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Deregulation wasn’t contractual. That was Big Business lobbying Congress, telling them how wonderful things would be if there was more......”competition” .......in transportation.

And then it became a race to the bottom,.....with trucking management being the only clear winners.
Teamsters only comprised about 70% of the trucking workforce. If you look at the Teamster magazine at the time, they were issuing priescient dire warnings about deregulation.
All of which came true......

Try reading “Sweatshops on Wheels, Winners and Losers in Deregulation “, by Dr. Michael H. Belzer , P.hd. He explains it very well.....

You’ve got to work on Labor Day......That used to be a “sacred” day to organized Labor,.......and a thorn in the side of management.
Looks like management is winning the battle of the hearts and minds of the Labor Force.

The bosses’ mantra was: “ If you don’t like it, leave.....”
The Union’s mantra was: “ I’m not leaving, I’ll work to make this job better......”

Brother, it is interesting how two people can read the same book and reach completely different conclusions. I read Dr. Belzer's book as a fraud. He took the worst trucking companies in the transportation industry and presented them as the norm for the industry. So you are/have been a truck driver for 40ish years with an average pay of ten thousand dollars a year? Isn't that what Dr. Belzer tried to say? Didn't he use examples of drivers waiting to load/unload and in route delays that they didn't get paid for as normal for the industry? Didn't he conclude that the union was the only thing that would save the industry? What about companies like Old Dominion, Overnite Transportation, Fed Ex Freight, Martin-Brower Inc? He left those non-union companies out and stuck with the worst truckload (TL) carriers as the norm for the industry. And here we are 18yrs after he wrote the book, the DOT has changed the hours of service rules, the medical regulations and mandated the use of Electronic Logging Devices (ELD) and what has it changed? Do you think companies like Swift, Snyder, Werner are paying their drivers to sit a groceries warehouses while they wait to get loaded/unloaded? Are owner operators getting paid to sit in the parking lot at Kroger and IGA waiting to load/unload?

And what about those drivers who choose the nomadic lifestyle? The ones who want to live on the road and in their trucks? The people who join the trucking industry because they don't want to have a home? They don't want the responsibility of mowing the yard or paying the power bill? The ones who just want the “freedom of the road?” He sort of left that lifestyle out of his book.

I may be a little off about what exactly is in the Sweatshops on Wheels because I read it 10yrs ago (give or take a few years) but what I remember was thinking this guy has written a gloom and doom book based on the worse companies in the trucking industry and presented them as the norm for the future of the trucking industry.
 
Brother, it is interesting how two people can read the same book and reach completely different conclusions. I read Dr. Belzer's book as a fraud. He took the worst trucking companies in the transportation industry and presented them as the norm for the industry. So you are/have been a truck driver for 40ish years with an average pay of ten thousand dollars a year? Isn't that what Dr. Belzer tried to say? Didn't he use examples of drivers waiting to load/unload and in route delays that they didn't get paid for as normal for the industry? Didn't he conclude that the union was the only thing that would save the industry? What about companies like Old Dominion, Overnite Transportation, Fed Ex Freight, Martin-Brower Inc? He left those non-union companies out and stuck with the worst truckload (TL) carriers as the norm for the industry. And here we are 18yrs after he wrote the book, the DOT has changed the hours of service rules, the medical regulations and mandated the use of Electronic Logging Devices (ELD) and what has it changed? Do you think companies like Swift, Snyder, Werner are paying their drivers to sit a groceries warehouses while they wait to get loaded/unloaded? Are owner operators getting paid to sit in the parking lot at Kroger and IGA waiting to load/unload?

And what about those drivers who choose the nomadic lifestyle? The ones who want to live on the road and in their trucks? The people who join the trucking industry because they don't want to have a home? They don't want the responsibility of mowing the yard or paying the power bill? The ones who just want the “freedom of the road?” He sort of left that lifestyle out of his book.

I may be a little off about what exactly is in the Sweatshops on Wheels because I read it 10yrs ago (give or take a few years) but what I remember was thinking this guy has written a gloom and doom book based on the worse companies in the trucking industry and presented them as the norm for the future of the trucking industry.

I think maybe a re-read is in order. Dr. Belzer’s book kind of terrified trucking company CEO’s with his conclusions.
My copy has an editorial clipped out from Heavy Duty Truck magazine, in which an editor works himself into high dudgeon about calling conditions in trucking “sweatshop” conditions.......

Don’t forget this was a decade before the trucking industry,......particularly the truckload side,......started using Third World immigrants......(legal or illegal.....) as their primary employee of choice.....

