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chuckandbob

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I have been watching and listening, and this does not sound
like it will end well for most everyone. I've talked with a few
people on both sides, and one thing we all seem to agree on
is that the owners of the company don't seem ready to back
down any time soon.

If you don't mind, I would like to comment on a few things that
have been posted. In a number of threads, posters have asked
what HVP must be thinking. I am pretty sure I know that answer,
but it brings me to this question - did the unions come into play
at Oak Harbor while HVP was running the company? If so, why
were they needed if he valued his people so much? Wouldn't it
stand to reason that he would have taken care of everyone in
such a way that there would not have been a need for a union?

Second, some have suggested that customers will not use Oak
Harbor at this time because they want their driver or drivers back.
If that were true, then how did Oak Harbor ever lose any of their
accounts in the past? Oh, I know, management lost them, right?
I think that everyone on this forum would agree that Oak Harbor
has better equipment and drivers than Express. How would it
be possible that Express ever took any business away from Oak
Harbor? There are a number of trucking companies that you can
use for this example, but it comes out the same. The majority
of the time, it boils down to price. Shippers will use whoever they
can to save money in shipping costs, because that is what their
bosses hired them to do. You might think that there is a level of
loyalty, but it is much lower than you would like.

Shippers will stop using Oak Harbor right now in part because they don't
like ambulatory picketing. It is effective, and customers don't want
to deal with the aggravation.

There will be some union driving jobs out there should this not end
in the teamsters favor. However, some of the business will be moving
to non-union companies. I don't know what the percentage is, but
it will be higher than you think. Con-Way and FedEx both use their
non-union status in the sales arena, as someone said earlier. Shippers
that have lived through a strike, like 1994, vow never to utilize a union
company again.

I posted a long time ago that nobody wins here. I stick by that.
However, if this company shrinks from $150 million to $50 million and
the management gets it's way, then they will consider that a huge
victory. They don't care how large the company ends up being, only
that they are able to run it how they see fit.

Good luck to all, and I hope this ends very soon.
 
chuckandbob said:
I have been watching and listening, and this does not sound
like it will end well for most everyone. I've talked with a few
people on both sides, and one thing we all seem to agree on
is that the owners of the company don't seem ready to back
down any time soon.

If you don't mind, I would like to comment on a few things that
have been posted. In a number of threads, posters have asked
what HVP must be thinking. I am pretty sure I know that answer,
but it brings me to this question - did the unions come into play
at Oak Harbor while HVP was running the company? If so, why
were they needed if he valued his people so much? Wouldn't it
stand to reason that he would have taken care of everyone in
such a way that there would not have been a need for a union?

Second, some have suggested that customers will not use Oak
Harbor at this time because they want their driver or drivers back.
If that were true, then how did Oak Harbor ever lose any of their
accounts in the past? Oh, I know, management lost them, right?
I think that everyone on this forum would agree that Oak Harbor
has better equipment and drivers than Express. How would it
be possible that Express ever took any business away from Oak
Harbor? There are a number of trucking companies that you can
use for this example, but it comes out the same. The majority
of the time, it boils down to price. Shippers will use whoever they
can to save money in shipping costs, because that is what their
bosses hired them to do. You might think that there is a level of
loyalty, but it is much lower than you would like.

Shippers will stop using Oak Harbor right now in part because they don't
like ambulatory picketing. It is effective, and customers don't want
to deal with the aggravation.

There will be some union driving jobs out there should this not end
in the teamsters favor. However, some of the business will be moving
to non-union companies. I don't know what the percentage is, but
it will be higher than you think. Con-Way and FedEx both use their
non-union status in the sales arena, as someone said earlier. Shippers
that have lived through a strike, like 1994, vow never to utilize a union
company again.

I posted a long time ago that nobody wins here. I stick by that.
However, if this company shrinks from $150 million to $50 million and
the management gets it's way, then they will consider that a huge
victory. They don't care how large the company ends up being, only
that they are able to run it how they see fit.

Good luck to all, and I hope this ends very soon.
Click to expand...

This post sounds like a ***** boy wrote it. Note: I am attacking the post not the poster. Very week post. Two thumbs down. Teamster Elvis out....
 
Elvis, the man was just speaking his own view from the outside. There was definetely no need for such a brutal attack.

He's brought up a point which I'm sure any other driver that's done P/D for a while would know. I've seen customers lose their loyalty over carrier just for the cheap price plenty of times. One company keeps using Lynden freight who then contracts out to a courier outfit who'll interline with 12 different courier outfits before it ends up in a million pieces at consignee's dock. The process will repeat itself over and over again because the cheap price they're getting at first looks good compared to the 300 dollar plus ranges they're getting from all the big boy LTL's union & non-union.
 
A strike is never good and neither side really win considering the losses during a strike but I will always stand on the union side every single time!
 
chuckandbob said:
I have been watching and listening, and this does not sound
like it will end well for most everyone. I've talked with a few
people on both sides, and one thing we all seem to agree on
is that the owners of the company don't seem ready to back
down any time soon.

