To Be or Not To Be

[DETrob]

[quote=fr8rookie]Lets see, I would say from the forum surfin I have been doing, I have a few small question that seem to keep revolving in my small brain.[quote=fr8rookie]



Enough said. I will tell you this and take it with a grain of salt I had the same mental handicap you did. I thought the same about unions you did. Then after Con-Way screwed me over I went out and found another job. This time I was fortunate enough to get a union job with better pay better working conditions and a more freindlier enviroment. This changed my mind about unions. I found myself happier and with more money in my pocket each week. I drive better equipment and every teamster does his or her job without any question. I can count on it being done right the first time and found that saves time and money. You must understand that the companies that are union know each side needs each other and that is why there is a better working relationship between both parties. I would sugest that you do some homework and go to International Brotherhood of Teamsters and read what the unions have done for all of the public. Stop with your anti B.S. If you enjoy what you do and think you are paid well then, why are you here looking to see what the union members have to say? I think in your dreams you wish you were a teamster. You and I both know it. You just think some union fairy is going to come down and touch your head and all your problems will be zapped away? Wake up to the fact that you must create your own destiny. Because all the prayers in the world is not going to help you.

[JIM BOB]

Good post.I've got one question.You said "I can count on it being done right the first time". Are you in trucking ?

[DETrob]

Originally Posted by JIM BOB

Good post.I've got one question.You said "I can count on it being done right the first time". Are you in trucking ?

Yes I work for Yellow. I came from Con-Way in July and belive you me, They refuse to do it right the first time. They call it job security, I call it Lazy driver syndrome. The working attitude and morale at Con-Way is pitiful at best. I have seen a complete turnaround from my new job. Its nice to want to come to work where other drivers will talk to you, and if you ask them a question they will not make you feel like a idiot. People here will complain too but not about work they will complain about politics or a sports team. But at Con-Way all they do is try to see who they can get into trouble next so they can move up the ladder. They call it DOG eat DOG. At the terminal were I work we try and respect each other, because I might have to work with that guy for 30 years.

[fr8rookie]

Mr Detrob I read your post and no I don't want to be a teamster. I have heard from many teamsters on this post including you. Most of these post(not all) say I ridicule and are trying to start trouble. I ask questions and got the answers I thought I would get. I got a history lesson and a few other things but what I really got was the inside feeling of some driver that if you wasn't a teamster your a piece of dirt for being a non-union trucker. That just tells me that the teamsters have not changed. I scan the union page and read some post, to an outsider it will make you wonder exactly what is happening within the leadership.
Go on let me have it just as before. But remember the only person you can trust is yourself and that is a risk too some times.

[DETrob]

Originally Posted by fr8rookie

Mr DETrob I read your post and no I don't want to be a teamster. I have heard from many teamsters on this post including you. Most of these post(not all) say I ridicule and are trying to start trouble. I ask questions and got the answers I thought I would get. I got a history lesson and a few other things but what I really got was the inside feeling of some driver that if you wasn't a teamster your a piece of dirt for being a non-union trucker. That just tells me that the teamsters have not changed. I scan the union page and read some post, to an outsider it will make you wonder exactly what is happening within the leadership.
Go on let me have it just as before. But remember the only person you can trust is yourself and that is a risk too some times.

The problem that you describe to me is not the attitudes between Union and Non-Union employees, It is mostly attitudes of ignorant people.

I do not think that you are trying to start trouble, I belive that you have some fascination with a union employee. I have driven trucks for over 18 years and this July is the first Union company that I have worked for. My opinion is that the employees where I work at now ( not all ), have a better attitude then from the employees at my last job at Con-Way.

Many people that do not have union jobs have some mis-conceptions of the union, I was also one of those who thought the unions were bunk. Then I found myself in a union and have seen the difference. The attitudes, the camaraderie, and the overall sense of belonging to a team. I had to check my attitude at the door and open my eyes up to the fact that all the B.S. I heard about unions was just that B.S.

I am a educated person, I hold a Bachelors degree in Marketing and Sales, I have had many debates with both sides, and truth be told most of the people hold the impression in their heads of the old days when men gave their lives fighting for organization. Non-Union employees still belive that the MOB still controls the unions, This was all glamorized by the media and the movie industry. Watch the movie HOFFA, and this is a good explanation of what I am talking about.

This is not the case today. Unions have fought for working conditions, fair wages and fair benefits for all workers Union and Non-Union.


I will give you this to think about. Take the UAW ( United Auto Workers ). The Big Three Auto makers here in the U.S. Ford, Chrysler, G.M. all have shipped thousands of jobs out of the U.S. to lower their labor cost,(so they say). Then why haven't the prices of automobiles come down to reflect those changes?

Why has the bonus of the executives keep getting higher?

The number 1 seller of cars in the U.S. today is Toyota. They have brought plants here to the U.S. employ Union labor, and still out sell the big three. And you do not hear of their executives giving themselves a $2,000,000 raise.

The problem is with management for the big three, they need to focus on the core problem, make a product that customers want to buy. And price it for what people are willing to pay for that product.

The Unions to me are a good thing, they keep many issues between management and labor under control.

But this is my opinion I am entitle to it and I as a union member fight for your right to have yours.

[fr8rookie]

Ok but isn't the teamsters a business, that puts them also into the corperate world. Isn't the teamster what gives blue collar worker its voice in that world. The teamsters operate on the same premice as any other business, without a profit you go out of business.