saddletramp
07-12-2005, 04:33 AM
I have been doing some thinking about how we can get this forum up and active, so what I would like to hear from you is some discussions on topics concerning companies that have a labor agreement that you may come in contact with, or your thoughts on some of the places that you may deliver or pick up at where there is a labor agreement in place.
We all have run into the "lazy" dock worker with an attitude or the city P&D driver who just doesn't seem to care whether or not he gets his deliveries and pickups done in a timely manner. Have you ever wondered what causes these people to act this way? Do you feel that they are reacting to a manager who rides there backside all day and they have taken this negative attitude as a reaction back to the company, or do you feel that these people are overpaid slugs who know they can get away with there actions because the "union" will protect them from losing there job?
Let me give you a little background on me and my years in the Teamsters. I actually started driving truck in the late sixties for a guy who has a hay hauling operation here in Eastern Wash. His son and I went to school together and the Father would have us take the truck and trailer combination rigs to where the hay fields were and load them, then bring them back to the yard. He paid us 30 bucks a truck load and we would load about 3 trucks a day on the weekends. 90 bucks a weekend when you were 18 was pretty good money.
After graduation I was able to get a job with a local cartage company and at that point I was forced to join the Teamsters Union to continue to work there. I didn't like the idea of having to pay an initiation fee and dues to have a job like this but some of the oldtimers there told me to be patient and learn what benefits would come in the years ahead.
Well, after almost 35 years now of working Teamster jobs in construction, freight, and for the last 18 years working for UPS as a linehaul driver I am looking at retirement in a couple of years with a good pension and benefits. Did the union get this for me? In a way they did, but it was me who walked in the door of all those companies and sold myself to them to get the job. Not once in all those years did the Teamsters find me a job, but I didn't expect them to; I felt that was my responsibility.
I have always felt that the Teamsters was there to negotiate my working agreement, and manage my health and welfare plans for me, not to "get my job back" when I screwed up.
When I worked construction and was laid off in the winter, I would hit the bricks and find something to do, like drive over the road for a local OTR carrier and run the west coast or mid west. You gain alot of respect for those who run over the road and spend alot of time from home when you go out and do the work yourself.
I hope that there can not only be some good and lively discussions come to this forum, but also some education for all who don't understand the "union" way of life, and for the union members to be able to understand the "non union" way of life also.
And I do have a good scense of humor for those who like to rib the union guy!
Union or Non Union, we are all in this together! :)
We all have run into the "lazy" dock worker with an attitude or the city P&D driver who just doesn't seem to care whether or not he gets his deliveries and pickups done in a timely manner. Have you ever wondered what causes these people to act this way? Do you feel that they are reacting to a manager who rides there backside all day and they have taken this negative attitude as a reaction back to the company, or do you feel that these people are overpaid slugs who know they can get away with there actions because the "union" will protect them from losing there job?
Let me give you a little background on me and my years in the Teamsters. I actually started driving truck in the late sixties for a guy who has a hay hauling operation here in Eastern Wash. His son and I went to school together and the Father would have us take the truck and trailer combination rigs to where the hay fields were and load them, then bring them back to the yard. He paid us 30 bucks a truck load and we would load about 3 trucks a day on the weekends. 90 bucks a weekend when you were 18 was pretty good money.
After graduation I was able to get a job with a local cartage company and at that point I was forced to join the Teamsters Union to continue to work there. I didn't like the idea of having to pay an initiation fee and dues to have a job like this but some of the oldtimers there told me to be patient and learn what benefits would come in the years ahead.
Well, after almost 35 years now of working Teamster jobs in construction, freight, and for the last 18 years working for UPS as a linehaul driver I am looking at retirement in a couple of years with a good pension and benefits. Did the union get this for me? In a way they did, but it was me who walked in the door of all those companies and sold myself to them to get the job. Not once in all those years did the Teamsters find me a job, but I didn't expect them to; I felt that was my responsibility.
I have always felt that the Teamsters was there to negotiate my working agreement, and manage my health and welfare plans for me, not to "get my job back" when I screwed up.
When I worked construction and was laid off in the winter, I would hit the bricks and find something to do, like drive over the road for a local OTR carrier and run the west coast or mid west. You gain alot of respect for those who run over the road and spend alot of time from home when you go out and do the work yourself.
I hope that there can not only be some good and lively discussions come to this forum, but also some education for all who don't understand the "union" way of life, and for the union members to be able to understand the "non union" way of life also.
And I do have a good scense of humor for those who like to rib the union guy!
Union or Non Union, we are all in this together! :)