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Rollin62 said:
I don't want anything to happen to anyone's retirement, but why is it that Abf is supposed to absorb the cost of yrc and others insufficient contributions?
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Well, Rollin.........Let me try this....

ABF has been......absorbing........the cost of other employers “misfortunes” for many years. One of the reasons MEPFs were developed was in case of a single employer defaulting on their pension payments , in any way, shape, or form........then those employees wouldn’t be........thrown to the financial wolves,.......like what had happened to some Single Employer Pension Plans.

It was known as a Moral solution,.......where any employer could walk out of the plan,......and not worry about the morality of cheating long-term employees out of their promised pension.

Plus......it alleviated bankruptcy proceedings by reassigning pension obligations. Decades ago, many employers happily chose to join MEPFs as a more stable choice for employee pensions.

Several years before deregulation......a company called Associated Transport went bankrupt due to mismanagement. Associated was the nation’s largest carrier , with 48 state authority, and grandfathered Red Circle routes.......all very rare in the I.C.C. era......

Associated’s bankruptcy proceedings were expedited because the judge recognized the employees were covered by a MEPF,.......and Associated Transport had paid their monthly obligations to the funds right up to the end.

It could be argued that .......ABF is covering anyone left drawing a pension from service with Associated Transport.

But........ABF and every other carrier in the MEPFs never considered that membership in those funds were a burden. They thought that with each carrier that went out of business,......they got a larger share of the freight “pie”..........plus a labor pool of experienced guys now out of work, and looking for jobs.......No training needed.

There were many advantages to companies to belong to MEPFs........no one complained for....decades.

It only became “fashionable” to want out of MEPFs when 20 years of deregulation brought non-Union carriers with no employer-funded pensions.......and partially employee-funded health insurance became competitive with Union carriers.

MEPFs are.....and were.....a long-term obligation and promise made by employers entering into them. Walking away from that obligation merely to improve the company bottom line,.....is immoral.

As I’ve said to my TM many times when we argued about company decisions.......”What’s more important? Business?.......or People?”

I can answer that in one word........
 
Docker said:
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Imagine that... ABF would of preferred to release the terms immediately... yep... sounds like they are proud of it to me.

They also say that it's inappropriate that a Teamster official is seeking to influence the members...but what they really mean is... everyone is supposed to wait for that right Teamster official to influence the members... which will be Ernie come Thursday night.

It's amazing just how stupid and gullible we really are... lol

Or is it that they think they are really that clever and above us?
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Tell abf to mind its own frekin business! This is a damn Union matter!
 
flat top said:
Certainly a word Smith such as yourself would know.
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Another useless comment... but that's to be expected coming from you. Tell me... are you ever able to put two sentences together at one time? Stick around... we'll have you putting together a whole paragraph in no time.
 
ABF hits Teamsters memo over pension concerns; says workers will be protected

Union leader speaks for small group of ABF Teamsters, underplays health of pension fund and impact of company's contributions, carrier says.

Less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier ABF Freight System hit back yesterday at a Teamsters union official who urged members to reject a tentative contract hammered out by management and Teamsters negotiators, saying the official speaks for a small fraction of ABF's union workers and is misleading members about what is at stake for the company and its workers.

On Friday, Sean M. O'Brien, who runs Teamsters Joint Council 10 in the New England region, advised ABF members to vote down the proposed agreement because it calls for changes to the pension funding mechanism that could result in significant cuts for ABF workers. In a communique yesterday, the Fort Smith, Ark. -based carrier said that no such scenario is forthcoming, noting that all Teamsters would be provided for in the event the union's New England pension fund refuses to accept the pension contributions that have been negotiated in the tentative agreement.

The company also disputed O'Brien's claim that the New England fund would cut benefits of covered workers and would impose a very costly 'default schedule" of contribution increases on ABF unless the carrier agrees to the fund's escalating financial demands. Because Congress eliminated the so-called default treatment option in 2015, the fund cannot act in the manner that O'Brien has warned about, ABF said.

According to ABF, O'Brien is speaking only for a small number of potentially affected union workers, and not the vast majority of employees covered under other pension funds. The Joint Council represents about 200 of the 8,600 or so unionized ABF workers, according to the company. The Council covers 22 Teamsters locals in six states.

More...

http://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/...sion-concerns-says-workers-will-be-protected/
 
LEHIGH vALLEY said:
Damn! Seems pretty simple to little old me.
But what do I know? I'm just a dumb steering wheel holder troll right?
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Who said you were dumb?

