations that the union didn't do what they said they would do, whatever that means.

First off, I certainly do not remember anyone really attacking the Vander Pol family, but I certainly do remember a fair amount of anti-union propaganda being put out by the family towards the union employees of this company. I do remember quite a few union officials being attacked by rank-and-file for not doing a very good job of representing their membership in the negotiations.

I also remember the company's labor man being quoted as saying that himself and the family were very unhappy at the contract that they ended up signing, implying that they were somehow "screwed" by the union.

Hmmmm... let's see. The employees have been screwed for every contract since we left the NMFA in '85, and we finally get one decent contract and the family feels screwed?

I got one comment about that...

WHAAAAA WHAAAAA WHAAAAA!

Let's get one thing straight here. The union or unions are not who you are dealing with here: it is your own employees. We happen to choose to be represented by a union, as is our right under U.S. labor law. I personally find it unfortunate the family is such denial about this fact, but that does not make it untrue.

I have heard about the one-on-one meetings in Eugene when they tried to unionize, when Dave and Ed told the employees they and the family would be personally offended if Eugene went union.

Somehow tactics like these are considered okay, but when the unionized employees stuck together last contract to vote down a crappy offer and hung together to get a better contract, we are somehow playing dirty?

I would definitely love to know just what kind of deal certain union officals had with the family and your labor man, because he definitely had a bug up his butt after the first recommended offer was voted down by the employees.

You and Bob and these union officals seem to forget one little fact, though: the union does not ratify these agreements... THE EMPLOYEES ARE THE ONE WHO VOTE YEA OR NAY! We are the union!

I suggest you all learn to deal with the fact that the unionized employees of this company are not idiots who cannot think for themselves or are robots programmed to do what we are told. I'm saying this to the family, and I'm saying this to certain union officials who probably badly need to retire or go elsewhere, since they cannot seem to represent their members in a honest and upstanding manner.

We the employees certainly have our demands and our issues that need to be addressed in these upcoming negotiations, but we are not looking to push this company off of a cliff, either. Play fair with us, and we'll play fair with you. On the other hand, if games continue to be played like last time... well, you are taking some huge risks and you know not what you will be unleashing.

So let's not go down that road, okay? Fair warning...
Click to expand...


Ahhhhhhh..

Ya gotta love the start of negotiations. Will be interesting to see where this one will lead..:chairshot:
 
Was the last contract just 2 years??

Seems like you guys just got done with it, will you be going for a longer contract this time if it was?

FM
 
Familyman said:
Was the last contract just 2 years??

Seems like you guys just got done with it, will you be going for a longer contract this time if it was?

FM
Click to expand...

It was three years but were about 9? months into the year before we settled. From what I have heard the company only wants a three year contract.
 
Personally, most of us like short contracts, and as long as the company is paying full health and welfare, so do they.

They don't want to get locked-in to full MOB and then have medical costs spike drastically without having a chance to renegotiate, you see.

From our end, we like the shorter contracts because it allows us certain flexibilities in regards to changing pay scales, benefit levels, and work conditions throughout the industry.

We're not completely opposed to longer contracts, we just feel they are going to have to pay for it.

Up front, you dig?
 
Hey shifterknob I liked the contract the Vanderpols offered the last time it was a five year contract which is by all standards not a short contract! How many contracts have you negotiated any way?? You sound like you have been a Teamster for at least 30 years or better, is that the case???
 
supertramp said:
Hey shifterknob I liked the contract the Vanderpols offered the last time it was a five year contract which is by all standards not a short contract! How many contracts have you negotiated any way?? You sound like you have been a Teamster for at least 30 years or better, is that the case???
Click to expand...
OMG are you a 30 year teamster!!! Tramp get off your High horse for the Vander Pols and just say it your a company snitch!!! I would be willing to bet you never negotiated one contract unless it was full of givbacks and takeaways!! Live long Die poor and praise the company You Tramp!!!:hysterical: Oh I guess you wont be poor as the company will give you a loan on there personal accounts as they have done for other people wont you :hide:
 
supertramp said:
"...Hey shifterknob I liked the contract the Vanderpols offered the last time it was a five year contract which is by all standards not a short contract! How many contracts have you negotiated any way?? You sound like you have been a Teamster for at least 30 years or better, is that the case???"
Click to expand...

