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seabreeze said:
They also got one of the best companies around when they aquired Carolina.
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don't agree...Carolina was about to bite the dust...how can you be one of the best companies around when they were about to shut the doors before Mr. Young bought them...should have just let them go out of biz and THEN go after the crumbs..of course, you expressed your opinion and now I am expressing mine..but at least I did back up my opinion with facts...
 
6PakAbs said:
don't agree...Carolina was about to bite the dust...how can you be one of the best companies around when they were about to shut the doors before Mr. Young bought them...should have just let them go out of biz and THEN go after the crumbs..of course, you expressed your opinion and now I am expressing mine..but at least I did back up my opinion with facts...
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Don't know if you ever worked for CFCC, but you never heard their drivers gripe and complain like most other companies.
I ran with those drivers for 35 yrs, don't recall anyone ever had anything bad to say about Mr Beam.
Most all said they were treated with respect.
To me, that makes them a top carrier just like Ryder and PIE, only job I had for 35yrs.
The're also gone but I still say they were the best.
Your facts doesn't make them a bad company.
 
The three major acquisitions ABF made were companies that were bleeding. They had good employees but weren't managed properly especially in a deregulated freight environment. ABF purchased Navajo just before deregulation. Many questioned their timing but it gave them operating rights & property in the west. ETMF was owned by 'Bum' Bright who also owned Braniff Airlines. He borrowed from Braniff for a while to keep ETMF open. Braniff eventually went belly up. ABF did retain about half or more of ETMF customers. The Carolina/Worldway acquisition almost put ABF out of business as did ETMF. An ABF management person admitted that the company underestimated the Carolina upper echelon management liability by several million. Many had a clause in their contract that made them wealthy when Carolina was sold. ABF sold many of the Worldway subsidiaries because they were not profitable. Clipper was not profitable. Cardinal was profitable but ABF decided to sell because the fleet was near the trade cycle. It takes two to three years to realize a profit when a fleet is renewed.
ABF & Carolina were both treated their employees well. From what I have heard Mr. Beam treated his employees with respect as did Mr. Young but did not change the business as necessary to stay profitable after deregulation.
With all three acquisitions employees were resentful. ABF employees lost seniority when the other employees were dovetailed in.
ABF was the only union carrier at the time to survive a major acquisition of another union carrier.
 
seabreeze said:
Don't know if you ever worked for CFCC, but you never heard their drivers gripe and complain like most other companies.
I ran with those drivers for 35 yrs, don't recall anyone ever had anything bad to say about Mr Beam.
Most all said they were treated with respect.
To me, that makes them a top carrier just like Ryder and PIE, only job I had for 35yrs.
The're also gone but I still say they were the best.
Your facts doesn't make them a bad company.
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ABF almost went under after the purchase..remember The Rose Law Firm & Hillary Clinton ($$ in the law firm's pocket)and the Keslow effort that kept them away...again, I know CFCC had a lot of good folks..not disputing that or the way they were treated was a high point. BUT, as far as being a "best company", because of the way Mr. Beam treated folks...well,that didn't hold up on the investment/Wall Street front. Mr. Young always treated us with respect. As DCM_Doc stated above, ABF was lucky to stay in biz (or was it because of some of the financial wizards and upper mgmt)? Either way, I am glad ABF Freight System (err, my bad--ArcBest) is still around. Now, on to my morning coffee..and RYDER/PIE also had good folks, but obviously either wasn't a "best company"
 
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6PakAbs said:
ABF almost went under after the purchase..remember The Rose Law Firm & Hillary Clinton ($$ in the law firm's pocket)and the Keslow effort that kept them away...again, I know CFCC had a lot of good folks..not disputing that or the way they were treated was a high point. BUT, as far as being a "best company", because of the way Mr. Beam treated folks...well,that didn't hold up on the investment/Wall Street front. Mr. Young always treated us with respect. As DCM_Doc stated above, ABF was lucky to stay in biz (or was it because of some of the financial wizards and upper mgmt)? Either way, I am glad ABF Freight System (err, my bad--ArcBest) is still around. Now, on to my morning coffee..and RYDER/PIE also had good folks, but obviously either wasn't a "best company"
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I will always say Carolina Freight was one of the best companies to work for, I didn't mention one thing about their finances.
I hope you don't think the hundreds of companies that folded because failing to keep pace after deregulation were bad companies.
As for picking up the crumbs, I assume you got bumped down the seniority list after the dovetail, left a bad taste
I'm sure.
Well that happened to all of us after some acquisitions.
I U, parent co.of PIE tried to buy ABF and OD at one time so you are lucky you didn't finish your career in the seat of a Swift or J B Hunt.
I hope you are fortunate enough to draw your check like I have for the past 30 yrs.
And yes, Ryder was "best in the long run"
 
