XPO | Xpo Union Thread.

[XCCX]

Plenty of protections that are fair. I don’t know how XPO guys are protected on injuries but I know most union companies you receive 80 percent of your gross salary AND Your families healthcare is covered for up to 1 year. And you don’t have the injury held against you when you return to work Seniority stays in place you lose no vacation time or earned days, no being screwed with because you pulled a muscle or fell on the damn ice or other stupid injury that’s so common in our industry.

Someone can correct me if i'm wrong but at Xpo your seniority is only held for 1 yr

 

[highspeeds]

Union companies have been making money some better than others for a long time UPS and ABF are examples of that. Becoming Union doesn’t change the leadership of management, I’ll use New Penn as an example before being purchased by Yellow, New Penn always operated at 80ish Roadway bought it left the upper management in place the company continued operating at 80 ish Yellow takes over changes upper managment and cuts middle managment down we operate mid 90’s.
My Opinion upper managment at XPO is aggressive in the market and seem to do their job that and a labor force that do their job company should be around long time. If you become union everyone still has to do their job.

Agreed. Unfortunately, the union companies are disappearing faster than the competition. Turnover happens regardless. Industries change. Wal-mart thought they were king of the world. And then Amazon. Those are both non union companies. But you get it. King of the hill only lasts so long.

Why aren't there more union jobs being developed ? In your opinion.

 

[highspeeds]

You guys are so way overthinking this. The question is am I better off with representation? What recourse do we have when the company sets policy? None, correct? When the company eliminates line haul runs in favor of the much less expensive sub service carriers, how will we dispute that? When they place a five level disciplinary process in place and state, in the very next paragraph, that they can arbitrarily skip the first four levels and proceed directly to termination, for any employee, for any reason, how can you deal with that? When they do skip the first four levels and fire you for something trivial, who will stand up for you? Similar wages, infinitely better health care, a grievance and arbitration process etc. etc. etc...This pissing match about who makes more and how many hours you worked is a distraction; very much like a union buster uses distraction and division to split a vote. Here comes another half assed analogy...You've just been in a terrible car accident and you're bleeding to death in the street. The XPO ambulance is 20 miles away but coming down the block is a Teamster ambulance. The teamster ambulance is going to overcharge you but you will make it to the hospital in time and you will live. How many of you intend to wait for the XPO ambulance to get there? Don't you get it yet? They can do anything they want, to whomever they want , whenever they want and their current trend of policy change is a clear indication of their intent to take as much as they can until we say enough is enough. The current Republican administration is clearly intent on busting all unions and unless we do something about it, they will succeed. The Teamsters may be an imperfect organization and I readily admit that, but they are all that is standing between us and slavery at the moment. Join, participate and vote and together we can make right everything that is wrong within this organization. You line haul guys making 85K plus are the minority here and you are also the primary target when it comes to cost cutting. Most of us see 55K to 65K. And even if I had the seniority I needed to get a line haul run, I'd still be fighting this fight for all my coworkers. It's not just about the money.

That's a good argument. You are getting a lot better at this. Please stick around. This board needs more like you.

 

[upnorth]

You guys are so way overthinking this. The question is am I better off with representation? What recourse do we have when the company sets policy? None, correct? When the company eliminates line haul runs in favor of the much less expensive sub service carriers, how will we dispute that? When they place a five level disciplinary process in place and state, in the very next paragraph, that they can arbitrarily skip the first four levels and proceed directly to termination, for any employee, for any reason, how can you deal with that? When they do skip the first four levels and fire you for something trivial, who will stand up for you? Similar wages, infinitely better health care, a grievance and arbitration process etc. etc. etc...This pissing match about who makes more and how many hours you worked is a distraction; very much like a union buster uses distraction and division to split a vote. Here comes another half assed analogy...You've just been in a terrible car accident and you're bleeding to death in the street. The XPO ambulance is 20 miles away but coming down the block is a Teamster ambulance. The teamster ambulance is going to overcharge you but you will make it to the hospital in time and you will live. How many of you intend to wait for the XPO ambulance to get there? Don't you get it yet? They can do anything they want, to whomever they want , whenever they want and their current trend of policy change is a clear indication of their intent to take as much as they can until we say enough is enough. The current Republican administration is clearly intent on busting all unions and unless we do something about it, they will succeed. The Teamsters may be an imperfect organization and I readily admit that, but they are all that is standing between us and slavery at the moment. Join, participate and vote and together we can make right everything that is wrong within this organization. You line haul guys making 85K plus are the minority here and you are also the primary target when it comes to cost cutting. Most of us see 55K to 65K. And even if I had the seniority I needed to get a line haul run, I'd still be fighting this fight for all my coworkers. It's not just about the money.