Ummm... didn't I say most of us prefer short contracts? And your point was... what? The fact you liked that piece of crap is a testament to how ignorant you truly are. Did you ever bother reading the thing, or did you just take big daddy Buck's word for it? I wonder...

As to your other points, I haven't been a Teamster for thirty years, and as to how many contracts I have negotiated, I've been involved with quite few over the years here and elsewhere.

Like I said in another thread, Mr. Spokane shop steward, I sure as hell don't remember hearing your involvement in any of the contracts here. Don't want to sacrifice your good wages to participate, but you sure like to criticize and point fingers, don't you? Sure don't see you donating any of that money back to the company, either.

In my book, that's called hypocrisy.

I hear you've been grabbing our junior extra board line drivers laying over in Spokane and telling them what pieces of crap our line stewards are here in Portland, and how we are all a bunch of militant radicals down here.

Wow.

You the man, huh? Too bad every single one of those guys smelled your particular brand of cow manure a mile away, and made sure the appropriate people knew what kind of smear campaign you are running up there.

The funny thing is, that we all know you are simply Buck's puppet. You are one of the biggest prima donnas Me-sters in this company, and clearly wouldn't know a solid fact if it walked up and slapped you in the face.

We also all know that you just want to get two or three more years in so you can qualify for Medicare before you pull the plug. So you would sell all of the rest of us down the river just so the ol' boat don't get rocked before then.

Right? Don't bother denying it, because we know it's true.

If you want to live in a delusional world of your own making, go right ahead. But you will be living a very lonely existence.

And as a shop steward, you ought to be ashamed of yourself for the way you are acting. Why don't you just go ahead and take a management job, while you're at it? Hell, even management has more morals and scruples than you and your big daddy down at the local.

Pretty sad, man. Pretty damned sad...:Poke:
 
lousy 5 year contract

hey supertwerp if you liked that last 5 year contract that must mean your from spokane well this one is for you:butt kiss:
 
Supertramp,

Shifterknob does not answer questions that are uncomforatable. He simply goes into long winded tirads instead in an effort to get everyones focus off of the question.

Let me help...

Shifterknob has worked as a Portland Line Driver for a couple of years. This means he has been through one contract negotiation.

Ironically enough, the company he came from just voted to be non union. The article was posted on this site for a breif time. It seems "someone" decided to take it off. I wonder how long my response will be here...

I wonder often when I read his long winded responses why he just does not come out from his "so called" secret screen name and write and say the things he does in this forum to our owners face to face.

As always,

Fair&Balanced
 
What I find interesting, Fair & Balanced, is how you make innuendo-laden accusations about posts disappearing from this site, then you delete your own writings.

May I call :toxic: :toxic: :toxic: ?

I won't include everything you posted, as I'm sure you had some very good reason for deleting it. But I find it amusing that you wrote this:

"...Shifterknob has worked as a Portland Line Driver for a couple of years. This means he has been through one contract negotiation.

Ironically enough, the company he came from just voted to be non union. The article was posted on this site for a breif time. It seems "someone" decided to take it off. I wonder how long my response will be here..."
Click to expand...

Perhaps you didn't realize that the site has gone through several crashes and rebuilds over the years, and a lot of stuff has disappeared. If you think something funny is going on and that I as moderator of this little forum is playing judge, jury and executioner in regards to content, then I suggest you take your complaint to the Administrator of the site, as he takes fiddling with such things very seriously. He will most definitely confirm why many posts are no longer here.

As to why you removed your own posting... is there something you want to talk about? Have second thoughts about playing hardball, perhaps?

You think you know who I am, and I most definitely know who you are, but perhaps rather than spending time trying to out each other, you can try and debate me on facts instead of trying to act like some kind of Bill O'Reilly wannabe.