DCM_Doc said:
The three major acquisitions ABF made were companies that were bleeding. They had good employees but weren't managed properly especially in a deregulated freight environment. ABF purchased Navajo just before deregulation. Many questioned their timing but it gave them operating rights & property in the west. ETMF was owned by 'Bum' Bright who also owned Braniff Airlines. He borrowed from Braniff for a while to keep ETMF open. Braniff eventually went belly up. ABF did retain about half or more of ETMF customers. The Carolina/Worldway acquisition almost put ABF out of business as did ETMF. An ABF management person admitted that the company underestimated the Carolina upper echelon management liability by several million. Many had a clause in their contract that made them wealthy when Carolina was sold. ABF sold many of the Worldway subsidiaries because they were not profitable. Clipper was not profitable. Cardinal was profitable but ABF decided to sell because the fleet was near the trade cycle. It takes two to three years to realize a profit when a fleet is renewed.
ABF & Carolina were both treated their employees well. From what I have heard Mr. Beam treated his employees with respect as did Mr. Young but did not change the business as necessary to stay profitable after deregulation.
With all three acquisitions employees were resentful. ABF employees lost seniority when the other employees were dovetailed in.
ABF was the only union carrier at the time to survive a major acquisition of another union carrier.
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And now we have our current leadership who is quickly turning this company into the Roadway & Yellow of the 90's. Stupid letters & more rules then you can remember, it's gotten so bad with the rules sheets that there is no more room on the dispatch wall to put them....
 
What happened at ABF with the Carolina/Worldway acquisition was..........actually a triumph of the NMFA. I know that's controversial,....But, if you look at all the guys who permanently lost their jobs with other Union companies closing,.....Good Teamsters all,........then the provisions of the contract that called for a seniority dovetail during an "acquisition",...was actually a......"win"......for the language of the contract and protection of seniority rights......

Full disclosure,.......Our terminal was set to be decimated by older Carolina guys transferring in,.....but, I filed a procedural grievance and was able to get the Change of Operations committee to,....cut back on the amount of Carolina guys scheduled to transfer in to our terminal. Saved my job, and a few others,......but my case had to be proved by the Grievance procedure.......

The bungling Corporate decisions of....how, when, and where,...to acquire Worldway,.....did leave a bad taste in many guy's mouths.....Could've been done in several different ways,.....But, the "acquisition" language was used throughout,......and I know many older Carolina guys who were quietly thankful that they could finish the last two or three years paying into their pensions.....
....instead of losing out completely.......

And I know it was rough on many ABF guys. I lost 3 seniority places in a small EOL,....we had guys below me lose permanently,...and a guy below me forced to remain casual for.....three more years......

But,.....if you take three steps back,........you realize who the culprit is in all of these ....closures, acquisitions, and transfers........
....and that would be uncaring, unfeeling corporate people, to whom the shareholders and increased corporate profit,.......are more important than the workforce who PROVIDES the profit.......

Carolina was a good company,.....ABF was a good company,.....Yellow was a good company,......Roadway was a good company,......

The Management of all those companies are in Competition,........The Teamsters employed at those,.....Are NOT.
 
I think ultimately what caused Carolina to eventually be sold was the 94 strike even though the company signed a 'Me Too' agreement.. That strike also put several more freight lines out of business, Churchill & Nations Way (NW) are two that come to mind. I remember Ken Churchill told Carey if his company was struck he did not have the capital to reopen.
I lost two seniority positions with the ETMF acquisition & none with the Carolina/Worldway acquisition. Carolina did not have a shop in Local 878.
 
DCM_Doc said:
I think ultimately what caused Carolina to eventually be sold was the 94 strike even though the company signed a 'Me Too' agreement.. That strike also put several more freight lines out of business, Churchill & Nations Way (NW) are two that come to mind. I remember Ken Churchill told Carey if his company was struck he did not have the capital to reopen.
I lost two seniority positions with the ETMF acquisition & none with the Carolina/Worldway acquisition. Carolina did not have a shop in Local 878.
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Good for you DMC the shop in Toledo lost everybody since ABF didn't have a shop close around, some went to Dayton but they closed that one soon after, as for me i left no linehaul out of Toledo and i don't do city, CFCC did me well and i also had been at the Big R before that ended doing carhaul from which I retired from
 
00mustang said:
Good for you DMC the shop in Toledo lost everybody since ABF didn't have a shop close around, some went to Dayton but they closed that one soon after, as for me i left no linehaul out of Toledo and i don't do city, CFCC did me well and i also had been at the Big R before that ended doing carhaul from which I retired from
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Did you retire from Cassen's?
 
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