What's new

Yellow | The Union vs This Recession Inflation and Yellow

TruckMoney said:
Now that the bankruptcy filing has occurred, it's pretty clear that the company offers were not really legitimate and were unlikely to create the needed cash for ongoing operations at a rate Apollo could stomach. I'm betting when IBT got a look at the financials, they understood that additional concessions were unlikely to work. If that's the case why negotiate? I'm also pretty sure the last few rounds of concessions by the IBT were done with the recognition that bankruptcy was a foregone conclusion.
As I've said in earlier posts - the 2019 contract was the last time management/IBT had any ability to influence the ultimate outcome. The lack of merger upon purchase done for any acquisition since 2008(ish) coupled with taking on too much debt doomed this company. Hard for me to blame IBT for the companies lack of merging the acquired companies.
To me, the major IBT problem was not telling the membership to bail earlier when it's clear everyone knew this company was bankrupt and couldn't make a profit. If I were the head of IBT back in 2019 I would have told the membership - this is the best we can do and it's probably not going to work so you may want to push a transition.
Click to expand...

The union represents the workers, no different than politicians represent their constituents. They are supposed to ask us what we want and then bargain with the company on our behalf. Does that always take place? Of course not but when it comes to important matters it certainly should or else someone gets voted out. If the employees wanted to accept a deal then the union needed to honor that request or they needed to be decertified and either choose a leader that speaks for them in negotiations or just form a new union to represent them accordingly.
 
I'm actually surprised at how quickly this was allowed to escalate and go out of business before intervention to take place. Where was TDU or any of the other "worker" groups?? Why was there no legal outreach to the workers asking for a change in leaderships decisions to workout a deal on their own? No class action lawsuits or emergency court intervention like the strike relief attempt? Surely something could have been done by the think tanks that plot, plan & strategize all day??
 
RumRunner1 said:
The union represents the workers, no different than politicians represent their constituents. They are supposed to ask us what we want and then bargain with the company on our behalf. Does that always take place? Of course not but when it comes to important matters it certainly should or else someone gets voted out. If the employees wanted to accept a deal then the union needed to honor that request or they needed to be decertified and either choose a leader that speaks for them in negotiations or just form a new union to represent them accordingly.
Click to expand...
RumRunner1, I'm not sure there was really any option for the IBT to speak for the workers once they had a look at the financials. I think this bankruptcy has been planned for quite a long time, especially considering how quickly Apollo came up with additional bankruptcy funding, and how quickly MFN and Estes, and now OD reacted. I just don't think there was survival on the horizon at any price.
 
TruckMoney said:
RumRunner1, I'm not sure there was really any option for the IBT to speak for the workers once they had a look at the financials. I think this bankruptcy has been planned for quite a long time, especially considering how quickly Apollo came up with additional bankruptcy funding, and how quickly MFN and Estes, and now OD reacted. I just don't think there was survival on the horizon at any price.
Click to expand...
If it were me in the company's position, I would have a plan for almost any foreseeable scenario. Being reactionary is not a good business plan.
 
TruckMoney said:
RumRunner1, I'm not sure there was really any option for the IBT to speak for the workers once they had a look at the financials. I think this bankruptcy has been planned for quite a long time, especially considering how quickly Apollo came up with additional bankruptcy funding, and how quickly MFN and Estes, and now OD reacted. I just don't think there was survival on the horizon at any price.
Click to expand...
We all knew this day was coming, some was just not prepared.
 
RumRunner1 said:
The union represents the workers, no different than politicians represent their constituents. They are supposed to ask us what we want and then bargain with the company on our behalf.
Click to expand...
Like other politicians, they make a bunch of promises to us about what they will do for us in order to get elected. Then they navigate all the crap behind the scenes hoping to deliver on enough of those promises to get re-elected. We aren't involved in all the day-to-day happenings. Once all the little decisions are made we get to vote on rather or not we like the package. They may choose to do some research to help determine what will get them or their party re-elected but it's not our choice until the day we get to cast a ballot. You chose IBT union representation. You agreed to let somebody else negotiate with the company on your behalf. This time they did a horrible job and didn't even get their bill to the house floor. 96% of bills don't make it to the house floor.
 
