$33.77 per hour

jamom123

Expert Expediter
Hostess was a perfect example. The bakers union went on strike and hostess closed the doors. A friend of mine and former delivery driver for hostess said all he was allowed to deliver was bread the snacks had to be brought in and delivered by another truck. All thanks to the union. Like I said before there are SOME good unions but most have gotten too big for their BREECHES.

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Moot

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Unions tend to float others boats. I worked for a non-union LTL carrier. Our wages were always slightly less than the current Master Freight Agreement. The disparity was never more than .50/hour or .03/mile. We paid no dues and participated in a company profit sharing program and a matching 401K.
 

scottm4211

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Unions tend to float others boats. I worked for a non-union LTL carrier. Our wages were always slightly less than the current Master Freight Agreement. The disparity was never more than .50/hour or .03/mile. We paid no dues and participated in a company profit sharing program and a matching 401K.

Very true. Same scenario at Toyota up here. Our raises always mysteriously came right after the CAW settled.
 

zorry

Veteran Expediter
In another thread someone mentioned that it was a Union jobsite so safety was taken very seriously.

Kind of sad when you think about it.
 

davekc

Senior Moderator
Staff member
Fleet Owner
I think as mentioned that some unions are good and represent their workers and others have a totally different agenda. Teamsters, UAW, and many (not all) public unions give themselves and others a bad name. It is pretty simple. If they are a good thing, the workers will seek them out. Not the other way around.
As long as some (not all) unions continue to do and defend foolish practices, they will drag them all down. One only has to look at the current public perception. And it isn't very positive.
 

cheri1122

Veteran Expediter
Driver
You're right: public perception isn't very positive. But as OVM & LDB pointed out, much of that perception is simply inaccurate. When OVM wouldn't unload the trucks, they blamed the "not my job" lazy union mentality, but that wasn't the case at all. When LDB's brother in law talks about finishing 8 hrs of work in 4 and going home, people think he's scamming, but that's not the case either.
The negative perception of unions is largely driven by such second [or third] hand anecdotal stories and the press releases put out [often clandestinely] by PR firms working for the company.
Well, that and Jimmy Hoffa, lol. ;)
 

cheri1122

Veteran Expediter
Driver
There's that hilariously incorrect omniscience again.



The passive aggressive hit & run posts add nothing to the discussion, and IMO, people who resort to them should be banned - at least from the Soapbox. Anonymous and/or ambiguous snide remarks do nothing to enhance cred - to the contrary.
 

cheri1122

Veteran Expediter
Driver
Hostess was a perfect example. The bakers union went on strike and hostess closed the doors. A friend of mine and former delivery driver for hostess said all he was allowed to deliver was bread the snacks had to be brought in and delivered by another truck. All thanks to the union. Like I said before there are SOME good unions but most have gotten too big for their BREECHES.

In 2004, the unions made major concessions to get Hostess out of bankruptcy. They did it again in 2009.
They're certainly not blameless, but where is the blame for the private equity companies involved? Where is the blame for mismanagement? How about the 80% raises for management they tried to sneak through in the year before declaring bankruptcy a second time? Was that the union's fault, too?

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jamom123

Expert Expediter
Hostess was a perfect example. The bakers union went on strike and hostess closed the doors. A friend of mine and former delivery driver for hostess said all he was allowed to deliver was bread the snacks had to be brought in and delivered by another truck. All thanks to the union. Like I said before there are SOME good unions but most have gotten too big for their BREECHES.

In 2004, the unions made major concessions to get Hostess out of bankruptcy. They did it again in 2009.
They're certainly not blameless, but where is the blame for the private equity companies involved? Where is the blame for mismanagement? How about the 80% raises for management they tried to sneak through in the year before declaring bankruptcy a second time? Was that the union's fault, too?

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I certainly don't know the entire story behind what happened with hostess and I'm sure my friend (the delivery driver) doesn't either. Just going by the information he gave me.

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LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
The passive aggressive hit & run posts add nothing to the discussion, and IMO, people who resort to them should be banned - at least from the Soapbox. Anonymous and/or ambiguous snide remarks do nothing to enhance cred - to the contrary.

Just responding to the totally incorrect omniscient declaration of what I think and believe.
 

cheri1122

Veteran Expediter
Driver
Just responding to the totally incorrect omniscient declaration of what I think and believe.

Which declaration is that? Because the ones I mentioned were taken directly from your own words, no omniscience needed, or assumed. If I'm wrong, speak up - I don't ignore people, like some cowards do.

Say it or don't.
 

LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
I never said $33.77 was appalling. Those words were put into my keyboard as it were apparently by omniscience. You aren't alone however and in fact are probably far less omniscient than some others. I brought it up as a thinking/talking point. I would not turn it down. I would not think myself grossly overpaid or abusively underpaid either one. Hence the concluding "Adequate pay?" to the OP.
 

Pilgrim

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
I'm wondering if their health insurance will fall under the "Cadillac plans" that will be taxed extra under Obamacare. Like them or not the UAW has been a major force and it seems that they would have fought for top quality health insurance.
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Not only the UAW, but also the public sector unions will be subject to Obama's 40% excise tax on "Cadillac" health plans; but for some reason he decided to delay it's taking effect until 2018 :confused:- well after the 2016 presidential elections. The unions still don't like it, so don't be surprised if they get exempted altogether if the Democrats keep the Senate and/or the White House.
First, they insisted that the tax be delayed, to 2018, unlike most of the other taxes in the law. They claimed that a postponement gave them time to adjust multi-year collective bargaining contracts; cynics believed that unions would use a delay to attempt to quash the tax altogether.

Unions then carved out all sorts of exceptions to the tax, establishing a higher tax threshold for “law enforcement officers…employees in fire protection activities…individuals who provide out-of-hospital emergency medical care (including emergency medical technicians, paramedics, and first-responders), individuals whose primary work is longshore work…and indviduals engaged in the construction, mining, agriculture (not including food processing), forestry and fishing industries.” Coincidentally, workers in these areas tend to be heavily unionized.
All these carve-outs and delays forced Democrats to raise taxes in myriad other ways in order to bring Obamacare closer to deficit neutrality. So if there’s a tax you don’t like in Obamacare, there’s a good chance that it’s in there because unions delayed the Cadillac tax.

Labor Unions' Latest Problem: Obamacare's 'Cadillac Tax' Harms Their Gold-Plated Health Insurance Plans - Forbes
 
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