It’s not the representation that most would object to. It’s being represented by the teamsters. The fact remains, the issues you present are not system wide. In fact, I contend they are the minority. That’s the only logical explanation for the fact that we have over 300 terminals, yet have had less than a dozen either had votes, or looked into representation. One ass of a tm can do a lot of damage to a barn. Your republican argument is moot, as you have had dems in office, and nothing changed. The lesser of two evils argument is a poor one on your part. With our cdl’s, we can walk into any company and get hired on the spot.

I do agree with what you guys are doing, to an extent. I have always felt operating with a p&p written in pencil is not a way to operate. Too much grey area, and room for an ass of a tm to play favourites.

Linehaul guys making 85k plus. There are a lot more than you think. If you don’t have the seniority to get a run, put your time in, or move to a barn that has openings. No sympathy there. I put in 7 years on the flex before I got a bid of any type. These arguments about cutting linehaul and putting in subservice has been around for 20 years plus. Don’t believe it. They try, fail, and we’re right back to where we are.

And slavery... you loose all credibility when you compare what we do and how much we get paid to slave labour.
City or highway.

 

[highspeeds]

I think we need to stop blaming the unions and the employees for companies going under. There are thousands of union companies in this country that are competing very well in their markets. Bad management destroys companies. Bad management destroys pensions. If a company can't offer it's employees a decent compensation package and continue to compete in the market, maybe they should get out of the business and let someone take over with the proper skills to manage it.

The people in power aren't just going to give it up. And the employees won't let it go under because they fear losing their jobs. So it gets worse and then worser.

 

[highspeeds]

Let’s not forget that we didn’t all get that big raise. My barn got .70. That’s seventy cents. We were told we were getting paid “market value”. Sounds like those down south with no o/t. That raise (or lack of) is causing interest in the union at my place.

The union movement is wider than some understand. For a variety of reasons. If there were ever to be a contract. The " I want what they have " crowd would be unstoppable.

 

[highspeeds]

Someone can correct me if i'm wrong but at Xpo your seniority is only held for 1 yr

You need to at least be on light duty at some point. You have to show on a clock after so much time to keep your spot.

Unless they decide it was your fault and fire you. Or wait for you to get healthy and then tell you they don't have a position available for you and you have to find a barn to transfer to or be out of a job.

 

[highspeeds]

It’s not the representation that most would object to. It’s being represented by the teamsters. The fact remains, the issues you present are not system wide. In fact, I contend they are the minority. That’s the only logical explanation for the fact that we have over 300 terminals, yet have had less than a dozen either had votes, or looked into representation. One ass of a tm can do a lot of damage to a barn. Your republican argument is moot, as you have had dems in office, and nothing changed. The lesser of two evils argument is a poor one on your part. With our cdl’s, we can walk into any company and get hired on the spot.

I do agree with what you guys are doing, to an extent. I have always felt operating with a p&p written in pencil is not a way to operate. Too much grey area, and room for an ass of a tm to play favourites.

Linehaul guys making 85k plus. There are a lot more than you think. If you don’t have the seniority to get a run, put your time in, or move to a barn that has openings. No sympathy there. I put in 7 years on the flex before I got a bid of any type. These arguments about cutting linehaul and putting in subservice has been around for 20 years plus. Don’t believe it. They try, fail, and we’re right back to where we are.

And slavery... you loose all credibility when you compare what we do and how much we get paid to slave labour.
City or highway.

You already cut through this post and did a wonderful job. Nothing I can add. Excellent counter points. Across the board.

 

[Hollywoodz]

Someone can correct me if i'm wrong but at Xpo your seniority is only held for 1 yr

That's a good argument. You are getting a lot better at this. Please stick around. This board needs more like you.

Thank you. I value your posts as well.

 

[Hollywoodz]

It’s not the representation that most would object to. It’s being represented by the teamsters. The fact remains, the issues you present are not system wide. In fact, I contend they are the minority. That’s the only logical explanation for the fact that we have over 300 terminals, yet have had less than a dozen either had votes, or looked into representation. One ass of a tm can do a lot of damage to a barn. Your republican argument is moot, as you have had dems in office, and nothing changed. The lesser of two evils argument is a poor one on your part. With our cdl’s, we can walk into any company and get hired on the spot.

