Committee of Concerned Oak Harbor Employees letters

Shifterknob

The Last Wordslinger
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Perhaps many of you have see this letters circulating through the terminals. I think it is worth re-posting them up here for all to see.

Interested in getting on the mailing list for these letters and other related communications regarding the progress of contract negotiations and organizing at OHFL? Send your e-mail address to: [email protected]
 
Dear fellow Oak Harbor employees,

This letter was written under the auspices of the Committee of Concerned Oak Harbor Employees, an informal group of union and non-union OHFL employees. We have decided it is time to provide a response to the company’s non-union pay and benefits package, which they are also presenting to the union employees in a transparent and feeble attempt at brainwashing.

Many of you by now have done the calculations and realized that this new package is not nearly as good as what you have now, and that they are not giving the non-union employees any chance to have input or even vote on whether they want it or not. They say their new plan is about choices, but they are determining the few choices there actually are. Not much of a choice, is it?

The non-union employees really have no choice here. The union employees do, at least to the degree they actually get to negotiate with the Company via their union representatives. And the union employees are not even slightly interested in what the Company is proposing, which is to have us in the same plan as the non-union employees.

They want the union employees to give up their Teamster health and welfare plans, their Teamster pension plan. They want to eliminate our sick pay program and replace it with a miniscule raise. At $.15/hour, it would take an employee almost 1,100 hours to gain one eight-hour sick day! Currently, we earn one-half a sick day every month. And the cash-out they are offering is a joke. An employee with a full bank of twenty-four days would get less than five days at cash-out time.

The union healthcare plans offer retiree healthcare coverage; the Company plans do not, nor are they willing to do so. The union plans offer better benefits for most covered union employees than the Company plans do. The union employees are not willing to give up one of our most valued benefits.

Not ever.

The pension is another point of contention. The Teamster pension offers early retirement with a full pension, guaranteed retirement benefits, and the stability of the number one private multi-employer pension trust in the world, with assets of over 39 billion dollars! Union employees are not interested in giving up all of that for the insecurity of a 401(k).

If you are a non-union OHFL employee, you need to ask yourself if you are happy being forced to accept a plan that is far less than what you have now, and just what you are willing to do about it. If you are a union OHFL employee, be ready for the fight of your life, as the Company has drawn the battle lines over the aforementioned items. Be ready to stand up and fight for what you need!

The Committee of Concerned Oak Harbor Employees
 
Dear fellow Oak Harbor employees,

This letter was written under the auspices of the Committee of Concerned Oak Harbor Employees, an informal group of union and non-union OHFL employees dedicated to countering the propaganda the Company is putting out.

Management has spent much time pulling union and non-union employees into mandatory meetings, where they talk about the need to attract new employees by redesigning their wage and benefit package. Obviously, they hope to negotiate this with their union employees as well. They talk about how it is an ever more competitive environment, and how our finances are suffering due to high benefits costs.

And yet they do not talk about the real cause of our financial woes. Most of us have seen a decline in good management over the last several years. The amount of money wasted due to inefficiency and stupidity could undoubtedly fund substantial wage and benefit increases for years to come. But they would rather infer that the real problem lies with their employees.

They put out financial numbers daily that seemingly proves their point. But ask yourself this: can you trust their numbers? They are not a publicly-traded company, and have no Securities and Exchange Commission requirements to file accurate and in-depth financial statements that are held to public or governmental scrutiny.

Do you understand just how easy it is to skew operating ratio numbers to fit their needs? If they start making a little too much money, all they have to do is buy a couple of trailers full of truck and trailer tires, or put in an expensive and overblown security system. Those kind of capital expenses goes directly against the bottom line, and so skews the numbers for a particular month, quarter, or year to meet the criteria they want.

Mismanagement is rampant at OHFL. Most of us see it and deal with it every day. The real question is should the employees of OHFL have to pay for such inefficiencies and mistakes by having our wages stagnate and our benefit levels reduced? Many of us work very long hours, and have made innumerable sacrifices for this company, and this is the reward we get?