Not covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1934, ........no overtime or minimum wage provisions........
It became a “no-brainer” to run the wages down to where it became possible to hire the desperate to do the desperate.
Third World sweatshop conditions..............

I believe Dr. Belzer started off with the history of the NMFA,......I found out more about Yellow Freight and Consolidated Freightways through reading his book,.........so I think you are mistaken in believing he chose the .........worst companies as benchmarks....

Dr. Belzer’s main point was that trucking management took advantage of some anomalies in the laws,......and lobbied hard to create a free-wheeling Wild West environment,............in which the two biggest losers in deregulation were the employees of trucking companies,.....
..and the customers of the same companies........
 
Management of trucking companies taking advantage of employees! Surely you jest!!!!

Honest! With a straight face, even! Can you believe it?.....I feel so......violated.......

I had held these Paragons of Virtue in High esteem,........

Hell,....they signed my paycheck........

But,...to prove themselves so petty, mean, and venal,...........I Cried in my pillow for hours.....
 
Listen suckass I’ve been here 11 years, 26 total in the union! It’s people like me & others here that try to keep people like yourself from making bad decisions come contact time, obviously it didn’t work this contract, but maybe next one? So don’t tell me to move on because you don’t like what I’m saying....
Just an observation, but suck ass is missing the mark. I believe if you change the 2 words from suck ass to ***** breath these 2 new words would do a better & more complete job of defining this person. Wat da ya think. von.
 
Poor old homesick had to work labor Day, WHY?? Did you sign up to work or were you forced?? Either your greedy or you are at the bottom of the board. Also taking a "dumb truck driver " and making such a big deal of it goodness you are one of the those that think you should have everything given to ya. I have read all your higher education remarks so I ask you this ,Why are you in trucking couldn't make it as a broker/banker somewhere?
 
Poor old homesick had to work labor Day, WHY?? Did you sign up to work or were you forced?? Either your greedy or you are at the bottom of the board. Also taking a "dumb truck driver " and making such a big deal of it goodness you are one of the those that think you should have everything given to ya. I have read all your higher education remarks so I ask you this ,Why are you in trucking couldn't make it as a broker/banker somewhere?
Poor old homesick had to work labor Day, WHY?? Did you sign up to work or were you forced?? Either your greedy or you are at the bottom of the board. Also taking a "dumb truck driver " and making such a big deal of it goodness you are one of the those that think you should have everything given to ya. I have read all your higher education remarks so I ask you this ,Why are you in trucking couldn't make it as a broker/banker somewhere?
You forgot limited life experience....lo.. He's another gear shifting financial wizard....
 
I was told I was smart enough to be an emergency room triage surgeon,..........but they wouldn't let me alligator-clip a CB radio to the defilibrator machine,.........

That's all right,........my hand fits better around a gearshift instead of a scalpel.......and I get to hang around with a better class of people, too......
 
The.....older guys,...who've been in trucking longer than the younger guys,...specifically the ones who were "pre-deregulation" drivers,.....more specifically,...the ones who've been doing freight for 20-plus years......

Were trying to tell the younger, less experienced-with-freight guys that they could do much better this contract,....and, yes,....last contract,....because of the trends they had observed over the....decades,......

And,.....the amount of company propaganda and pressure applied during contract times,........especially on the younger,...less LTL-experienced guys......

It gets frustrating when it was plain as day that the company,...(...maybe with collusion of the negotiating team...).....was targeting the fears of the younger guys,.....and that it was working.......

Record driver shortages ,......and non-Union carriers trying to "hoover up" every available driver by paying them more than the Union carriers...(...for now,....No guarantee they won't cut pay in the future....No contract, you know..)......didn't convince the ....younger guys,.....that we finally had the employers by the "short and curlies",........and could rectify the negotiating "errors" of the past.....

Many of the younger guys were worried about their families and the future of the company,........Rightly so........

And,....the company deliberately,...and with malice aforethought,.......played on those fears.....

That's not negotiating in Good Faith,........That's using skewed propaganda ...to achieve a skewed result....

Kind of like releasing the rumor that another carrier is going to buy ABF,....right in the middle of contract talks.
And,....of course,...right after the contract is ratified,....there's NO talk at all of a ...buyout.......

The older guys have watched ABF/ArcBest try to get out from their pension obligations from way back in the late '90's , with Mr. Davison's "BegBack"...........and the company coyness about turning our pension plans into 401(k)'s....
They didn't want to tell us....right away. They just said they had a...."better deal" for us....Yeah, Right......

