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ABF | When freight was KING!

Aha! Thanks, Brother!..........................Ummm......Bob "A." Davidson,......uhh.....didn't have a twin brother, did he?
 
Thee were about 175 carriers under Teamsters contracts in 1980 before deregulation. In 1994 22 companies with about 80K members were struck. Regardless of what one thinks about deregulation or the 1994 strike both had a huge impact on the IBT & the trucking industry. I recently read about some companies that ship large agricultural product loads by rail are wanting the government to regulate rates again. Railroads have had a large increase in freight demand & can afford to increase prices.
 
DCM_Doc said:
Thee were about 175 carriers under Teamsters contracts in 1980 before deregulation. In 1994 22 companies with about 80K members were struck. Regardless of what one thinks about deregulation or the 1994 strike both had a huge impact on the IBT & the trucking industry. I recently read about some companies that ship large agricultural product loads by rail are wanting the government to regulate rates again. Railroads have had a large increase in freight demand & can afford to increase prices.
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The deregulation of the trunking industry was just another RED HERRING! That is an expression used by lawyers and doctors when describing something that is something other than what it appears.

The deregulation of our industry not only changed the movers and shakers of the trucking industry it made BILLIONS for the banks and lenders to the trucking companies. VAST amounts of land was gobbled up by these BLOOD SUCKING LEACHES!

Many of the trucking companies were family owned and they lost all their personal assets also. We just witnessed the same thing in the housing industry a couple years ago. They devalued the properties and the banks got the money and the properties. Deregulation was just a smoke screen for bigger and better cash grabs.

Remember we are dealing with BEAN COUNTERS not unlike the ones that decided that the Pinto gas tank explosions would cost less to fight in court rather than fixing the DEADLY CONDITION!

We as a group have to decide where we are going to draw the line in the sand. But let me warn you we need to decide quickly. YOUR BROTHER ALWAYS!
 
Has anybody heard from that BLOWIN 62 guy that used to run his mouth over here on the abf forum? I seen where he could use a few lessons on our way of TEAMSTER LIFE! YOUR BROTHER ALWAYS!
 
Deregulation did destroy the trucking industry as far as union carriers go. Only because many of the non union companies of today did not exist on the level they do today. Con way was funded by CF money in the beginning. But the only way they were able to do this was because they did not have to purchase any rights to the cities and states like all the other union carriers did. And the rights to truck in to a city or state was expensive until deregulation. All those expensive rights became worthless over night when deregulation passed. And again the greedy banks called in the loans of the union carriers that used the rights as collateral.

It was not competition that drove union carriers out of business for the most part. Even today we compete and prosper against the non union carriers. All you have to do is check and see how many carriers went out of business and when and that will tell the story of deregulation. YOUR BROTHER ALWAYS!
 
Jimmy Carter pushed deregulation after Ted Kennedy "Encouraged" him to do so. Kennedy blamed the Mafia for his brother's death & this was his way to break the power of the Teamsters. Along the way some big money men also profited by deregulation. If the trucking industry continues to struggle to find employees there will probably be an increase in freight rates much like the railroad & some shippers might rethink their stand on deregulation & cheap rates. When the industry was regulated there was stability. A stable work environment attracts desirable employees. I noticed an interview in the business section of the local paper with Judy McReynolds about the company's struggle to find experienced employees. She admitted there had been a huge increase in delayed freight & damaged freight claims due to inexperienced employees. In the past the company was able to attract & retain some of the best employees in the industry. An employer must have a good compensation package to make this happen.
I know at Little Rock a lot of employees have already found jobs locally & left rather than move to Memphis. In an interview with the Memphis Business Journal Roy Slagle said the company would wave the high school diploma/GED requirement to hire casual employees. He even said a misdemeanor conviction might be overlooked also. When the company is this desperate it needs to rethink the contract & why it is having problems keeping a stable workforce. At Little Rock dock workers have gone to Fed Ex & mechanics have gone to Union Pacific. Both companies welcomed experienced workers. They gained & ABF lost. This company cannot exist with only supervisors. It must have better hourly employees than the competition.
 
DCM_Doc said:
Jimmy Carter pushed deregulation after Ted Kennedy "Encouraged" him to do so. Kennedy blamed the Mafia for his brother's death & this was his way to break the power of the Teamsters. Along the way some big money men also profited by deregulation. If the trucking industry continues to struggle to find employees there will probably be an increase in freight rates much like the railroad & some shippers might rethink their stand on deregulation & cheap rates. When the industry was regulated there was stability. A stable work environment attracts desirable employees. I noticed an interview in the business section of the local paper with Judy McReynolds about the company's struggle to find experienced employees. She admitted there had been a huge increase in delayed freight & damaged freight claims due to inexperienced employees. In the past the company was able to attract & retain some of the best employees in the industry. An employer must have a good compensation package to make this happen.
I know at Little Rock a lot of employees have already found jobs locally & left rather than move to Memphis. In an interview with the Memphis Business Journal Roy Slagle said the company would wave the high school diploma/GED requirement to hire casual employees. He even said a misdemeanor conviction might be overlooked also. When the company is this desperate it needs to rethink the contract & why it is having problems keeping a stable workforce. At Little Rock dock workers have gone to Fed Ex & mechanics have gone to Union Pacific. Both companies welcomed experienced workers. They gained & ABF lost. This company cannot exist with only supervisors. It must have better hourly employees than the competition.
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They don't have any lines of communication to us. We don't talk to the union anymore and they don't talk to us. We don't trust either party so no talk no action. I would gladly be a part of a committee that could correct the problems at abf. But only if the company can understand that any action will have to benefit all parties. A contract can be reopened anytime. Just look at the yrc etch-a sketch contract. they just shake it up to erase it and they rewrite the contract.

