ABF | XPO Con-Way pay raise.

When I was an O/O, I had an agent try to cajol me into crossing a picket line in W.VA. with a load I brought out of Baltimore.

I told him I had a moral aversion to crossing a picket line. He said.....and I quote:..."Morals never put food on your plate. Go cross that line."

I told him he could shove his load right up either his mouth or his anus,.......wouldn't make any difference because crap came out both openings.......

I drove the load right back to the pier. My loss of fuel and time.........but I would rather have my families' respect that I didn't ***** out for a cheap load.......

By the way Bro. ABFer,.......I like your new avatar. Please don't tell me you chose it because of the ......."resemblance ".....
 
It's not a "game"
Sometimes people say that " it's a game" when they don't have enough nerve to stand up for their rights in the workplace. It's easier to put your head down and do the Seargent Schultz thing and ignore all those intangibles like rights or Morals or whether people are more important than business.

You're right, Joe........it's not a game,...but your employer would rather trivialize it as such,......because in the end, " games" don't matter as much as profit.
 
That must've been your cousin that told me that the First Amendment does't work in the "real world"..........

And it might have been your grandfather working the gas ovens at Auschwitz who said: " It's my job...I've got to feed my family...."

Curious to know how you'd answer a question from one of your children if they came home from high school and asked you what a "scab" was.,........They're a little too old at that point to B. S......

What you stand up for in life is more important than what you do........
Well-said yet again, canary! I always have this saying in the back of my mind: In matters of style, go with the flow. In matters of principle, stand like a rock.
 
Sometimes people say that " it's a game" when they don't have enough nerve to stand up for their rights in the workplace. It's easier to put your head down and do the Seargent Schultz thing and ignore all those intangibles like rights or Morals or whether people are more important than business.

You're right, Joe........it's not a game,...but your employer would rather trivialize it as such,......because in the end, " games" don't matter as much as profit.
I'm all for rights in the workplace! You have the right to leave anytime. Just because someone else is on lockout doesn't mean I can't do my job. If they don't feel like it's fair, they're right. Life's not always fair.
 
I'm all for rights in the workplace! You have the right to leave anytime. Just because someone else is on lockout doesn't mean I can't do my job. If they don't feel like it's fair, they're right. Life's not always fair.
You are right that life is not always fair. When you exercise your right to leave then you give said company room to take a big steaming dump on someone that might be looking to better themselves in the workplace. They now know that they can throw out the minimum and some shlep will take the job. I have never crossed a line ,even when i worked for a non union company because i knew those people were fighting for the things that made their jobs great. Just having a job and living on what they give is why you see the absolute terrible attitude at most customers docks ....and almost everywhere else.
 
I'm all for rights in the workplace! You have the right to leave anytime. Just because someone else is on lockout doesn't mean I can't do my job. If they don't feel like it's fair, they're right. Life's not always fair.

We are......ahh,.....going into THEIR workplace. That's the unique difference about our job.

And that unique difference is what employers exploit with timid and compliant drivers.

I would find it hard to believe that you are completely ignorant about the history of our country, the struggles working men and women have endured against brutal and thuggish employers,.......the hard work to enact Fair Labor standards, and even Child Labor laws against heavy opposition from Robber Baron industry leaders. May I send you a library card and a newspaper subscription?

I am guessing that it's easier for you to use the excuse that your job is paramount to any other, and in the "service" of your employer, you will ignore social convention, Constitutional law, common human courtesy, dignity, and fairness............. because , in your estimation, that is easier than standing up to your dispatcher and telling him you have a distaste for entering someone else's workplace and ruining their job..........

It's too bad you didn't live 150 years ago,.......you could have joined the Know-Nothing party,,......who were a minor force in the Presidential elections of 1850. They cared nothing for individual rights, and insisted slaves actually "liked" plantation life.

One last history lesson: Don't forget what ಠ▄ಠ had mounted on a sign above the gates to Austwictz and Dachau......

"Work Will Set You Free"

Put your head down and work hard buddy.......
 
I worked strike security at a mine some years ago. The mining company had brought in scabs to work during the strike. My job, as a security guard, was to ensure that striking workers did not damage the equipment I was assigned to watch. This equipment was outside of the mine itself, but required for the operation of the mine.