I do agree with what you guys are doing, to an extent. I have always felt operating with a p&p written in pencil is not a way to operate. Too much grey area, and room for an ass of a tm to play favourites.

Linehaul guys making 85k plus. There are a lot more than you think. If you don’t have the seniority to get a run, put your time in, or move to a barn that has openings. No sympathy there. I put in 7 years on the flex before I got a bid of any type. These arguments about cutting linehaul and putting in subservice has been around for 20 years plus. Don’t believe it. They try, fail, and we’re right back to where we are.

And slavery... you loose all credibility when you compare what we do and how much we get paid to slave labour.
City or highway.

There are 6 terminals who have certified and several more who voted no. I have personal knowledge of at least 10 more who are close and maybe 6 or 7 more who are considering representation. It's not overly impressive, I agree, but it's still moving forward, so far. I won't get into a political discussion with you here, but Democrats are infinitely more friendly to labor than republicans ever were or ever will be. Democrats haven't done much to help our cause but Republicans have been openly trying to destroy unions for a long time. Let's not forget Regan and the Patco fiasco. We'll see what happens with Janus! The lesser of two evils is valid when you consider that non union companies keep their wages and benefits close to union scale in order to avoid having to deal with the unions. If we stand strictly on principle and refuse to organize because the unions are imperfect, there will be no more unions. What happens to the bar when the people with all the money and all the power decide to lower it. Who will stand in their way?

Line Haul is typically 20% to 25% of the unit. The 75% or 80% don't see anything near the wages line haul enjoys. I'm not taking anything away from you guys. You deserve every penny. Time for us to get what we deserve. I'm not looking for sympathy. I put in 4 years in a no A?C tractor in Miami before I got a bid or Air conditioning. You want to guess when we got rid of the last 19 tractors without A/C? It was immediately before we voted. Coincidence or not? I'll agree the talk of cutting line haul has been around a long time. I will argue that Bradley Jacobs may be the difference this time. Truckload is gone. I don't think it's far fetched to think line haul may be next.

The slavery comment was a poor metaphor. I didn't mean actual slavery in it's usual interpretation. My apologies.

 

[Keepingon]

Agreed. Unfortunately, the union companies are disappearing faster than the competition. Turnover happens regardless. Industries change. Wal-mart thought they were king of the world. And then Amazon. Those are both non union companies. But you get it. King of the hill only lasts so long.

Why aren't there more union jobs being developed ? In your opinion.

I’m just a trucker so it’s just opinion of course. They seem to be doing good developing in other industries I think their not being developed for multiple reasons the perception of the Teamsters has been better, non union companies realized awhile ago paying union rate and better at some companies helps keep employees happier, we have a lot of single younger guys in the industry not worried about later or healthcare coverage and costs you have be screwed a little or witness another guy get screwed before you think about rights and representation. I’m a teamster and it hasn’t been all skittles and rainbows but it’s served me well. I’m sure others have had bad experiences. I also think the union needs to do a better job at getting people to see the 70’s are gone there’s no more shady deals and everything operates within the law.

I wish the XPO guys good health and safe travels however it goes.

 

[Keepingon]

Someone can correct me if i'm wrong but at Xpo your seniority is only held for 1 yr

It’s a small thing in the bigger debate of union or non union but you shouldn’t lose your seniority over an injury. That just blows. A guy gets hurt we should look out for him.

 

[icuicp]

There are 6 terminals who have certified and several more who voted no. I have personal knowledge of at least 10 more who are close and maybe 6 or 7 more who are considering representation. It's not overly impressive, I agree, but it's still moving forward, so far. I won't get into a political discussion with you here, but Democrats are infinitely more friendly to labor than republicans ever were or ever will be. Democrats haven't done much to help our cause but Republicans have been openly trying to destroy unions for a long time. Let's not forget Regan and the Patco fiasco. We'll see what happens with Janus! The lesser of two evils is valid when you consider that non union companies keep their wages and benefits close to union scale in order to avoid having to deal with the unions. If we stand strictly on principle and refuse to organize because the unions are imperfect, there will be no more unions. What happens to the bar when the people with all the money and all the power decide to lower it. Who will stand in their way?

