If I'm not mistaken, there's far more money in petro-chemicals than in fuels.

 

The catch 22 to this topic is that to successfully strike, truck drivers need to organize. To organize means to form a union, and yet the majority of what I hear from drivers is how much they dislike unions. But what is a union? It is an employee organization to bargain for better working conditions (pay, hrs, etc). There is no mandate requiring unions to join one of the national organizations so frequently degraded by others, but that would require people to actually do something (make an effort, and participate), and we all know what will happen. It'll be a couple people who will make the effort, and the other lazy drivers will joke about how bad the union is.

So smile when you earn less than your parents did doing this job, and have nothing outside of work to show for always being away. You'll at least have the satisfaction of knowing you weren't part of one of those horrible unions. A union is what you the employees make it. If it "sucks" as people profess, well then I'd say it is a fairly accurate reflection of the employees themselves.

 

Maybe we should start a CAD union. Hell we already got bumper-stickers.

In true union fashion; If you don't join, Rev. will lite-up your rig.

 

Ridge Runner..."Maybe we should start a CAD union. Hell we already got bumper-stickers."

Send a blank signed check to me and I'll get you started. I'm almost afraid to ask on the bumper stickers. Are we talking the Booth Fan Club ones?

Solving the world's problems one forum at a time or more likely creating more problems.

 

Unions don't work.....literally. Union workers are among the most unproductive on this planet. They continue to want more money and benefits for less effort. Talk about lazy drivers?! Unions protect the unproductive while punishing the producers. And if you think that a union is an employee organization, you better think again. Unions are big business and have little to do with the members. Only a handful of those running the union make the big money. The members are merely sheep that are there for the unions to pick their pockets. It is unions and their unrealistic demands that has resulted in thousands of companies either shutting down or moving outside the U.S. It all sounds great...... Join the union and your wages will dramatically increase and you will get all these freebie's all paid for by the mean old company. If you have ever picked up at a steel plant or grocery warehouse that is union you have seen first hand how these people operate. Unions counter the independent spirit of this business that attracted so many over the years. And their retirement is likely to have the same end result as social security.

Besides, a major percentage of drivers are owner operators. We are in business. What are we supposed to do, strike against ourselves for higher wages or more benefits? There is a reason union membership has seen a steady decline over the years. People are seeing them for what they really are.

 

AVC you are dead-on, the strike should have happened in July August 2008. Problem is everyone thought all was well because the fuel surcharge was high. They didnt consider fuel was at the record high point. The strike will never make a difference and truckers will never unite, but we can do better at being polite and helping one another. There are a lot of good truckers on the road, but the few bad apples get the attention.

 

I'll remember your words of wisdom as I'm changing out of my sweat soaked coveralls at the end of each day at my "unproductive" union job.

Actually, working union provides us with the wages and benefits that all workers deserve.

.:clap:

 

Just give up kranky GMan will never get it. He thinks everyone should work for peanuts and 100hours a week for a 40 hour pay.

 

It ain't just union companys doing it. There are alot of non-union companys do the same damn thing. So who is to blame there??? Let me guess the union somehow?

 

When I eventually decide to sell this truck and get out of the O/O game, I'm looking to get a local union driving job. They say they will work me right up to my legally available hours, and will pay me for every hour I work. I will also have medical, dental, 401K, and disability. I'll earn a steady income, and won't waste thousands of free hours in a truck stop every year.

If that makes me unproductive, sign me up.