If you don't mind, I would like to comment on a few things that
have been posted. In a number of threads, posters have asked
what HVP must be thinking. I am pretty sure I know that answer,
but it brings me to this question - did the unions come into play
at Oak Harbor while HVP was running the company? If so, why
were they needed if he valued his people so much? Wouldn't it
stand to reason that he would have taken care of everyone in
such a way that there would not have been a need for a union?

Second, some have suggested that customers will not use Oak
Harbor at this time because they want their driver or drivers back.
If that were true, then how did Oak Harbor ever lose any of their
accounts in the past? Oh, I know, management lost them, right?
I think that everyone on this forum would agree that Oak Harbor
has better equipment and drivers than Express. How would it
be possible that Express ever took any business away from Oak
Harbor? There are a number of trucking companies that you can
use for this example, but it comes out the same. The majority
of the time, it boils down to price. Shippers will use whoever they
can to save money in shipping costs, because that is what their
bosses hired them to do. You might think that there is a level of
loyalty, but it is much lower than you would like.

Shippers will stop using Oak Harbor right now in part because they don't
like ambulatory picketing. It is effective, and customers don't want
to deal with the aggravation.

There will be some union driving jobs out there should this not end
in the teamsters favor. However, some of the business will be moving
to non-union companies. I don't know what the percentage is, but
it will be higher than you think. Con-Way and FedEx both use their
non-union status in the sales arena, as someone said earlier. Shippers
that have lived through a strike, like 1994, vow never to utilize a union
company again.

I posted a long time ago that nobody wins here. I stick by that.
However, if this company shrinks from $150 million to $50 million and
the management gets it's way, then they will consider that a huge
victory. They don't care how large the company ends up being, only
that they are able to run it how they see fit.

Good luck to all, and I hope this ends very soon.
Click to expand...

Oak Harbor HAD the best drivers,,,,now they are out on the picket lines.
I think everyone hopes for a good resolution to this...

"I don't care how large the company ends up being, only that they are able to run it how they see fit". That's the truth :) I think the part that frustrates me the most is that they aren't claiming that, they are saying in order to survive to 100 years and beyond they need the modifications in the contract...when everyone can pretty much see it wasn't about any of that, but like you said above, they want to run it their way, how they see fit...and that means union out.
 
sometimes a union can be too demanding and be the downfall of a company. This doesn't seem like it is the case. They get sub NMFA wages and they want to cut their pension and their health benefits? The greedy owners are ridiculous.
 
littlemiss said:
Oak Harbor HAD the best drivers,,,,now they are out on the picket lines.
I think everyone hopes for a good resolution to this...
Click to expand...

So, if I understand correctly, if a driver is not a Teamster, he (or she) is not as experienced or as skillful or as dedicated to his craft as a Teamster driver. I don't understand what the Teamsters offer in creating the super-drivers that cannot be aquired through one's own experience and pride in one's own work.
Bert
 
I give props to ryerke. He too understands that Teamsters are not the best quality drivers around. It is kind of funny how non-union drivers keep winning state and national driving awards. Yea there are good Teamster drivers, most of whom I drive with at Oak Harbor, and there are several who do not belong on the road, and yes, we all know who he and she (S.S.) are. We all knew about how good of a driver is if they have to go through a temp agency to find a driving job. Heck, I laugh at it a bit too, but hey, they are getting a paycheck.
 
littlemiss was referring to the morale that the Teamsters drivers have compared to the ones they have now....not necessarily skills, although most Union carriers have far superior drivers because they are well paid, and overall happier with their situations and the customers see that. Yesterday, while doing Ambulatory picketing, a customer that the Boise driver went to came out and asked us when we're coming back.
 
Many references have been made to [s-word] drivers from non-union OHFL terminals with the implication that they could not possibly do the job that a union driver can. That is what I was referring to, mostly. As a driver that is frequently in Medford, I have seen many union drivers that have poorer attitudes and fewer skills than many of the non-union drivers. I have also met many very skillful union drivers, to be fair.
 
a sc*b is anyone who crosses a picket line regardless of driving skills. but the labor ready people are just plain stupid. driving with open doors and no marker lights are good examples, o and putting a 32' box in a set of triples takes the cake
 
Not unlike the temps that are hired whenever we are shorthanded. Much equipment has been sacraficed in that effort.
 
There are good and bad drivers who are both Union and NonUnion.

And believe it or not there are even,on some rare occaisons good temp drivers.Although very rarely.
 
all i know is my cust's miss me and my fellow drivers. we all want to go back to work but we dont want to get bent over anymore! the shut up and do it mentality at oak was getting old. the company was slowly fireing the old gard. then this happened. now i dont think oak will ever ercover from this. so much fro 100yrs!
 
ryerke said:
So, if I understand correctly, if a driver is not a Teamster, he (or she) is not as experienced or as skillful or as dedicated to his craft as a Teamster driver. I don't understand what the Teamsters offer in creating the super-drivers that cannot be aquired through one's own experience and pride in one's own work.
Bert
Click to expand...


No, you didn't understand correctly. I have known a few drivers who weren't teamsters, but I would say were great drivers too. I'm talking about these people OAKH has hired to replace that I have WITNESSED driving over curbs, speeding, not being able to shift gears etc.... It actually came as a shock that Oak Harbor would hire these people! I mean, have you witnessed alot of these drivers?
 
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