Now,...they have a ......younger....group of employees to work with.......Ones that haven't had their noses rubbed in company duplicity......yet.......
Brother I would like to address some of the issues you brought up with some personal real world facts. Where I live south of Atlanta the average household income for 2016 was $46,500, my income from ABF was $77,000. My wife didn't work in 2016 so that is what social security has for me. I/we have rental property and 2 small businesses that upped our household income to $110,000. To be fair I did work more than most people in my county; according to abfatwork I worked 176 tours (this included 5 sickdays, 12 holidays and 18 vacation days). I paid nothing for my health insurance or my retirement.
Go40, Muller, sacs75, you and others say this is not enough but I disagree. I don't want to make the job better, I'm satisfied with the improvements in this contract. I should make a little over $80,000 this year, I get 4 weeks vacation next year and 5 weeks vacation the year after that. Some of the new language makes it easier to take off and gives me additional pay if the company makes me stay out longer (article 50 that has already paid me 10hrs bed time).
I'm currently on the sickboard because I didn't want to drive in tropical storm Gordon this morning. Nothing will be said to me for taking off. I worked Labor day so I get paid for my Atlanta to Jackson ms run, holiday pay and 4hrs for working on the holiday. What other companies pay this way and don't hassle employees for calling off sick?
 
Brother I would like to address some of the issues you brought up with some personal real world facts. Where I live south of Atlanta the average household income for 2016 was $46,500, my income from ABF was $77,000. My wife didn't work in 2016 so that is what social security has for me. I/we have rental property and 2 small businesses that upped our household income to $110,000. To be fair I did work more than most people in my county; according to abfatwork I worked 176 tours (this included 5 sickdays, 12 holidays and 18 vacation days). I paid nothing for my health insurance or my retirement.
Go40, Muller, sacs75, you and others say this is not enough but I disagree. I don't want to make the job better, I'm satisfied with the improvements in this contract. I should make a little over $80,000 this year, I get 4 weeks vacation next year and 5 weeks vacation the year after that. Some of the new language makes it easier to take off and gives me additional pay if the company makes me stay out longer (article 50 that has already paid me 10hrs bed time).
I'm currently on the sickboard because I didn't want to drive in tropical storm Gordon this morning. Nothing will be said to me for taking off. I worked Labor day so I get paid for my Atlanta to Jackson ms run, holiday pay and 4hrs for working on the holiday. What other companies pay this way and don't hassle employees for calling off sick?
All I got out of that post was me, me,me & where’s my pat on the back....
 
Brother I would like to address some of the issues you brought up with some personal real world facts. Where I live south of Atlanta the average household income for 2016 was $46,500, my income from ABF was $77,000. My wife didn't work in 2016 so that is what social security has for me. I/we have rental property and 2 small businesses that upped our household income to $110,000. To be fair I did work more than most people in my county; according to abfatwork I worked 176 tours (this included 5 sickdays, 12 holidays and 18 vacation days). I paid nothing for my health insurance or my retirement.
Go40, Muller, sacs75, you and others say this is not enough but I disagree. I don't want to make the job better, I'm satisfied with the improvements in this contract. I should make a little over $80,000 this year, I get 4 weeks vacation next year and 5 weeks vacation the year after that. Some of the new language makes it easier to take off and gives me additional pay if the company makes me stay out longer (article 50 that has already paid me 10hrs bed time).
I'm currently on the sickboard because I didn't want to drive in tropical storm Gordon this morning. Nothing will be said to me for taking off. I worked Labor day so I get paid for my Atlanta to Jackson ms run, holiday pay and 4hrs for working on the holiday. What other companies pay this way and don't hassle employees for calling off sick?

Thank you for your honesty and disclosure, Brother. I understand that where you are geographically,...has quite a bit to do with pay satisfaction.

A little different perspective on what you are doing might help you to see where some people are a little dissatisfied with the contract,....The last two contracts, actually.

As a road driver, you're paid differently than most other occupations across the nation. There is a section under the USC,...Federal language,...that exempts certain transportation workers from the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1934. Taxi drivers, sailors on commercial vessels,....and truck drivers, by definition.
Everyone else in the nation gets overtime after 40 hours, and time-and-a-half after eight.

If you factor your 176 tours into 8 hour days,....how many days is that? And.....how much overtime did you miss out on , being exempt from the Fair Labor Standards?
I ran the road for 16 years,....9 of them as an O/O........If I took all the hours I worked during those 16 years and divided it into 8 hour days,.........well, then I could tell people I worked the equivalent of 30 years in a 16 year period.......