As for the troll part... what do you call someone that comes to the ABF forum and tries telling the ABF Teamsters what to do?

Your quote...

LEHIGH vALLEY said:
Tell abf to mind its own frekin business! This is a damn Union matter!
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After all... someone can easily say... tell LEHIGH vALLEY to mind its own frekin business! This is a damn ABF Teamster matter! And that seems pretty simple to little old me. But this is what I do know... I'm tired of seeing some trolls doing nothing but come here with nothing to offer but BS one or two line posts because there are some who do not work for ABF that do offer relevant insight and useful information... which I do consider contributing and appreciate as well.
 
According to ABF only a small number of employees represented by O'Brien would be affected. Classic divide and conquer. I for one admire O'Brien for his willingness to publicly take on the Teamster national leadership. Seems to me Hoffa is nothing more than a member of the Lucky Sperm Club. If his name was not Hoffa he never would have been elected in the first place, and yes I voted for him when he first ran. what an empty suit he turned out to be imho. I honestly thought at that time that we would see a huge and effective drive to organize the nons. That was over twenty years ago when the chances of succeeding were higher than they are today. What a major disappointment.
 
jimk849 said:
I honestly thought at that time that we would see a huge and effective drive to organize the nons
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And now his chance is lost forever. Today’s Teamsters is just a shadow of it’s former self and for that you can thank Hoffa. He could have made a real difference but instead he sold you guys out. Now it’s time to kick his sorry ass out at your first opportunity. He’s a disgrace to what was once a proud organization. Now the Teamsters are just a laughing stock in the LTL community because of Hoffa. He says he saved YRC from bankruptcy thus saving thousands of jobs but in that process he destroyed the Teamsters dignity and leverage. Perhaps he could have met them somewhere in the middle but instead he just caved. Pathetic leadership has destroyed the Teamsters.
 
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I can't help thinking about what they won't be mentioning about the all the other pensions involved because if it will be having a huge impact on one right off the bat... it has to end up affecting all in the long run. After all... if it is true that there will be no increases in pension contributions over the life of the contract... common sense tells you that will have some impact in the future...in some way... shape or form. In fact... they don't even have to mention the fact that they assured the company that there won't be any pension contribution increases since they already changed the language in the last contract when they changed that "a" to "up to" a dollar to $1.00 per hour increase divided between the pension and health & welfare. Just that simple change had a huge impact on what would be contributed. People can make all the promises they want about it not affecting the other pensions but the fact of the matter is that in this day and age... promises are broken every day.

I can't speak for anyone else but I sure wouldn't be taking a job for anyone if they said they were paying me "up to" $25.00 an hour... because if I did... I sure wouldn't have any recourse when I got my check and found out that they only paid me $1.00 an hour.

And here's another thing to think about... Sweeton signed off on ABF's contractually obligated pension increases in 2011 and 2012 which I still can't see how he got away with that one but then just a short time later they screwed everyone when it came to CSPF's early retirement. Is that just a coincidence or not?

Me... personally... I believe in all for one and one for all but to all those that don't believe in steadfast solidarity... I just hope that they at the very least consider this short little poem...

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
 
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runawaytrain said:
And now his chance is lost forever. Today’s Teamsters is just a shadow of it’s former self and for that you can thank Hoffa. He could have made a real difference but instead he sold you guys out. Now it’s time to kick his sorry ass out at your first opportunity. He’s a disgrace to what was once a proud organization.
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Well,......as far as organizing goes,......that's a two-part problem.....

You have to have non-Union guys unafraid of company retaliation to ....organize.

We could've had Abraham Lincoln as President of the Teamsters,........and the organizing effort wouldn't have been any better. The main part of organizing,....as spelled out in NLRB laws,.......is that the employees involved....have to take RESPONSIBILITY for the organizing. It is illegal for any Union to...."hold the hands"..... of any group looking to organize...

I guess in a lot of places,....the...."Spirit of '76"...is.....ahh....dead.....

Not to alleviate Mr. Hoffa of mendacity,.....He has his share......

But,......Organizing is not one of his major..."crimes"......

...(....By the way,....company retaliation in an organizing campaign,...is illegal.....But, you've got to have guys willing to .....fight...for their rights..........Non-Union companies count on guys not having the....guts....to do so..)......
 
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