To Be or Not To Be

[fr8rookie]

Toxic I ask the questions to get adult answers from others with different opinions. If you keep an open mind to the dicussions that follow the questions either for or angainst will learn from all. I am Non- union but if someone can give me honest answers without getting upset then I might change my Ideas.

[Dirtball]

fr8rookie Let me ask you to please explain the failures of pensions of non union companys and why the courts are so eager to please big business when they cry for reliefe of their pension plans. I am now a retired teamster of 30 years and I walked away with about 1/4 million dollars that I couldn't save on my own.(and the reason I couldn't save that kind of money is because I haven't got the will power to do it)(my fault,nobody elses) Good luck if you have that kind of saving power.Like was said earlier the Union has done a lot as far as getting laws changed that benefited us.Are they perfect.No Way and I don't believe you will find anyone who will say they are but they do help..And by the way just because a teamster gets a pay raise doesn't mean everything in the country gos up in price. What about other people getting raises? Do they cause the price index of everything to also rise or is it just the teamster raises...?

[usf-indy]

Well let's see - as I see it the middle class is carrying more debt as unions decrease and the pay between them and uppermanagement (CEO's etc.) increase. I guess you will counter that the large bonus and buyouts that don't effect the cost or standard of living (such as the new cat at ford that is coming from boeing getting a total of 100 million in cash and stock options in this deal). Like I said about pensions the single pay company ones are in the worst shape and do to the uncertainty of the maket a young man should look to a 401k as I have mentioned.
The idea of people having to keep up with the jones' has no bearing on union or non but something that has consumed the american public for the last decade or two and isn't related to just the middle class.
A little PS here. The union job I have has let me,with a tenth grade education and a military ged, put 2 children through colledge,live in minor comfort and looking to about $3,750.00 a month retirement. All of this with the knowledge that my employer dosen't ask me to do anything ilegal or unsafe while following an agreed to contract that spells out work rules that both sides follow that don't change daily. I figure if the head of all these large corporations have a contract spelling out what is expected of them that maybe I should only expect the same. Goodnight - time to play truck driver.

[jeff_spicoli]

fr8, you're not non-union, you're ANTI union, that comes out very clear. let me speak about my local, # 25 in Boston..what do we do for the public?? besides the issue of a rising tide lifting all boats, when it comes to wages and benefits, you seem like the type that wants a race to the bottom, so we can compete with the Fleabag OTR companies and 2 dollar a day mexican fleets. Every month, we (the local)give hundreds, (Sometimes THOUSANDS) of dollars to charity.. It's all adopted and approved by the excecutive board and any member has permission to look at the books. Everything from church fairs, the salvation army, local little league teams, or some local family who has had some type of catastrophy (like a house fire) local and national causes, they all know they can count on a donation...also we have a monthly blood drive with the Red Cross..we have hundreds of gallon donors, this helps everybody in thecommonwealth.. I hope you never need it, but someday you or somebody you know may need blood, and if you're near boston, it may have come from one of us... We have college scholarships for members kids, we sponsor and send hundreds of members to walks for the Jimmy Fund, diabetes research, and any other kind of fundraiser you can think of.. we fill trucks every christmas for Toys for tots, every natural disaster gets a response from the teamsters.. after Katrina, Local 25members drove the local's trucks loaded with suplies to the stricken area, including a flatbed with the local sherrifs' armored swat team vehicles, which were too heavy and slow to be driven on their own.. ALL PAID FOR WITH MY DUES, which I consider money well spent.. so does that answer your question??I'm not trying to brag, but that's what the union does for the general public, and i'm proud to have been doing it for 20 years...

[fr8rookie]

What i am refering to about pensions is talk in the Auto Industry refering to Legacy cost because tha average age of retirees is growing by several years.The cost involved in is growing and weighting down the Corperations that are still in business and is killing the funds left over from bankrupt Corps. The news have reported in the past that some may lose up to 2/3 of their checks in the future. In our area The Coal companies from the past that are long gone have run out of their money in their funds to pay the people. The federal Gov needs to be more strict on companies that are Both Non and Union to protect the employee but they seem to roll with corperate America in either direction.

[fr8rookie]

When talking about money, Labor is an overhead that can't be deducted. Its a fixed cost in any Industry. That means that evertime that corp gives raises it either reduces profits or and is most of the time past on to the consumer. By reducing profits in a corp its reduces their ability to do R&D and to have the funds to buy into the future, also profits help in the slow times.That means most cost inccured by corperate america is floated to the consumer.