XPO | Xpo Union Thread.

[icuicp]

1. You've stuck around this long. The hay day of Con-way was 20 years ago. Slow and steady disintegration from after 9-11-01 to present.

2. We will all come to that in time.

3. There ain't no guarantees. Taking a stand might offer some temporary relief from whatever. But as we have discussed. Things have gotten terribad for management. Some of that frustration is bound to be expressed outwardly. Cut cut cut. More with less has become less and less.

What do you actually expect to gain ? A raise ? With the way things are going, will we get a raise next year ? A bonus ? With these numbers, who is going to be getting any bonus next year ? What if you guys manage to table a discussion and the company shows up with your numbers and shows you are losing money and they want you to accept lower compensation ? What then ? I get you're effort. I just don't understand how you see a path to your desired result.

Get what you can while you can. Like Gander Mountain or K-Mart going out of business , go find the good deals. Keep your eyes open and have a fall back. A back up plan. Plan B. Plan C.

I don't personally believe the company will fold or sell the freight division BUT there's a few sayings that I keep thinking of:

Bradley Jacobs reach may exceed his grasp.

Bradley Jacobs eyes may be bigger than his stomach.

Bradley Jacobs may have bitten off more than he can chew.

In other words , a bum could go out and buy , borrow , buy , borrow , buy , borrow , etc....as long as the economy is doing well. The real intellect and brilliance will show when there is a downturn. XPO Logistics main competitors are older companies that are far more conservative and ( from what most can see ) take less risk with leveraged buyouts. If the timing is wrong with the economy when one of these Ponzi-type acquisitions is done , the whole thing could fall apart.

You will start hearing terms like "death spiral" and "debt restructuring". Ask YRC. Zollars was maybe one economic downturn or two from being a genius instead of an idiot. And even more so than at YRC , XPO Logistics is at the mercy of one man : Bradley Jacobs and all you can do is guess what he will do because there is so little information available about him.

 

[XCCX]

1. You've stuck around this long. The hay day of Con-way was 20 years ago. Slow and steady disintegration from after 9-11-01 to present.

2. We will all come to that in time.

3. There ain't no guarantees. Taking a stand might offer some temporary relief from whatever. But as we have discussed. Things have gotten terribad for management. Some of that frustration is bound to be expressed outwardly. Cut cut cut. More with less has become less and less.

What do you actually expect to gain ? A raise ? With the way things are going, will we get a raise next year ? A bonus ? With these numbers, who is going to be getting any bonus next year ? What if you guys manage to table a discussion and the company shows up with your numbers and shows you are losing money and they want you to accept lower compensation ? What then ? I get you're effort. I just don't understand how you see a path to your desired result.

We see it as putting the brakes on to losing anymore. If you do nothing expect more of the same. Go along for the ride with Jacobs but don't expect his gains to spill over to you and if his hope for gains turn to losses expect to lose something.

 

[XCCX]

Get what you can while you can. Like Gander Mountain or K-Mart going out of business , go find the good deals. Keep your eyes open and have a fall back. A back up plan. Plan B. Plan C.

I don't personally believe the company will fold or sell the freight division BUT there's a few sayings that I keep thinking of:

Bradley Jacobs reach may exceed his grasp.

Bradley Jacobs eyes may be bigger than his stomach.

Bradley Jacobs may have bitten off more than he can chew.

In other words , a bum could go out and buy , borrow , buy , borrow , buy , borrow , etc....as long as the economy is doing well. The real intellect and brilliance will show when there is a downturn. XPO Logistics main competitors are older companies that are far more conservative and ( from what most can see ) take less risk with leveraged buyouts. If the timing is wrong with the economy when one of these Ponzi-type acquisitions is done , the whole thing could fall apart.

You will start hearing terms like "death spiral" and "debt restructuring". Ask YRC. Zollars was maybe one economic downturn or two from being a genius instead of an idiot. And even more so than at YRC , XPO Logistics is at the mercy of one man : Bradley Jacobs and all you can do is guess what he will do because there is so little information available about him.

Spot on ... but don't you know it was the Teamsters that ran YRC into the ground not Zollars.

 

[bigtruk_us]

I agree with a lot of what you say but not all. Where we differ is our approach to trying to make a difference. The way I see it there's 3 ways to handle it.
1) Sit back and ride it to the bottom and look for a job when it sinks to a level where you loose everything that holds you here.( benefits, pay , etc)

2) Quit and find a new job.

3) Take a stand and fight for a contract that guarantees you some sort of equatable compensation.