Lumpedup said:
22000 of us. Guess we got what we deserved eh “brother”?
Click to expand...
We got what we voted for, and we voted to give this company billions in concessions, with no accountability……….. who in their right mind does that. When someone stands up for those workers (O’Brien) and demand better wages, the company closes their doors, meanwhile, those worker are mad, not at the company, who clearly are saying, “they’re not worth industry standard wages, and besides they are happy, working for less. O’Brien response, “they won’t be working for less at Yellow”, and made them close their doors.

How can one prepare for this, when you’re giving 15% of your wages and 75% of your retirement.
 
ROLLBACK said:
We got what we voted for, and we voted to give this company billions in concessions, with no accountability……….. who in their right mind does that. When someone stands up for those workers (O’Brien) and demand better wages, the company closes their doors, meanwhile, those worker are mad, not at the company, who clearly are saying, “they’re not worth industry standard wages, and besides they are happy, working for less. O’Brien response, “they won’t be working for less at Yellow”, and made them close their doors.

How can one prepare for this, when you’re giving 15% of your wages and 75% of your retirement.
Click to expand...
Obrien is God. Ur right. Im so happy he put yellow to sleep. Yaaaay Teamsters!
 
ROLLBACK said:
company, who clearly are saying, “they’re not worth industry standard wages, and besides they are happy, working for less.

How can one prepare for this, when you’re giving 15% of your wages and 75% of your retirement.
Click to expand...

The company said no such thing. They offered a wage and benefit package and every single employee decided if that wage and benefit package was worth their time, effort and knowledge. Those who decided to "stick it out and see what happens" placed a value on the totality of the situation. Those who decided to stick it out and stick it to the company every chance they had only accelerated the process, hurt their coworkers and the company.

As to preparing, my only suggestion would be to live below your means and save for your own future. Finding the balance between saving too much/living too little and not saving enough/living too large is one we all struggle to find. Nobody can decide what works for you other than you.

I've been through 2 companies closing their doors in my 37 years of employment in the LTL industry. Worse than a few, more fortunate than many. I don't mean to sound callous. I empathize with ya'll. I hope you (the 30,000, not you specifically) can learn from this experience and come out better in spite of it.
 
EX396 said:
The company said no such thing. They offered a wage and benefit package and every single employee decided if that wage and benefit package was worth their time, effort and knowledge. Those who decided to "stick it out and see what happens" placed a value on the totality of the situation. Those who decided to stick it out and stick it to the company every chance they had only accelerated the process, hurt their coworkers and the company.

As to preparing, my only suggestion would be to live below your means and save for your own future. Finding the balance between saving too much/living too little and not saving enough/living too large is one we all struggle to find. Nobody can decide what works for you other than you.

I've been through 2 companies closing their doors in my 37 years of employment in the LTL industry. Worse than a few, more fortunate than many. I don't mean to sound callous. I empathize with ya'll. I hope you (the 30,000, not you specifically) can learn from this experience and come out better in spite of it.
Click to expand...
Your preparing suggestions sounds like good advice for yellow, when they were open.
 
oneofus said:
Looking at the history of Apollo and getting in bed with loan sharks on our dime is seeming more and more like a planned lose lose for us that actually did the work, we continue to fall further back giving more and more using the loan shark relationship and obviously poor decisions from upper management as the excuse, or shutting down and they rake up the spoils on the backend. Either way, a lose lose for the ones that do the work and a win win for the uppers and the sharks
Click to expand...
I will NEVER trust a company ever again. I will ALWAYS look out for myself first. I do think The Teamsters will adapt to this current market, but real change needs to come. In skilled trade unions, the worker is not tied in any way to the company. I'd like to see that for Teamsters. Teamsters need their Liberty to move from union dock, to union dock. This will put a company in check, knowing that tomorrow, no Teamster will serve them. I will never be secure putting my eggs in the basket of the company ever again. And this working 70 hours a week, nights and weekends, is for the birds. "A fair days work for a fair days pay", otherwise management can chain up that truck at 4 am over The Rockies and risk their life. Ill do it, but It's gonna cost ya.
 
Triplex said:
And surveys in general have to be taken with a slight grain of salt since the results can be slanted in one direction or the other depending on exactly how the questions are worded.
Click to expand...
AND, its usually only the radicals, on either side, that bother to fill out the surveys.
The ultimate survey is a vote of the affected employees.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top