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XPO | Xpo Union Thread.

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Hollywoodz said:
This is bottom line as best as I can say it. What you have posted has a ring of truth. Take YRC out of the conversation. Any union is only as strong as its membership. Despite the apparent "cave in" in recent negotiations, union companies still enjoy benefits we can only dream of. Health Care and Retirement alone should be enough of a benefit to cause at least a buzz around the possibility of unionization. My opinion is that the grievance and arbitration process is worth its weight in gold...for those who may need it. Considering the direction this company is going with their disciplinary changes, many of us are gong to need it. Open door policy usually results in a kangaroo court.

If you pay attention to the news lately, there have been dozens of strikes from teachers and other unions that have been successful. And the real bottom line is that the Teamsters are at their weakest point in their history, however, I believe 2019 will prove to be a turning point with respect to other organizing efforts. Companies are ratifying new contracts all the time. IF WE ARE ABLE TO EXPAND MEMBERSHIP IN THE FREIGHT DIVISION, WE WILL BE AS STRONG AS EVER. If not, who knows. Keep in mind , 80% of all goods sold in this country arrive by truck. If we stood together, there would be no need for a strike. Just the suggestion would bring them ALL to their knees.
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But we can’t take yrc out of the conversation. It’s part of the conversation. As all all union shops. It’s shows those of us who are not fans of the teamsters, how strong, or in this case it seems, how poorly they negotiated. We can’t remove them from the discussion. Its part and parcel. Can’t suck and blow at the same time.
 
upnorth said:
But we can’t take yrc out of the conversation. It’s part of the conversation. As all all union shops. It’s shows those of us who are not fans of the teamsters, how strong, or in this case it seems, how poorly they negotiated. We can’t remove them from the discussion. Its part and parcel. Can’t suck and blow at the same time.
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When I said take YRC out, it was because they have been so poorly mismanaged through the years, no one could have negotiated anything better. No union can get what's not there and no union can fix poor management. In YRC's case, they got everything there was to get. Union economists have access to the companies financials. They can't cry poverty unless they're really poor. If they called a strike, I believe that YRC would have closed.

On the other hand, most other LTL's were doing fine until the freight shortage. A few bumps in the road, but the freight will come back. It always does and those companies can easily afford to sweeten the pot a bit for their employees.

We all know I am prone to daydreams, but what if even 50% of drivers decided not to come to work on Monday?
 
I worked for yrc. Roadway before the merge.
When I say worked. I do mean worked.
As long as you worked they left me alone.
I didn't cause trouble. Sure I filed on legitimate grievances and usually won them.
I knew if I got my azz in a crack I wasn't going to loose my job. Trust me. Over the time I was there I got my azz in a crack more than a few times. But also got people off my azz to when harassment was involved. I had problems with that toward the end of my "career" there. Lol. (only because of the revolving doors and my age.)
I knew I wasn't going to loose my job over some silly ::shit::. I knew that as long as I showed up and move the freight (I was on the dock 80% of my time) I was left alone. And that's all I wanted. I know this is not a sure fire positive thing for having union rules to cover your back. But it was nice to know they were there. Now I never worked for a non. I never worked for any other LTL company. So I don't know if they leave you alone if you just show up and work and let you go after 8 hours. I didn't want overtime and I never was forced to do it. I did some on the street but that was expected. Customers are slow. And we had alot when I started. I got my 40 hours every week. Some voluntary overtime. Holidays and such. But in all the time I worked there I never worried about losing my job. Never.
I was laid off one time in over 30 years. And I got overtime that week I got laid.off.
Even when they were on the brink in 08-09. I'm not pushing for or against unions.
That's up to you guys at xpo.
One thing I must say.
Union or not we have to stick together.
The company does not care about each individual employee.
Once your gone someone takes your place. Period.
Your not even a footnote. Your just gone.
Union or not.
I don't miss the place one bit. I won't go back to "visit".
I don't know why people do go back and visit. I have no desire to do so.
I keep in contact with several people I started with. But I don't have to go up there to do it.
When I retired I never looked back in fondness or any other way.
I'm just trying to erase all the crap. I won't go into that. But that happens everywhere any job.
I'm doing pretty good at erasing it too.
Just a few thoughts from someone who has been there.
One thing I'm really happy to be away from is all the drama some create.
I speak from experience now. When your gone none of that made any difference.
Oh I am so happy to be away from the drama people. Nons have them too I'm sure. And the backdoor deals and steward buddies. Nons don't have that. But may have the backdoor deals.
It seemed like when I was in it ... it would never end. But now that it has its as though it never happened because I moved on. And that's the good part. I haven't been gone but maybe 7 months but it seems I've been gone for years. Lol.
I'm looking forward to the best part of my life. Not working!
But I wish you all the best of luck in whatever you do.
After all we basically did the same work. Union or not.
 
