ABF | Sign On Bonuses

[Trucker 206]

Yeah buddy! 70% of scale back then just under $10.00 an hour as I recall. I just didn't dwell on it. It was something I needed to tolerate to get to where I wanted to end up. The next contract we voted on grandfathered all of us back up to scale plus the contractual increase. I got a 22% wage increase when that contract was ratified. To say I was one happy camper would have been an understatement! I still wanted to pee on Presser's grave for it though... My first year at ABF I nearly starved out at the bottom of the board. I was working casual for PIE when ABF wasn't calling me. They over-hired with me, and my relay manager understood I needed to pay my bills so he covered for me. There were a few months I didn't even earn my benefit package. I nearly went to PIE, but they couldn't hire me, thank god! Same with CF. They wanted to hire me and send me to Ashland Oregon. The wife saved me from that mistake! I turned down a job offer from Yellow after I had worked a little for them after I was laid off at Garrett. I kicked my self for that one until they blew up. I took a DOT physical for Roadway, but I just didn't feel right about that job for some reason. So I stayed at ABF. I remember it was Labor Day 1986 and I had called Portland dispatch to see if there was any work, and they said it didn't look like it, so we got ready to go camping up near Wallowa oregon overnight. I was literally walking out the door and the phone rang and Portland dispatch says "your truck is in, come to Portland" I said you told me there wasn't going to be anything. I'm going camping. Phil, being the jerk he was says " either get in that truck and come to Portland or resign!" I looked at my family's long faces and thought about it a couple of seconds and said "Alright" But I really thought about it, believe me! Johnney Paycheck's song " Take this job and shove it" played loudly in my head all the way to Portland that trip. I was in Portland years later the day that they fired Phil for verbally harassing another dispatcher. I went to the motel and slept like a baby with visions of sugarplums dancing in my head. When I think of how this journey could have gone wrong so many times to get me here, it makes my palms sweat!

Awesome story there, HB! At that time, was there language in the contract covering call backs after you’ve been told there was no work? I had to refer to it one time in my years with ABF. At that time, we had a TM that wasn’t too well-versed in the contract lingo.

 

[hangbelly]

Awesome story there, HB! At that time, was there language in the contract covering call backs after you’ve been told there was no work? I had to refer to it one time in my years with ABF. At that time, we had a TM that wasn’t too well-versed in the contract lingo.

Yes there was. They made 2 calls witnessed by another teamster within a specified period of time without a response and they could pass you up and offer the work to a junior man without a runaround penalty. But when you were the bottom of the barrel on the extra board, there was no other driver to offer the work to. Then you got the letter for being unavailable for dispatch. I got it that I was all they had left to move that load that holiday, but it pissed me off the way he said it, especially when they weren't using me during the week much at all. He was a bully. I damned near walked away from this job that day. I'm a little hot-headed myself. I sent the wife and kids camping without me and went to work. I still remember their faces. He always tried to buddy me up when I got into Portland, but I never turned my back on him after that. There were a few others like him, and I take satisfaction that I survived them all. It's part of the battle scars we all carry with us into retirement. Some people just don't understand that trying to push teamster truck drivers around is like herding cats. It may take us a while to balance the books, but we were never that closely supervised. It's better to lead them by example.

 

[canaryinthemine]

Yes there was. They made 2 calls witnessed by another teamster within a specified period of time without a response and they could pass you up and offer the work to a junior man without a runaround penalty. But when you were the bottom of the barrel on the extra board, there was no other driver to offer the work to. Then you got the letter for being unavailable for dispatch. I got it that I was all they had left to move that load that holiday, but it pissed me off the way he said it, especially when they weren't using me during the week much at all. He was a bully. I damned near walked away from this job that day. I'm a little hot-headed myself. I sent the wife and kids camping without me and went to work. I still remember their faces. He always tried to buddy me up when I got into Portland, but I never turned my back on him after that. There were a few others like him, and I take satisfaction that I survived them all. It's part of the battle scars we all carry with us into retirement. Some people just don't understand that trying to push teamster truck drivers around is like herding cats. It may take us a while to balance the books, but we were never that closely supervised. It's better to lead them by example.

Ha! 10-4 on that, Driver!

It used to get under management's skin when I would remind them that......WE were the Permanent Employees,....and that THEY were the Temporaries........Saw five different TMs. before I retired......Innumerable sales staff......

At M & G Convoy,......we had a TM whose idea of being "buddies" with the truck drivers,....was to come out into the break room and brag about how many times he cheated on his wife,.........Denigrating and insulting on...so many levels.....Plus, it brought up the point that,...if he didn't think twice about cheating on his...wife...
....how fast do you think he would cheat and lie to...his employees?

He was unceremoniously fired between a sunset and a sunrise,....when his malfeasance finally caught up to him......Poetic Justice,.....remaining staff weren't even allowed to mention his name......

I like the line about trying to push Teamster drivers around is like.....herding cats. Irritable, short-tempered, caffeine-addled, opinionated cats.........