This is an intelligent, truthful response. I see no reason to "have at it", we can post back & forth all day about corrupt union officials vs. corrupt corporations and the end result, which I think that we can agree on now, people who get money and power are more easily corrupted, greedy, etc.
Union may be your option, providing your coworkers are on the same page as you. You will not have a voice in the union if you are the minority. For me, I'm surrounded by narrow minded, immature kids. At first glance, it's a typical terminal. You have the really good employees, you have the really bad ones and the bulk are average people who do their jobs. Just like 99% of jobs out there. Also, like most other places, the loudest complaints and problems come from those few bottom of the barrel guys. The top few are "seasoned" guys 40 years old + that have good heads on their shoulders, the bottom few are under 30 years old. The big difference in my barn is there is not a good mix of average guys. The majority of average workers are under 30 and easily swayed to think like other guys their age and we're just grumpy old men stuck in the past in their eyes. So our majority is very bottom of the barrel mentality. A union will not give me a voice, I'm a minority.
Here's the mentality. They took the pension plan, us older guys complained (but the 401K enhancements actually worked out better for me anyway). Very little noise from the younger crowd. When they stopped 401K contributions, again, very little noise from the young guys. Us older guys had more to say about that, but the newbs told us that it is what it is just deal with it. We heard very little from those guys until the healthcare started creeping up. We heard nothing of the lesser quality health care, it was the fact that they had to pay for it at all. Since I opt out (my wife has very good insurance), I got to take a poke back, just deal with it, it is what it is. The union talk came with the pay cuts, the complaining got way out of hand to the point of hurting productivity and an increase in damages.
The moral of the story is that my complaints (in the eyes of the majority of my coworkers) were insignificant until it directly hurt their pockets on payday. The future is not important to them. Narrow minded and stubborn does not make a good union. This is the no compromise, go in strike for any reason type of mentality. I union will not help me. Sorry, but I've learned to take my retirement into my own hands to insure my future. Neither Con-way or the Teamsters can guarantee that for me.
I see a huge resistance from Con-way. There is no contract as of yet, it may or may not happen, but I cannot see Con-way making separate rules for a few union service centers. I cannot predict the future, but I can predict that it will be very interesting to say the least.
