Not as a casual. I was a casual for 8 months when I first started. Not one screw up, always Johnny on the spot, stayed til all was done. Took 8 damn months, during that winter, they laid guys off, and I worked until they got worked back on, I was booted, until they got laid off again, called me back. Buncha BS, 2 plus years of my life I won't get back. I made $23k there last year
It's unfortunate that ABF upper management is continuing to hold onto outdated work and hiring rules. That's mainly due to local managers wanting to have a docile and timid casual force that they can use and abuse. Little bit of a 1980's power trip........
As far as the UNION is concerned,.....and I speak as someone who was a steward for 16 years,.......you should be hired immediately off the street, and given full-time work......
Plumbers do it,....Electricians do it,.....Warehouses do it,.......Machine shops do it,........Why can't trucking do it? Or, at least,.....Why can't the management at the Union carriers do it?.......The non-Unions do it,.....The Truckload carriers do it..........
The Union contract,.....as negotiated,.....is a holdover from those Bad Ol' Days just after deregulation,......when companies held the upper hand , and dragged out the full-time hiring,....(..in some cases, for years,...)......merely to let the employees know "who was Boss..."
I am old enough to be a "pre-Deregulation driver", in that I was hired in 1975 for a Union carrier after 30 worked days,.....no two-tier wage progression,....no "foolishness" about on-call,......And,....as the ripple of layoffs started because of deregulation,...I was able to jump from one full-time job to another,.....with NO loss of pay,....and very little loss of time. Drivers were kind of a "hot commodity" back then........
When the steel mills and the mines shut down,...and those thousands of laid-off workers said: "Gee, I want to be a Truck Driver...That job looks simple.."......the trucking industry got flooded with a glut of drivers,........scandals with high-priced truck driving "schools",......and the rise of cut-rate, non-Union "employment-at-will", no- contract carriers who would hire anyone with at least two arms, two legs, and a minimum I.Q. of 40..........
This was when the high-wage (Union) carriers who were left negotiated casual/preferred casual/ probationary/new-hire two-tier wage progression language in the contracts to allow local managers to....."screen out",.....what they considered "trouble-makers".....Made a lot of hoops for guys to get hired,....about as close to begging for a job as it gets.......
The contract provides that any carrier who WANTS to put a guy on IMMEDIATELY,.....can do so.......That's the Union position.......
The COMPANY INSISTS on holding onto that outdated "casual/preferred casual/probationary/new-hire" language,.....ostensibly so they can...."control costs".......
In this age of the Affordable Care Act ,......where employers are.....(..Ooops,...were,...).....mandated to give all employees healthcare, regardless of their "status",.....and in light of the critical driver shortage,.....the increasing qualifications for drivers,...especially HAZ-MAT qualified ones,.....the increasing liability crisis in the industry,..........Good, Qualified, drivers are now "worth their weight in gold",...as it were......
But,......Union carrier MANAGEMENT,.....NOT the Union,.........INSISTS on maintaining old, discriminatory, outdated hiring rules,......for no other reason other than some sort of sick, perverted power trip.......
They have yet to realize that,.....here in the 21st Century,.....your Drivers will Make or Break you. WE,...Once again,...have the Upper Hand.
And,.....the carriers that figure that out,.....and start taking care of, and hiring good drivers,.....will be the ones to survive long-term.
The Non-unions boosted pay,...and are creating Single-payer defined- benefit pension plans modelled on the traditional Union plans........Looks like THEY'VE figured out HOW to get the best young drivers.
The ONLY impediment for the Union carriers to compete and gain the BEST drivers out there............is the MANAGEMENT of the Union companies.......(...."Aim Careful for About two Inches Down From The Big Toe,.....and Pull the Trigger!...).....
: conversations. On the 31st day, you can preach all you want. Fed-ex right now is the better LTL outfit to work for. But ABF is my second choice. The medical & pension ( whatever that ends up to be) is still hard to beat. 60.00 a month union dues & 0.0 each week from you check for medical. Good luck. von.