Will we settle for this, or will we stand up for ourselves and fight for what ourselves and our families need and deserve? Ask yourself this one vital question:

If I don’t draw a line here and now... where do I draw the line?

The Committee of Concerned Oak Harbor Employees
 
Dear fellow Oak Harbor employees,

This letter was written under the auspices of the Committee of Concerned Oak Harbor Employees, an informal group of union and non-union OHFL employees dedicated to countering the propaganda the Company is putting out.

Medical insurance is the hot topic these days. The Company is clearly intent on moving all of their employees into their own self-funded medical insurance plan, and to have all employees paying for a portion of the insurance premium, which is new even to the non-union employees. This is unacceptable for the unionized employees to consider. The Company plan has lower benefits levels than either of the current union plans. The Company plan has no provisions for retiree healthcare, nor are they interested in offering such an option. By converting to a Company plan, the unionized employees lose any hope of controlling their benefit levels, their cost allocations, or plan options.

On the retiree issue alone, the unionized employees cannot in good conscience even consider a Company plan. Our retirees count on us to help subsidize their healthcare, and to keep the cost reasonable in a time of rapidly rising healthcare expenses. If we turn our backs on them now, we turn our backs on ourselves, for one day we all hope to be retired with a sense of security where our pensions and healthcare is concerned.

We recognize that the Company wants to free up operating capital by converting all us to their plan. They can accomplish this because their plan is self-funded, which means that they only pay the claims as they are generated; rather than paying a flat monthly premium into a trust fund as they currently do in the case of their union employees. In any given month, probably only twenty percent of employees actually use their health benefits, which results in an immediate cost savings... for the Company.

However, they are not required to keep a trust fund of money set aside to pay these claims, and if they ran short of operating capital, they might not be able to pay the claims as they come, which means that you the employee would then be liable for the cost of the claim. There is a question about medical privacy. Since they are handed a bill every month, they would know which employees went to which doctors, and might even have knowledge about what procedures were undertaken. Do you necessarily want your employer knowing such details about your medical conditions?

The non-union side has little choice in their benefits, but the union side has the right to say no, and to back it up with the threat of a strike. Hopefully this will underscore to the non-union employees the value of joining a union and being able to negotiate with the Employer instead of being dictated to.

The Committee of Concerned Oak Harbor Employees
 
concerened employee

sounds like oak harbor is becomming the wal mart of ltl trucking.sure glad i jumped off that ship before it sank.good luck to you all
 
This company has more flexibility than any other company out there and they still want more. No F*****G way is what I say. If they can't run their company efficiently with the flexibility they already have they don't deserve to be in business.
F**K them F**K them F**K them.
 
Food for thought:beans or steak on your plate tonight?

Hello my bro's&sis's to the north. I'm wishing you all the the best when dealing with the beast that want's to destroy you.I encourage all of you to inform your non-union counterparts.Tell them to go to:american rights at work.org This explains it all. Oak H. took away from non-union workers because it can &will continue to do so. I could say that is to bad for them,because it's their own fault-no union represention,but I wont.I think they need better education on the subject of union rep. by ALL of us teamsters. I have a good friend & a few others that work for O.H. in Reno.I first heard the story-sickleave-b.o.& cut in 401k 2 wks. ago. My friend sounded like he just heard about it! Union mem. have a stake in this in the long run& I believe apathy could be hurting us. The very 1st question n-union people ask is:How much dues? We need to explain-what dues are for. It means its for greasing the wheels in Wash. D.C., lobbying against the greed in corp. America. It means paying to support our infrastructure & our locals to beat the streets to grow our membership. these are just a few reasons I hate to have to explain to N.-U. people, that the only reason that their making a good wage is because of us setting the bar for their gippo company. Big prob. is:what about the bennys? Cost of ins.? Cond. of employment? O.H. states you can quit & they can terminate their relatationship with employee at any time, for any reason.(wake up already!!) Their employer funded retirement plan has no guarantee. They can lose it all with bad investments& thieves stealing it,just like 1000's of other people that lost everything,UNLIKE THE TEAMSTERS PENSION which is FEDERALLY INSURED. It aint goin down. It aint goin nowhere but up!
 