Truck driving USED to be the highest-paid blue collar job in America......The reason was the extremely long hours, time away from family, and the hazardous working conditions.....
That is no longer true that we're the..."highest paid". There are now many other occupations that have raised their wages much more than trucking,.....and, don't forget...that's based on an EIGHT HOUR DAY. Here in the Northeast, carpenters are starting at $33.00 an hour,....Plumbers are about the same,......Steel and machinists workers are about $38.00 an hour,.....And let's not forget about UPS......they're paying about $38.00 as the top rate, I believe.......

Since deregulation,...there have been many factors involved in trying to drive down truck driver wages.....Breaking up the NMFA was the biggest factor.....

Here in Pittsburgh, we just had the nation's second largest Labor Day parade,.......I was down there talking to many Union Brothers from many trades.....They ALL have apprentice programs....(..many REQUIRED the apprentices to march in the parade!...).....and they all have wages in the $70,000- $80,000 range,.....FOR AN EIGHT HOUR DAY! Some of the high-seniority tradespeople are over $100,000 for working 2 or3 hours overtime a couple times a week........

Steelworkers can still double or triple out,....for double time or triple time. There hasn't been double time in trucking for.....how long?

And,...once again,...I've got to point out something I told the guys I represented in my 16 years as steward......" The whole reason you're getting the..."Big Bucks"...in trucking, has NOTHING to do with your driving skills,....and EVERYTHING to do with your willingness to accept complete liability, once you leave company property..."

We USED to be highly compensated for ACCEPTING the Liability risk........No more......

Trucking is an unusual job,....and it attracts...unusual people.......(understatement...).....That doesn't mean gullible or pliable people......Some of the smartest people on the planet are driving trucks,....because they happen to be iconoclastic along with smart........
That doesn't give companies the right to run wages down to force the ones demanding good pay out.......
The truckload sector has had a 90% turnover rate of employees for the last ....15 or so years.....Why?
There isn't another occupation or business on the planet that could survive a 90% turnover rate without going bankrupt in a few years........
This occupation OUGHT to compensate for loss of Family life, personal life,.....and a number of other...peculiarities....to this job.....
There was an article in a trucking trade paper a few years ago,....that there was an 80% divorce rate in long-haul trucking.....
Any other occupation tied to an outrageous divorce rate?........(..I mean other than "pimp".......or CEO....).....

So you might be satisfied with $77,000 a year for a 60 hour work week away from home,.....Many other parts of the country offer an $80,000 a year salary for a 40 hour week,....and you sleep in your own bed.......

Just a different perspective............
 
Thank you for your honesty and disclosure, Brother. I understand that where you are geographically,...has quite a bit to do with pay satisfaction.

A little different perspective on what you are doing might help you to see where some people are a little dissatisfied with the contract,....The last two contracts, actually.

As a road driver, you're paid differently than most other occupations across the nation. There is a section under the USC,...Federal language,...that exempts certain transportation workers from the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1934. Taxi drivers, sailors on commercial vessels,....and truck drivers, by definition.
Everyone else in the nation gets overtime after 40 hours, and time-and-a-half after eight.

If you factor your 176 tours into 8 hour days,....how many days is that? And.....how much overtime did you miss out on , being exempt from the Fair Labor Standards?
I ran the road for 16 years,....9 of them as an O/O........If I took all the hours I worked during those 16 years and divided it into 8 hour days,.........well, then I could tell people I worked the equivalent of 30 years in a 16 year period.......

Truck driving USED to be the highest-paid blue collar job in America......The reason was the extremely long hours, time away from family, and the hazardous working conditions.....
That is no longer true that we're the..."highest paid". There are now many other occupations that have raised their wages much more than trucking,.....and, don't forget...that's based on an EIGHT HOUR DAY. Here in the Northeast, carpenters are starting at $33.00 an hour,....Plumbers are about the same,......Steel and machinists workers are about $38.00 an hour,.....And let's not forget about UPS......they're paying about $38.00 as the top rate, I believe.......

Since deregulation,...there have been many factors involved in trying to drive down truck driver wages.....Breaking up the NMFA was the biggest factor.....

Here in Pittsburgh, we just had the nation's second largest Labor Day parade,.......I was down there talking to many Union Brothers from many trades.....They ALL have apprentice programs....(..many REQUIRED the apprentices to march in the parade!...).....and they all have wages in the $70,000- $80,000 range,.....FOR AN EIGHT HOUR DAY! Some of the high-seniority tradespeople are over $100,000 for working 2 or3 hours overtime a couple times a week........

Steelworkers can still double or triple out,....for double time or triple time. There hasn't been double time in trucking for.....how long?

And,...once again,...I've got to point out something I told the guys I represented in my 16 years as steward......" The whole reason you're getting the..."Big Bucks"...in trucking, has NOTHING to do with your driving skills,....and EVERYTHING to do with your willingness to accept complete liability, once you leave company property..."