When we were bought by a Wall Street guy that sealed the deal as far as us being treated equitably.
It's not anything personal against anyone but that the way their game works. I know people hate to face the fact that things will not improve for employees if left to its course . It's would have been easier for me personally and my fellow workers to sit back and not have said enough is enough . Nothing is gained without taking risk.
The people running the show now will try to take everything to the minimum at this point to increase profits and boost the stock price because in the end right now that is the soul focus.

You can ride it out and hope they have your best interest at heart but I think you would be mislead in doing so.

I agree with you.Theres not much a driver can do when he or she isn't working as much as they were when Conway was open.You look around and see more XPO being railed or pulled by contractors.Then there is nothing you can do but grin and bear it.

 

[bigtruk_us]

Spot on ... but don't you know it was the Teamsters that ran YRC into the ground not Zollars.

That would be incorrect.I know I've been here for 20years.Dollar Bill Zollars spent too much money on credit and then the economy fell out.Yellow Freight did the same thing back in the early 80s and they almost went bankrupt so our union at the time helped them out of financial trouble.That my friend is the truth.

 

[XCCX]

That would be incorrect.I know I've been here for 20years.Dollar Bill Zollars spent too much money on credit and then the economy fell out.Yellow Freight did the same thing back in the early 80s and they almost went bankrupt so our union at the time helped them out of financial trouble.That my friend is the truth.

I was being facetious

 

[bigtruk_us]

I was being facetious

My bad..you had me fooled

 

[XCCX]

My bad..you had me fooled

No problem

 

[Fly-by-night]

That would be incorrect.I know I've been here for 20years.Dollar Bill Zollars spent too much money on credit and then the economy fell out.Yellow Freight did the same thing back in the early 80s and they almost went bankrupt so our union at the time helped them out of financial trouble.That my friend is the truth.

And isn't the union helping them again? We all know the the teamsters could not survive a run on there pension if YRC closes

 

[Songremainsthesame]

We pay nothing into our pension fund.

Now wait a minute, I got into a debate last year with some Teamsters about the pension and they swore up and down that the money the company was putting into the pension was "theirs". I claimed that if they were pissed about the current state of some funds (CSPF in particular), the company should be furious because they're pissing money down a black hole, and those involved swore it was their money, despite the fact that the pension money doesn't come out of their check. So whose is it?

In the end, if you're in CSPF you'll probably get out of it what you put in...

 

[XCCX]

And isn't the union helping them again? We all know the the teamsters could not survive a run on there pension if YRC closes

The union makes no money from a pension fund so please explain how that would be the demise of the Teamsters? I think you may still be thinking the Teamsters still somehow are funded through a pension fund.

 

[XCCX]

Now wait a minute, I got into a debate last year with some Teamsters about the pension and they swore up and down that the money the company was putting into the pension was "theirs". I claimed that if they were pissed about the current state of some funds (CSPF in particular), the company should be furious because they're pissing money down a black hole, and those involved swore it was their money, despite the fact that the pension money doesn't come out of their check. So whose is it?

In the end, if you're in CSPF you'll probably get out of it what you put in...

It's no different than Con-way's past pension plan in administration. The only difference is theirs is in financial hardship and ours is not. The guarantees that either will pay out depends on outside factors as with any other investment

 

[highspeeds]

Get what you can while you can. Like Gander Mountain or K-Mart going out of business , go find the good deals. Keep your eyes open and have a fall back. A back up plan. Plan B. Plan C.

I don't personally believe the company will fold or sell the freight division BUT there's a few sayings that I keep thinking of:

Bradley Jacobs reach may exceed his grasp.

Bradley Jacobs eyes may be bigger than his stomach.

Bradley Jacobs may have bitten off more than he can chew.

In other words , a bum could go out and buy , borrow , buy , borrow , buy , borrow , etc....as long as the economy is doing well. The real intellect and brilliance will show when there is a downturn. XPO Logistics main competitors are older companies that are far more conservative and ( from what most can see ) take less risk with leveraged buyouts. If the timing is wrong with the economy when one of these Ponzi-type acquisitions is done , the whole thing could fall apart.

You will start hearing terms like "death spiral" and "debt restructuring". Ask YRC. Zollars was maybe one economic downturn or two from being a genius instead of an idiot. And even more so than at YRC , XPO Logistics is at the mercy of one man : Bradley Jacobs and all you can do is guess what he will do because there is so little information available about him.