Prostitute With Rights

Where I work they can use me &abuse all that they want,but you know what, there's a line drawn in the sand,and shame on them if they cross that line &all of us teamsters know this.On the the other side of the coin you have prostitutes with no rights. Sure, they get paid. The employees that get the best deals are *** kissing to get their nose brown.Isn't that disqusting to know that that there are probably millions of *** suckers in this world? The employer will tell everybody that senority prevails but we all know-it's BS. A personal friend of the coumpany could be hired &paid more or a lot more than than his fellow worker &there isn't a damn thing he can do about it. Backstabbing,lying,blaming,covering up are all the profile of a non-union barn. Unions have rules and have ethics.
 
In summary

Oak Harbor tells n.-u. people-they follow union contract for them. OK, then why the smoke & mirrors? Promise 12&1/2 % raise in wages,take back sick leave,cut retirement savings match Now whats left? 1%-2%? . I urge my brothers &sisters of the north to get the truth out,& if they dont want to listen to the truth,then bury O.H.They need teamsters to be sucessful in their greed to suceed. Teamsters dont need them. Union companies would love to see them gone. And just like C. F. and other companys that went down,all union members will be absorbed by other union companys, because the pie is gonna get bigger
 
Mutual Respect

The co. I work for highly respects the union& it's principles for the simple fact that it's employing professionals in this industry. My barn is 100% union.Teamster employers know for a fact that their drivers are much safer,and dedicated to them until retirement,because the drivers feel secure in their jobs. Labor unions have spent many years &millons of dollars for ALL workers rights. It really disturbs me that all this money &effort has basically gone unknowledged by our counterparts in the same industry. Thats it,thats all,my blood is starting to boil
 
Wake Up

Open letter to ALL citizens of these United States-The purpose of unions: To level the playing field & ESTABLISH & PROTECT workers rights of our members. By doing this,we also do the same for ALL workers in this country. We negoiate with our employers & we lobby against an endless list of bills introduced on the HILL that can hurt EVERBODY.We really don't want to help the asskissers & the cryybabies that go to their bosses & say "please dont do this to me, I'll do anything that you want", although these people ultimately ride on the coattails of honest & ethical employees who finally realize that they're getting a raw deal from their employer by standing up & doing something about it.One of the biggest issues that non-union employees have, stopping them from joining the Teamsters is: Union dues. They seem to think that all this money goes right into union officials pockets.All of us are aware that some of this money was stolen or diverted in the "old days",but not any more.Federal judges have stepped in preventing this from ever happening again. Unions are non profit organizations. The Teamsters union can account for every penny earned or received.(our yearly financial statement,which is public proves this.) ( where is the financial statement of your privately owned company??) Our investments & dues collected grow our pension fund,(which is federally insured) to secure the future of anyone that wishes to retire and truly enjoy the life that they have worked so hard for.Unlike S.S. &401K, our fund is solid as a rock, because of a negotiated contract that requires all union employers to contribute to this fund, FOR US. Union dues also help us lobby goverment on the hill to fight any & all legislation introduced that could hurt ALL workers,not just union members. We really dont have enough money to fight the extreme right-wing lobbyist that are lining the pockets of corrupt polititions.Big corparations & smaller business have banded together to strip the "average joe" american,(the whole world for that matter) worker of any rights that they have gained since the inception of unions &collective bargaining.Union members realize this and our need to fight crap like NAFTA, unfair trade agreements, health care issues,bad employers like WALMART,& on & on.Non-union workers watch the news on tv,read newspapers,go online,just like union members.WHEN WILL THEY EVER GET A CLUE????? They're like sheep,but they're folling the wrong herd. Signed---- Proud Teamster & average joe citizen
 
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