So until they sit down and talk to real TEAMSTERS from abf we will keep going down. To many liars and cheats handled our contract talks. Nobody had the best wishes for us or abf at hand. They abf fell for a dog and pony show. Give me a call fort I will gladly help. YOUR BROTHER ALWAYS!
 
There you go, Brother. I would like Muler to speak with authority,....with the rank-and-file's authority,......to the professional bean counters in Ft. Smith, who are wondering why their computer model of this contract doesn't work in the real world. Perhaps they feel a little confused,...disoriented,....because their best employees are jumping ship......retiring,.....Brother Muler could tactfully and gracefully inform them how badly they've deluded themselves,.....This is a problem that was 10 years in the making,..at least two contracts ago. The corporate mindset changed back then, as to how they regard their greatest asset,....and gradually started the death spiral. ABF WILL be a completely different place to work at 5 years from now,.....if they survive.........By the way,.....According to Dr. Michael H. Belzer, author of "Sweatshops On Wheels, Winners and Losers in Trucking Deregulation",.......prior to 1980,...there were roughly 2300 Union-contracted carriers,...big and small,....and almost all of them fell victim to cutthroat pricing and a wave of entry-level drivers who were willing to cut the legs off the next man for cheap wages,.....instead of sticking together,.........................And the IBT...."leadership"?................AWOL........at least,..mentally....
 
Wouldn't it just be nice to get an speck of thought as to what the IBT was/is thinking regarding Freight Teamsters? What our future holds? Next to nothing after these contracts. I agree 100% with Muler.
 
When people with no ties to your company decide what will be it at some point has to be wrong. When we had a NMFA it meant that the people negotiating had to live by the same contract that we received. Today such is not the case. Anyone could see that they were bound and determined that we suffer some sort of reduction since yrc voted for one.

They the company and the ibt used scare tactics to get a contract passed that would make others feel like they were not the only ones taking a cut. We need abf people deciding abf contracts not ups and yrc Teamsters deciding our fates. YOUR BROTHER ALWAYS!
 
Ah, a ray of sunshine yesterday. While at the pharmacy, I was overheard discussing my teamster insurance by a customer. He asked what type of teamster are you ? I replied, truck driver. He responded, oh, a real teamster.
 
IMO the IBT regarded the old NMFA Teamsters as dinosaurs who weren't willing to change with the times. I say we weren't willing because the IBT in it's infinite wisdom didn't choose to do it's job and educate us to the realities of the post deregulation LTL industry..... For at least 10-15 years after deregulation we still set the standards for pay, benefits and work rules in the industry. But little by little FedEx, Conway, Overnite, Estes, Old Dominion , R&L etc grew bigger and stronger. UPSF/Overnite was freed from the outdated NMFA while YRC gobbled up the few remaining NMFA carriers that it could as if almost by design. All that was needed was to bring ABF into that group and the old ways could be squeezed into submission.

The non union companies now set the standard for the LTL industry. What the freight industry needs to stop the hemorrhage is for this FedEx organizing drive to succeed with Conway to follow and we will at least have strong UPSF, FedEx, and Conway contracts resetting the standard and stopping the race to the bottom.

Hoffa and co saw this coming years ago but decided to sacrifice the NMFA Teamsters rather than admit that times were changing and that there wasn't any place for us dinosaurs in their plan for a stronger unionized LTL industry
 
disgruntled teamster said:
Ah, a ray of sunshine yesterday. While at the pharmacy, I was overheard discussing my teamster insurance by a customer. He asked what type of teamster are you ? I replied, truck driver. He responded, oh, a real teamster.
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You are right Brother we are the face of the TEAMSTERS. Our nose has been bloodied but we will get back up and come out swinging soon. YOUR BROTHER ALWAYS!
 
Muler your wasting your time talking to NextGen Teamster. As you know management thinks all Teamsters are lazy, liars, and thieves, If you read his post they are all the same. NextGen Teamster talks just like management, and is OK with Teamsters losing wages, workers rights, Use of Purchase Transportation, and most of all being deceived to get the worst contract in history passed.

According to his past post NextGen Teamster thinks we are not worthy of raises, or being treated with respect...SOUNDS JUST LIKE WHAT MANAGEMENT WOULD SAY!!!

NextGen Teamster is OK with management getting raises, bonus's, and stock options, while we should just be complacent, and accept everything we are told.

If and when you ever get to be a real teamster, then maybe you will finally realize that our license, experience, and ability to work efficiently, and safely means something, and we should be compensated for being the best.
 
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