We USED to be highly compensated for ACCEPTING the Liability risk........No more......

Trucking is an unusual job,....and it attracts...unusual people.......(understatement...).....That doesn't mean gullible or pliable people......Some of the smartest people on the planet are driving trucks,....because they happen to be iconoclastic along with smart........
That doesn't give companies the right to run wages down to force the ones demanding good pay out.......
The truckload sector has had a 90% turnover rate of employees for the last ....15 or so years.....Why?
There isn't another occupation or business on the planet that could survive a 90% turnover rate without going bankrupt in a few years........
This occupation OUGHT to compensate for loss of Family life, personal life,.....and a number of other...peculiarities....to this job.....
There was an article in a trucking trade paper a few years ago,....that there was an 80% divorce rate in long-haul trucking.....
Any other occupation tied to an outrageous divorce rate?........(..I mean other than "pimp".......or CEO....).....

So you might be satisfied with $77,000 a year for a 60 hour work week away from home,.....Many other parts of the country offer an $80,000 a year salary for a 40 hour week,....and you sleep in your own bed.......

Just a different perspective............
Brother things change and not always for the better. I can promise you that trying to change truck driving back to one of the highest paid blue collar jobs will not be done one company at a time. All that will do is cause one business at a time to go out of business. Does that sound like what has been happening to union trucking companies since deregulation? America is a country based on capitalism. The best and cheapest win the race. If ABF raises wages to the highest in the industry, customers would use other carriers so their (the shippers) businesses would be able to compete and maintain profitability.
 
All I got out of that post was me, me,me & where’s my pat on the back....
Thanks for that Go40. If I may make a suggestion..........Canary has listed several high paying jobs you should be interested in. Those jobs do not have "dumb truck drivers" or company kiss asses. Please go and get one. They want you over there. The grass is green, lush and the money is great for low hours. Don't wait, you should leave now.
 
Thanks for that Go40. If I may make a suggestion..........Canary has listed several high paying jobs you should be interested in. Those jobs do not have "dumb truck drivers" or company kiss asses. Please go and get one. They want you over there. The grass is green, lush and the money is great for low hours. Don't wait, you should leave now.
Na, I’ll stick it out here to here to keep your ”Dumb” kiss ass in line a bit longer Mr. meester....
 
Poor old homesick had to work labor Day, WHY?? Did you sign up to work or were you forced?? Either your greedy or you are at the bottom of the board. Also taking a "dumb truck driver " and making such a big deal of it goodness you are one of the those that think you should have everything given to ya. I have read all your higher education remarks so I ask you this ,Why are you in trucking couldn't make it as a broker/banker somewhere?
Chose to work on Labor Day. I wanted the 4hrs extra pay for working on it. I chose truck driving when I was still in the military because of deregulation and the opportunity it presented. I chose a college degree and later an advanced degree because a good education is worth the sacrifice. Those who don't understand how a college degree enhances the value of the person, will never understand success in life. It is why so many people want their children to go to college and why people who have college degrees have lower unemployment rates and better standard of living.
 
Chose to work on Labor Day. I wanted the 4hrs extra pay for working on it. I chose truck driving when I was still in the military because of deregulation and the opportunity it presented. I chose a college degree and later an advanced degree because a good education is worth the sacrifice. Those who don't understand how a college degree enhances the value of the person, will never understand success in life. It is why so many people want their children to go to college and why people who have college degrees have lower unemployment rates and better standard of living.
You make the same rate as your fellow employees without a degree, so give it a rest already....
 
I usually went camping. With pay near 24 an hour, I tried to work the Holidays. It worked out to about 70 buck an hour for ever hour worked. We once had a city driver clock 14 hours driving all doing drop & hook for 14 hours. He clocked 423 miles that day. Do the math. 70 * 14 = 980.00. Couple nice truck payments. He always worked the Holiday. The exception was xmas day. I believe it was 14 hour straight then 14 @ time and a half then holiday pay, about 70 bucks an hour.
 
I usually went camping. With pay near 24 an hour, I tried to work the Holidays. It worked out to about 70 buck an hour for ever hour worked. We once had a city driver clock 14 hours driving all doing drop & hook for 14 hours. He clocked 423 miles that day. Do the math. 70 * 14 = 980.00. Couple nice truck payments. He always worked the Holiday. The exception was xmas day. I believe it was 14 hour straight then 14 @ time and a half then holiday pay, about 70 bucks an hour.
If they need the money that bad then they shouldn’t have bought it....
 
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