I did my job, 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, for a full month, watching this outbuilding and the equipment inside. Nobody ever came by, there was never a problem. After that month, I was completely exhausted (the mine was several hours from my home, so the security company was keeping us in hotels) and ready to go home.

I told my supervisor a week in advance that I was leaving. After my last shift, he told me they were placing me in the mine to ensure the safety of the scabs. I reminded him that I was leaving. He said they needed me in there. I told him, rather expressly, that I would not cross a picket line. It was one thing to look after the interests of the company, but I didn't support the scab labor. "I'm from a union town. We don't do that where I'm from." And I packed my stuff and drove home.

You do not have to cross a picket line, ever. I made a ton of money, young lad I was then, in that month I spent living in a hotel room. But I wouldn't do it again after being expected to prevent striking workers from doing anything to the scabs.

In my eyes, anyone willing to cross a picket line to knowingly do another person's job isn't just a scab...they have no conscience.
 
Every human being has to make ethical choices in their lives. To shirk that responsibility is a failure to be a good citizen.

To put the responsibility of your ethical choices in your employer's hands,.........so that in effect, you don't have to think of the ramifications,.......... because it's your...."job".......…is sub-human.........

The WWII ಠ▄ಠ theme that I seemed to be hitting on in my previous posts......... was because I was thinking of the "Good German" defense used by civilian operators and workers at the concentration camps during the Nuremberg trials.

"It was my job. I had to do it to feed my family."........... To a man, every German that used that defense during those trials,........was hung.

Responsibility for your ethical choices supersedes your employer's wishes......
 
I'm all for rights in the workplace! You have the right to leave anytime. Just because someone else is on lockout doesn't mean I can't do my job. If they don't feel like it's fair, they're right. Life's not always fair.
At my location ( XPO/Con-Way ) we had a company go on strike down the street. Management had a good idea who to send and who not to send. After awhile the freight was delivered to the ABF terminal.
 
Really kinda SAD when the non-union Driver jobs PAYS more then union Driver jobs !!! :6788:
You pay a non-union employee about 10 or 15 % less than a union & about the same benefits & you will never unionize that company. You might get a better retirement package under a union contract & your work rules will improve, & better protection from un-just termination, but that is about it. Keep the pay & benefits close to the union scale in that market & that company will stay non union.
 
You pay a non-union employee about 10 or 15 % less than a union & about the same benefits & you will never unionize that company. You might get a better retirement package under a union contract & your work rules will improve, & better protection from un-just termination, but that is about it. Keep the pay & benefits close to the union scale in that market & that company will stay non union.
And Conway has had that down pat since their inception. You can't blame the company(s) for staying on top of the ball on that one, I'd do the same thing.
 
A little leadership is what we're looking for in the convention this summer at Las Vegas.

Unfortunately, what we're going to see is subterfuge, backroom deal-making, and thuggish strong-arm tactics.,.......

Our current ....."leadership ".......has learned all that from the employers....... along with a marked disdain of the rank-and-file.......

It's a waste of time to try and organize the unorganizable,........when our ......" leaders"......can't even process grievances properly. I'm still waiting for an "official" determination on those Uniform grievances we filed. All we have is the smug assurance from the Labor man that we "lost" ...,....

My B.A. has received nothing,.......same as the other Locals involved in those grievances......... Kind of like they're trying to sweep it under the rug, especially prior to the convention.

It would be embarrassing if Mr.Hoffa were to give a thundering speech about "Bringing Jobs Back To America"........... and a voice in the back of the crowd asks him why we have uniforms made in China and Guatemala,........ delivered by a non-Union scabbo outfit, to boot,.......when we have contract language that says otherwise?

Would be highly embarrassing........ That is, if you were embarrasable.........
 
A short while back, I happened to drive past a union trucking company and there were anti-Hoffa signs planted everywhere, just outside their gate. Maybe, just maybe, the members have finally had enough and are looking for real leadership at the top, and want to see the Union's dignity restored.
:idunno:
 
The funny part is that I am sure the Hoffa team knows the bitterness and rancor of the rank-and-file.....

But instead of working harder to better represent their members,......they're going to put all their effort into behind-the-scene strong-arm tactics to win this election..

Just look at the election challenges already filed.......and lost......by Hoffa's team against Tim Sylvester......Nothing like campaigning on your own merits, when you can get the election supervisor to disqualify your opponent.......,... Makes campaigning SO much easier.........you can put just as much effort into it as you do "representing" your members........
 
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