I hope it ends up being fishy because this contract proposal was awful and to think our membership voted so soundly in favor of it is depressing.
Hello, Brother........It seems like the Master agreement was ratified by only 58% of the members,.......excluding, I think,...those 2,000+ members who didn't bother to send in a ballot,........and the 5 who did, but didn't mark down any choice.
There are 9 Supplements that aren't ratified,.....and although those Supplements can't change any "economic" agreement in the Master,.........they can be "tweaked" per Area to possibly gain back vacation sooner,...or to pay ALL pension plans equitably......since both of those provisions are Area -specific, and have different conditions and ways of doing things.
That still leaves 42% of ABF employees .....dissatisfied .....with this contract. That's not quite a "sound" defeat. Especially when you factor in the 2,000+ brain-dead,....
Stand by,.......as the Supplements get re-voted in the 9 Areas,...the company will put on the "full-court press" to get guys to accept.....anything,......just to finalize this contract.
(...So will the IBT "negotiating" team,......if last contract is any indication of how the IBT will act..)...
Since electronic voting is new,....and the ABF contract is the "dry run", so to speak,...for ALL future LABOR voting,......I would imagine the NLRB is overseeing this election closely. I am sure that if any,.........fudging .......of the numbers even remotely appears,......TeamstersUnited/TDU will be filing charges.
That could very possibly happen,...in the upcoming weeks....That would invalidate any contract vote if provable inconsistancies are found.
Frankly,.......The high total of......non-voters....... surprises me. Far, far higher than last contract,...where, I believe, only about 900 or so employees eligible didn't return their ballot.
That raises a...."red flag"....to me.