Hollywoodz said:
When I said take YRC out, it was because they have been so poorly mismanaged through the years, no one could have negotiated anything better. No union can get what's not there and no union can fix poor management. In YRC's case, they got everything there was to get. Union economists have access to the companies financials. They can't cry poverty unless they're really poor. If they called a strike, I believe that YRC would have closed.

On the other hand, most other LTL's were doing fine until the freight shortage. A few bumps in the road, but the freight will come back. It always does and those companies can easily afford to sweeten the pot a bit for their employees.

We all know I am prone to daydreams, but what if even 50% of drivers decided not to come to work on Monday?
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I don't think we will see a time in the near future where 1/2 of the drivers will decide not to come to work, I'd be surprised if we ever saw 5% of them strike. Most of us gross on average between 1200 to 1800 dollars per week, now if the union could pony up that kind of money to cover strikers on a weekly basis you might see your 50%. It's not so much that workers don't want to strike. I mean, based on what I was reading in the YRC forum leading up to the new contract I think a bunch of them would have went on strike but they simply couldn't afford it.
 
ScotchNeat said:
I don't think we will see a time in the near future where 1/2 of the drivers will decide not to come to work, I'd be surprised if we ever saw 5% of them strike. Most of us gross on average between 1200 to 1800 dollars per week, now if the union could pony up that kind of money to cover strikers on a weekly basis you might see your 50%. It's not so much that workers don't want to strike. I mean, based on what I was reading in the YRC forum leading up to the new contract I think a bunch of them would have went on strike but they simply couldn't afford it.
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Money talks. And , even with the downturns lately in the stock market , how many drivers are millionaires or on the way to becoming millionaires with their 401k's? How many have 401k loans?

Point being , with all that going on , some people would just show up to work to avoid any disruptions.
 
ScotchNeat said:
I don't think we will see a time in the near future where 1/2 of the drivers will decide not to come to work, I'd be surprised if we ever saw 5% of them strike. Most of us gross on average between 1200 to 1800 dollars per week, now if the union could pony up that kind of money to cover strikers on a weekly basis you might see your 50%. It's not so much that workers don't want to strike. I mean, based on what I was reading in the YRC forum leading up to the new contract I think a bunch of them would have went on strike but they simply couldn't afford it.
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I agree completely. But the point I was trying to make was that IF you could get even 50% of drivers on the same page, you wouldn't have to strike. Just the suggestion would strike fear in their hearts.
 
icuicp said:
Money talks. And , even with the downturns lately in the stock market , how many drivers are millionaires or on the way to becoming millionaires with their 401k's? How many have 401k loans?

Point being , with all that going on , some people would just show up to work to avoid any disruptions.
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Many of the guys by me are 1 paycheck away from a soup kitchen, so your point is well taken.
 
ScotchNeat said:
I don't think we will see a time in the near future where 1/2 of the drivers will decide not to come to work, I'd be surprised if we ever saw 5% of them strike. Most of us gross on average between 1200 to 1800 dollars per week, now if the union could pony up that kind of money to cover strikers on a weekly basis you might see your 50%. It's not so much that workers don't want to strike. I mean, based on what I was reading in the YRC forum leading up to the new contract I think a bunch of them would have went on strike but they simply couldn't afford it.
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These companies know most drivers could not afford to be on strike for any amount of time. Had a strike near me last year after one week over half crossed the line and went back to work. Just look what UPS did and call there bluff, basically told the to go on strike.
 
icuicp said:
Money talks. And , even with the downturns lately in the stock market , how many drivers are millionaires or on the way to becoming millionaires with their 401k's? How many have 401k loans?

Point being , with all that going on , some people would just show up to work to avoid any disruptions.
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The technical definition of "millionaire" is a person (or a married couple) with a net worth greater than $1 million U.S. dollars (or equal currency). Net worth represents a person's assets minus their liabilities. Net worth is described as "what you own minus what you owe."

All I have to say is that if you keep all your money for retirement in one 401K account you are asking for trouble.
 
