Your talking about a $10.00 raise dude. Get real. What are you smoking? Do you realize what percentage of an increase that would be? It’s unheard of and totally unrealistic.
Ahh,.........what am I smoking? Well,.....that ended about 45 years ago.
Maybe I'm finally getting those flashbacks from all the acid I took back in the '70's..............And here all this time I've been cursing those dealers who I thought burned me.........
We'll have to see,...like everyone says,....what the negotiating committee comes up with. Yes,.....package car drivers do have to hustle. But,...they don't carry HAZ-MAT, or break sets,.....or worry about weight and height restrictions,....or a myriad of other things that LTL freight drivers...( ..you included, Brother....)...have to do. The skill set may be different,.......but the hustle and liability factor are similar. Actually,...the liability factor may be greater for LTL drivers.
As you know at SAIA,.....the employees don't get a chance to negotiate nothing.....It's "take it, or leave it"......based on what THEY say is "market conditions". I'm presuming you've been around for a while, and you know that, decades ago,....the Union set the benchmark for what driver pay and conditions would be,........and the non-Unions responded based on availability of the driver pool.
The industry has changed drastically within the last few years. But,.....that doesn't mean that the drivers and dock workers have to short their own families to support this industry. LTL trucking USED to be the highest-paid blue-collar job in America,.....because of the hours and conditions. It is no longer the highest paid,......but the conditions have gotten worse, along with the regulatory climate.
What that means is that LTL trucking is no longer in it's own tiny little world , as far as the National Labor force goes. LTL trucking management is now in competition with plumbers, electricians, steel-workers, and a host of other occupations that are paying the same ,....if not (much)....more than LTL trucking.......for employees in the shrinking labor pool.
Go read Milton Friedman.....a darling of conservative economic thought,...........and he will tell you that,.....in a shrinking labor pool, wages will rise, and have NO correlation to market forces. In other words,.....Pay high wages,...or close the doors.
The issue is......Does ArcBest want to "close the doors"? If not,.....then they'll have to pay artificially high wages until the labor pool stabilizes.
And,......that will help you, Brother. "A rising tide floats all boats"....I believe is how the old saying goes.......
The Union guys will do the "heavy lifting" (negotiating...)......and the entire LTL field will benefit.......
You're Welcome........