So far, neither you nor Supertramp have responded to the facts that I have presented. Obfuscation being a key trait of management in this company, I would have thought that if you are going to fire shots over the bow, you would come armed with more than hot air.

I'm awaiting your response with much anticipation... LOL!

:Duel:
 
Ohfl Losing touch with reality

fair and balanced why not take off the tie and roll up those sleeves of yours, morale has never been lower than it is right now, it used to be people wanted to come to work, now i couldn't name 5 poeple at your terminal that feel this way and that is a shame, the easiest way the effect a downfall is to destroy moral and you have effectively acheived that. what next ????
The companys downfall will be be done by the owners and management of OHFL :chairshot: , not
by the employees OR the union


Tyrants are their own worst enemy
 
The posting about Frito Lay was moved because it had nothing to do with Oak Harbor. I believe it was moved by a site administrator (CFer) here it is: http://www.truckingboards.com/truck...n-debate-forum/14653-news-frito-portland.html
Not gone just forgotten because it lacks relevance.

If I am reading this correctly fair and Balanced posted and then deleted his entire entry, from what I gather he is claiming that he posted this Frito Lay posting in the past yet it was Dipstick who posted that thread. I suspect, as I have asserted in the past, these two screen names are the same person which violates rule 13.

These threads are heavily moderated, which I did not like at first but if you go to T net and see how the conversations digress so quickly to pointless name calling you may, as I have, learn to respect the moderation it keeps the conversations well… conversations.
 
By the way I know I have said this a thousand times but if you are a well-trained professional driver as I know most of you are, don't believe the lie's OHFL management drums in your head about the other companies. I was told if I quit I should go to Peninsula because they are the only other company that treat drivers good, I was told that Yellow has 80% non-palletized freight, they told me Roadway had no air seats for their drivers, they told me ABF would be out of business in a year and that was quite some time ago.

My point is that things are better, Yellow has the same kind of freight OHFL does, Roadway has air seats in their tractors, and ABF is still going strong. Your mileage may vary as far as treatment goes, depends how buddy you are with your OHFL supervisor/dispatcher as discrimination and favoritism are rampant there.

I have found the treatment elsewhere to far exceed OHFL in every way, not to mention the pay, benefits, and contract language. For instance calling in sick at OHFL was always a battle, and then you had to be out three days to use a paid day and bring a Dr. note. In the summer I remember being forced to work 12 hour days regularly I had to ask to get off on time and even then it was hit or miss. Now I only work overtime if I want to. A/C in the trucks I never understood all those new trucks and they wouldn't give a city guy A/C I bet they had to order them special like that. What a bunch of *****.
 
There have been some improvements since you left, silvertooth, but in many ways, it's still a constant battle.

Many of us have become disenfranchised with Oak Harbor not because of individual issues, but because of the hypocrisy rampant in management. I don't hate the Vander Pols at all, but I do feel as if David and Ed are completely out of touch with their employees. Most of us feel our VP of Operations is completely out of touch with reality and is implementing operational procedures even Roadway doesn't use any more, and most certainly should never be used at a regional carrier like OHFL.

This isn't just drivers and dockmen that feel this way. This feeling goes up into middle management, although they would probably never admit it to Dave or Ed.

Senior management like to talk about improving communication and provide tools like [email protected], but the one aspect in all of this that they lack is truly listening to their employees.

Communication is great, but they need to listen, understand and perhaps... once in a blue moon... actually implement something an front-line employee brings up. We are not idiots, and many of us have decades of experience that might be useful.

I would say most of the employees of this company realize there are grave problems inherent with Oak Harbor, and not all of them or even most of them can be fixed contractually. If senior management wants to run this company into the ground, then there is little we can do to prevent them.

I think I do speak for many employees when I say that would be a shame. There is much to like about Oak Harbor, and I do think they provide good service when they are firing on all cylinders.

The problem is that firing on all cylinders seems to be happening less and less...
 
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