I work out of the CLT center and was involved with negotiations... Local 71 was great in every way to our people and what partly hurt us was teamsters (like you) themselves bitching about their union and their local when we are fighting to get what SO MANY of you take for granted... I've been with this company for over 22 years and have watched my medical insurance go sky high and know in any disciplinary hearing at work I have to speak for myself, try that one on for size.. Steve Bess, Joe Eason, Ernie Wrenn, Steve Bishop and Regina and Adina are all great people, too many of you take for granted the work they do for so many of YOU every day. We fought damned hard to get this union voted in here and between the company stonewalling through the court system our certification for 20 months and then dragging its feet in negotiations for a year not agreeing to ANYTHING different than current company policy, the people bought into the lies and propaganda the company and its minions were selling and we simply lost. Drivers didn't take the time to meet the people at the Local or attend any meetings or simply never gave it a chance to begin with.... Had we had more support from other terminals across the country it would have been a totally different outcome I am sure. But throughout we had GREAT support from Local 71 and it's people and several international organizers. Try organizing a giant like this sometime, you may appreciate what you currently have a helluva lot more I can assure you. People had to FIGHT to get what so many of you take for granted, we fought hard but ultimately lost, I would certainly trade spots with many of you I can guarantee you that.
