I have been one of the lucky freight drivers because I lived in the days when FREIGHT WAS KING!
We were respected and paid an above average wage and given a great retirement package. But that was back when freight companies were ran by freight people. When a supervisor knew most of the answers to the problems and knew how to correct them. When the head of a freight company knew the difference between a engine head and toliet head and a lot lizard's definition of head. In other words they took the time to know our world. Not because they wanted to but because they needed too for maxim returns on their investments.
Many were family owned and that meant everything they owned was wrapped up in the freight company they ran. So for that we all had a common denominator. Our livelihoods were all connected to the freight company and for that we worked out difficult situations. If you had to be off because your wife or kids needed you they understood because they did the same when their families needed them. They knew our names and they didn't issue us a number. This does not mean we did not have HEAD BUTTING TIMES! we did.
but we had a Common grounds for finding a solution we wanted our company to be the best that there was in the freight industry.
Who would have thought that abf would be amongst the last one standing in the union freight industry? We did because we worked at achieving that goal if and when it ever came down to it. I have worked side by side with some of the best ever in this business and our still standing PROVES IT!
And on the flip side I can honestly say that the ones that did not make it was because of EXECUTIVE ERRORS! That's right they are gone because they were ran WRONG! After all many of the Brothers from those companies came to abf and became very valuable assets to the company. And yes we were a family owned and ran company for decades and our way of life reflected the manner in which our company owner felt about us. We weathered many storms. Deregulation. Hostile takeover attempts, tanked economies and yes times were hard but we all rolled up our sleeves and kept abf(Carolina) afloat and profitable because we all were a family that needed each other.
Today's BEAN COUNTERS are not of the family type. They appear to be nothing more than fleeting money grabbers on their way to bigger and better things. OH they speak of equal sacrifice but that is just words for the uneducated to trick them into giving up what they have earned and to convince the weak and scared to give up what their families dearly needed.
They sit in the board rooms figuring out ways to get our money rather than ways to EARN BIGGER PROFITS! They have seen from the actions of other companies that the easiest way to get more bonuses and salary increases is to TAKE IT FROM THEIR OWN WORKERS! Our very leaders have seen great increases in these areas and not because of greater freight levels or in better and more coast effective ways of moving freight but just because they TOOK FROM US!
Now when you see loads sitting and freight not getting moved it will not harm them it will send them back to our weak and scared for more of our hard earned money. After all they have shown what they think the definition of equal sacrifice is.
They took the freight companies from the freight executives because they the freight executives got lazy and comfortable in their jobs. And now we are all being made to pay for it. Hell back in a day we didn't need a HR department because for the most part they just tried to do the right thing. Now today we have almost as many labor men as we do yardmen.
We need to get back to what WORKED and that is a fair days work for a fair days pay. If you are busy all the time worrying about your job or if you entered the right information into a hand held device then the freight will not get moved.
So to all you invaders of the freight industries I would say go back to your BEAN COUNTING and leave the business of moving freight to those that know how and to those that want to LEARN HOW!
YOUR BROTHER ALWAYS!
We were respected and paid an above average wage and given a great retirement package. But that was back when freight companies were ran by freight people. When a supervisor knew most of the answers to the problems and knew how to correct them. When the head of a freight company knew the difference between a engine head and toliet head and a lot lizard's definition of head. In other words they took the time to know our world. Not because they wanted to but because they needed too for maxim returns on their investments.
Many were family owned and that meant everything they owned was wrapped up in the freight company they ran. So for that we all had a common denominator. Our livelihoods were all connected to the freight company and for that we worked out difficult situations. If you had to be off because your wife or kids needed you they understood because they did the same when their families needed them. They knew our names and they didn't issue us a number. This does not mean we did not have HEAD BUTTING TIMES! we did.
but we had a Common grounds for finding a solution we wanted our company to be the best that there was in the freight industry.
Who would have thought that abf would be amongst the last one standing in the union freight industry? We did because we worked at achieving that goal if and when it ever came down to it. I have worked side by side with some of the best ever in this business and our still standing PROVES IT!
And on the flip side I can honestly say that the ones that did not make it was because of EXECUTIVE ERRORS! That's right they are gone because they were ran WRONG! After all many of the Brothers from those companies came to abf and became very valuable assets to the company. And yes we were a family owned and ran company for decades and our way of life reflected the manner in which our company owner felt about us. We weathered many storms. Deregulation. Hostile takeover attempts, tanked economies and yes times were hard but we all rolled up our sleeves and kept abf(Carolina) afloat and profitable because we all were a family that needed each other.
Today's BEAN COUNTERS are not of the family type. They appear to be nothing more than fleeting money grabbers on their way to bigger and better things. OH they speak of equal sacrifice but that is just words for the uneducated to trick them into giving up what they have earned and to convince the weak and scared to give up what their families dearly needed.
They sit in the board rooms figuring out ways to get our money rather than ways to EARN BIGGER PROFITS! They have seen from the actions of other companies that the easiest way to get more bonuses and salary increases is to TAKE IT FROM THEIR OWN WORKERS! Our very leaders have seen great increases in these areas and not because of greater freight levels or in better and more coast effective ways of moving freight but just because they TOOK FROM US!
Now when you see loads sitting and freight not getting moved it will not harm them it will send them back to our weak and scared for more of our hard earned money. After all they have shown what they think the definition of equal sacrifice is.
They took the freight companies from the freight executives because they the freight executives got lazy and comfortable in their jobs. And now we are all being made to pay for it. Hell back in a day we didn't need a HR department because for the most part they just tried to do the right thing. Now today we have almost as many labor men as we do yardmen.
We need to get back to what WORKED and that is a fair days work for a fair days pay. If you are busy all the time worrying about your job or if you entered the right information into a hand held device then the freight will not get moved.
So to all you invaders of the freight industries I would say go back to your BEAN COUNTING and leave the business of moving freight to those that know how and to those that want to LEARN HOW!
YOUR BROTHER ALWAYS!