ScotchNeat said:
Good discussion going on here so let me throw in my 2 cents. A couple of guys hit on the 2 wage earner family being today's status quo, the question is why has that become so? Without reviewing any data, I'm just gonna take a stab in the dark, but here is my best guess. The apex of union power in the country was after WWII through the early 1970's. Where did that strength come from? The easy answer is numbers, but I think it runs deeper than that. Union strength came from a large availability of money in the private sector, money that isn't so available now. But there's more. Buying power was greater then than it is now, by far. I remember when I was a kid in 1973, my father bought a new 3/4 ton Chevy window van for, if I remember right....$3700.00. How much would that same van cost today? What's a 3/4 ton pick up truck cost today? What happened to the value of our currency from then to now? Let's look at cars again, this time moving up 10 years. The late seventies ushered in the era of unleaded gasoline, why did we need it? Because of new emissions standards that required catalytic converters. And this wasn't isolated to just cars, oh no, the government started mandating all kinds of new rules and regulations pertaining to everything from pollution, to water conservation, to workplace safety, and tort law which makes it way easier for frivolous law suits to be viable. Along with the new regulations came compliance costs in the form of fines, fees, permits, and expenditures, just like the latest expenditure our company is about to fork out for the new mandated ELD software. Now I'm not saying I'm against all govt intervention, but there is no denying the cumulative effect of all this bull::::shit:::: occurring over time, not to mention the new taxes we've had to fork out as the federal govt expands, eventually pulls money out of the private sector, both from businesses and individuals. What else has changed for the worse? Oh the new global economy, that's what. I think one of the worst things that ever happened to our country was Nixon giving China access to the United States. Look at what an economic monster China has evolved into. Over the decades Congresses and Presidents since Nixon have made trade deals with China and then stood by and watched them take our good paying jobs. As a kid, my best friend's dad drove truck for Zenith, the company that used to make television sets right here in the USA, it was Teamster job and he made damn good money. Zenith went away and so did his job, like so many other solid manufacturing jobs of durable goods. Bringing it up to today. Looking back after the 18 months or so, as to how our company has reacted to a slowing economy and depressed freight levels, I am open to hearing about what the Teamsters can do for the drivers. But at the same time, I also must realize that while our company has relatively deep pockets, they aren't the same deep pockets of decades gone by and that it's no longer possible that today's union benefits ever equate to those of years gone by.
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You must remember after WWII we were the ONLY industrialized nation left. We bomb the ::shit:: out of Europe and Japan. Every factory was leveled. There was a great boom in the USA because they need what we had to rebuild everything. As for China nobody even looked twice at them. Our greed as got the best of us and now other county are making better, faster, and cheaper then we can.

My 2012 truck sticker price was $42K when I bought it in 2012 that same truck in 2019 is over $62K that means that same truck price went up over $2,800 every year for 7 years.

I have to say what do we do as Americans to help our fellow American workers. I do everything I can and buy American. Both my vehicle are American made, Last year I replace all the appliance in my kitchen and I bought Maytag all made in the USA. Sure I could have went to Home Depot, Lowes, or Best buy and saved some money on some foreign made stuff, but I went to the local mom and pop store and bought them. I got better service too. So yes we all need to look at ourselves first and buy what we can that was made in the USA.
 
highspeeds said:
If there are 100,000 employees as Jacobs says. And they all got a $5,000 raise in compensation. That would be $500,000,000.00 out of pocket on a company that measures things in billions. So 1/2 of one billion.
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Just a $1 per hr raise cost them $2080 per person and by you number that's $208,000,000.00 without any OT
 
Fly-by-night said:
Are you saying that a govt run healthcare system would be better????? Tell me you joking all you have to do is look at England, Canada
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Nope, I did not say that. That’s your words.

Merely stating that if the government put a single payer system in place companies would not offer employer sponsored healthcare. Therefore it would not be a negotiable item. I said nothing as to the quality of the care. Hope that clarified it for you.
 
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Fly-by-night said:
I have to say what do we do as Americans to help our fellow American workers. I do everything I can and buy American.
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So you support labor ? You are for unions and the betterment of American labor , just long as it’s not in the trucking industry? American made cars are union shops( except for foreign brands) . So you must see some value in unions because your supporting union made brands. Help me understand why it’s ok for some and not for others.

Why not buy from non union makers if your anti union and support them ? Your labor beliefs do not support your buying habits
 
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Fly-by-night said:
The technical definition of "millionaire" is a person (or a married couple) with a net worth greater than $1 million U.S. dollars (or equal currency). Net worth represents a person's assets minus their liabilities. Net worth is described as "what you own minus what you owe."

All I have to say is that if you keep all your money for retirement in one 401K account you are asking for trouble.
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I'm a millionaire. In pesos.
 
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