Line Haul is typically 20% to 25% of the unit. The 75% or 80% don't see anything near the wages line haul enjoys. I'm not taking anything away from you guys. You deserve every penny. Time for us to get what we deserve. I'm not looking for sympathy. I put in 4 years in a no A?C tractor in Miami before I got a bid or Air conditioning. You want to guess when we got rid of the last 19 tractors without A/C? It was immediately before we voted. Coincidence or not? I'll agree the talk of cutting line haul has been around a long time. I will argue that Bradley Jacobs may be the difference this time. Truckload is gone. I don't think it's far fetched to think line haul may be next.

The slavery comment was a poor metaphor. I didn't mean actual slavery in it's usual interpretation. My apologies.

You work at XPO. You are trying to unionize your terminal. There are plenty of people on Trucking Boards alone that are in a union and are pro union and have decades of experience with unions and union matters.

But , typically you won't find the more reasonable , well thought out , pro-union people involved here in the discussions that take place.

As you and others progress with you push for unionization , will things be more like you see here on Truckingboards.com or will you get mor participation and help from established union members?

It's obvious what some of the answers will be in a public forum , but honestly it's hard to ignore how little the XPO union effort is mentioned elsewhere and how the most pro-union people with good arguments and a wealth of knowledge add very little ( at least here ) to the discussion.

 

[Hollywoodz]

I’m just a trucker so it’s just opinion of course. They seem to be doing good developing in other industries I think their not being developed for multiple reasons the perception of the Teamsters has been better, non union companies realized awhile ago paying union rate and better at some companies helps keep employees happier, we have a lot of single younger guys in the industry not worried about later or healthcare coverage and costs you have be screwed a little or witness another guy get screwed before you think about rights and representation. I’m a teamster and it hasn’t been all skittles and rainbows but it’s served me well. I’m sure others have had bad experiences. I also think the union needs to do a better job at getting people to see the 70’s are gone there’s no more shady deals and everything operates within the law.

I wish the XPO guys good health and safe travels however it goes.

Great comment, in this truckers humble opinion.

 

[Hollywoodz]

You work at XPO. You are trying to unionize your terminal. There are plenty of people on Trucking Boards alone that are in a union and are pro union and have decades of experience with unions and union matters.

But , typically you won't find the more reasonable , well thought out , pro-union people involved here in the discussions that take place.

As you and others progress with you push for unionization , will things be more like you see here on Truckingboards.com or will you get mor participation and help from established union members?

It's obvious what some of the answers will be in a public forum , but honestly it's hard to ignore how little the XPO union effort is mentioned elsewhere and how the most pro-union people with good arguments and a wealth of knowledge add very little ( at least here ) to the discussion.

My position here is not just bringing the union to non union terminals, but an attempt to urge full participation from those who have been unionized for any length of time. It's a very heavy lift, I'll agree but certainly worth pursuing. Participation in monthly meetings and understanding the issues is the only way to change behavior from leadership. If new leadership is needed, then so be it.

 

[smokin'joe]

The union movement is wider than some understand. For a variety of reasons. If there were ever to be a contract. The " I want what they have " crowd would be unstoppable.

I said before, once the first contract is signed, it'll be a different world around here....that's why the company is pulling all the rabbits outta the hat. I saw in the news that the Aurora drivers won their case against XPO and that could be a game changer.

 

[Tao]

You need to at least be on light duty at some point. You have to show on a clock after so much time to keep your spot.

Unless they decide it was your fault and fire you. Or wait for you to get healthy and then tell you they don't have a position available for you and you have to find a barn to transfer to or be out of a job.

About 10 years ago, on separate occasions, I watched two different guys drag themselves into work and work a day. They had cancer, both passed away. They actually made them peddle. It was one of the more obscene things I've ever witnessed.

 

[XCCX]

I have always felt operating with a p&p written in pencil is not a way to operate. Too much grey area, and room for an ass of a tm to play favourites.

This is no doubt a big problem.

 

[XCCX]

When they do arrive, expect that their best talking points will be half truths and misrepresentations

That is a fact... they will play on the facts.

 

[XCCX]

About 10 years ago, on separate occasions, I watched two different guys drag themselves into work and work a day. They had cancer, both passed away. They actually made them peddle. It was one of the more obscene things I've ever witnessed.

Unfortunately I witnessed it also, the driver worried about his job being held while he was losing his life.