I also doubt that he will sell the LTL off separately. Although, many people I talk to still believe UPS will buy this. Which is just stupid to me. But they are holding onto UPS wanted Con-way Freight back 10 years ago. And since he sold off Truckload. He would sell off the LTL as well. Everyone has a theory. Mine is that a tiger don't change his stripes. He sold off Truckload because it didn't fit his strategy and the share holders wanted him to. The rest of this conglomeration will be bundled up and sold off together. Just like what he did with Waste Management and United Rentals.

The big difference between Jacobs and Zollars is how much more money Jacobs has behind him. The guy is an expert at flipping an entire industry. But I do agree. If it fails. It will fail spectacularly.

 

[highspeeds]

We see it as putting the brakes on to losing anymore. If you do nothing expect more of the same. Go along for the ride with Jacobs but don't expect his gains to spill over to you and if his hope for gains turn to losses expect to lose something.

You're heading down the grade, 15 mph over, and tap the brake for reassurance with no ability to actually stop. Okay. I guess an effort is an effort. But what did you really do and what did it really get you ?

 

[highspeeds]

Spot on ... but don't you know it was the Teamsters that ran YRC into the ground not Zollars.

Zollars made mistakes. He should have been held accountable for them. That company should have folded under the weight of that mismanagement. Instead the union pushed the MOU down the rank and files throats and the rank and file paid for those mistakes while Zollars and his buddies got fat bonuses. And then YRC went out and under cut everybody with their new lease on cheap labor, ruining things for a bunch of the rest of us too. What a bunch of ****ers !

 

[upnorth]

I also doubt that he will sell the LTL off separately. Although, many people I talk to still believe UPS will buy this. Which is just stupid to me. But they are holding onto UPS wanted Con-way Freight back 10 years ago. And since he sold off Truckload. He would sell off the LTL as well. Everyone has a theory. Mine is that a tiger don't change his stripes. He sold off Truckload because it didn't fit his strategy and the share holders wanted him to. The rest of this conglomeration will be bundled up and sold off together. Just like what he did with Waste Management and United Rentals.

The big difference between Jacobs and Zollars is how much more money Jacobs has behind him. The guy is an expert at flipping an entire industry. But I do agree. If it fails. It will fail spectacularly.

Watch Amazon. They are on our dock doing pilot projects right now. I have a feeling...

 

[highspeeds]

Watch Amazon. They are on our dock doing pilot projects right now. I have a feeling...

Many of us think that the money Jacobs is pooling up right now is to buy a air fleet. Something that Amazon has been trying to put together as well. There is definitely some synergy there.

 

[highspeeds]

The union makes no money from a pension fund so please explain how that would be the demise of the Teamsters? I think you may still be thinking the Teamsters still somehow are funded through a pension fund.

I think what he means is that if YRC closes or somehow exits the CSPF that there will no longer be any one of significance funding it. Leading to it's abolition. If you read up on the state of pensions in America. It's not just the CSPF that's in bad shape. And several others that are doing well would certainly not be in as good of shape if they were to lose such a significant contribution. Like songreamainsthesame asked. Where is that money ? Who has it right now ? Who does it actually belong to right now ? Will any of it be where it was supposed to be when the time comes for it to be there ?

 

[highspeeds]

It's no different than Con-way's past pension plan in administration. The only difference is theirs is in financial hardship and ours is not. The guarantees that either will pay out depends on outside factors as with any other investment

The Con-way pension is locked away. You'll receive 1/3 your original entitled benefit for 60 months after you qualify. This isn't going to change. It's the cheapest way out for the company. Any unclaimed money is returned to the company.

You need to research that old Con-way money. You seem confused on it. There are no outside factors. It's boarded up and a dead deal.

 

[XCCX]

The Con-way pension is locked away. You'll receive 1/3 your original entitled benefit for 60 months after you qualify. This isn't going to change. It's the cheapest way out for the company. Any unclaimed money is returned to the company.

You need to research that old Con-way money. You seem confused on it. There are no outside factors. It's boarded up and a dead deal.

I agree it is locked up as far no new people can enter but I'm not totally sure if that pot of money that is set aside is invested ( meaning some risk) and or the company still makes continued contributions to it. I highly doubt it would stay solvent being in a non accumulating account while many draw on it. It would become insolvent if that were the case. I will research my paperwork on it.
The outside factors could be bad investment or the company withholding future funding for some unforeseen reason.
Pension funds are consistently invested to keep them solvent typically. As an example Xpo had a large chunk of money to fund the purchase of Con-way that came from the Canadian teachers union pension fund