Teamsters and UPS Frieght
 

The Teamsters are now at our barn looking to get us organized.
I am looking to get both sides of the story from anyone who can help. Part of me would like to sign up and get the protection they offer as Fl;orida is a right to work state and you can get fired for peeing on the toilet seat.
My questions are,
does being a Teamster give you protection from being fired at will?

if you go on strike do you still have to pay member dues?

How can a family man pay his bills if he is on strike, this one worries me a lot as I have a family to support and walking a picket line with no money to pay the bills is scarey, Yes i do plan for a rainy day however some strikes can last a long time.

Any other information / suggestions you have would be very helpful, this is all new to me. I am attending an organizational meeting this weekend and would like to be armed with some knowledge before going in to it.

Thanks for your ideas and help...

Timberwolf

Timber,

Heres my thoughts and some of my experience with the teamsters. My experience is from a previous job with Sysco where we were teamsters,

Protection from the teamsters will basically be good for you. Lets say pre teamsters, managers having a bad day. You looked at him wrong and he says you fired. What options do you have? None you go find another job and/or collect unemployment.

With the teamsters this same situation would be that you file grievance. Your shop steward. Then from there it gets grieved and you go to arbitration. They find in favor of you due to the unethical activities that the manager did. You now get your job back, plus all back pay that you lost do to the circumstances.

I am not sure about the member dues if on strike.

The chances of a strike are slim. Yes they do happen but UPS's last strike was in 1992 I think. If you do strike you will not get paid, however you are striking because you are looking for better conditions than what you currently have. UPS just signed their contract for 5 years. So once you get a contract you will be set.

Here a couple sites that may help with some of your uncertainty.

www.teamsters.org

http://freight2008.org/news.php

I am definitley for being a teamster. Yeah there is some goofy things that go on but, my opinion is we getter better things than non union. IE, benfits,pay,pension etc....

I am sure more people will respond there are a few of us on here.

yes you still pay member dues and if your laied off you need to go in and pay so much to take you off active (back then i think it was $5 )other wise you keep paying member dues and it build up...i found that out the hard way :shock:

But being in a Union has its downside also. Once they are in all the runs go up on bid based on Senority and if you have little time with the company you will get the worst runs there are till that person retires. Benefits will be good however just do not do on Strike you do you will lose EVERYTHING you have. The Teamsters pay you 75 a week to be on strike considering what you make a week while working it is a pittance and they could pay you alot more considering Hoffa Jr gets a salary of 400K a year as President and does nothing.

:roll:

My brother works for UPS and his 20 years is coming up in 2010. He's been a package driver the whole time and will retire with a pension of $4000 a month. Yeah, those Teamsters are soooooo horrible. He had to strike last time. But, he had money in the bank(like most responsible people do) and weathered it just fine. And because of that solidarity they got a good contract. And because of that last strike in 1997 hurt UPS so bad they signed their new contract 7 months before the old one expired. I've worked union and non-union. Without a doubt, the union gigs always had better pay and benefits every time. Power in numbers people.

Then ask any of the Old timers that were with the Teamsters in the 1970's before Deregulation during the strikes back then. My father was one and had a choice to make cross the line to feed his family and save his house or try to live on 20 bucks a week strike pay. He chose to cross and now the teamsters is refusing to pay him his EARNED pension calling him a SCAB WORKER FOR SOMETHING HE DID IN THE 70'S.

Again more incorrect information and tall tales... :lol:

Big Diesel take a F&&&ING LEAP OFF A CLIFF AND DIE.

Why would Big Diesel wanna do something like that? Could you imagine what that would do to his MVR, if he leaped off of a clift? :shock: :P :lol:

Just think what my insurance rates would do !!! :shock:


:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

They would jump through the roof! :P :lol:

So what you're saying is he had no money saved? Who's fault is that? The union? Is he a "scab"? Yep. The only reason a company wants to break a union is to save money. Money that would pay for better benefits, retirement and salary. So sometimes a worker will need to sacrafice a little in the short term to benefit in the long term. Do you think my brother wanted to strike? No. He has a wife and kids too. He had to make cuts and use money he had saved to get through. But he knew what needed to be done and did it. And now he's set to retire after only 20 years. How many people can do that now? Not many.

I'm not saying every union is perfect. They all have their flaws and one of my biggest complaints is that they keep bad employees around longer. The other complaint is they can ruin an industry if they can't adapt and make concessions, ie the auto makers, airlines. Those guys in the auto workers union got too greedy and lost thier jobs over it. As long as a contract is sensible, like at UPS, then both sides win.

My wife is a teacher here in Texas where public workers are prohibited by law to be unionized. The result is mediocre pay and terrible benefits. Before Texas my wife was a teacher in Nevada where they had representation and the pay and benefits were better. In NV she had myself and our two kids covered under a pretty good PPO health plan for $300 a month. In TX a high deductable HMO is $1000 a month. That's pretty much the standard for the TX school districts and my wife works for one of the most sought after districts.

There's a pretty good reason union jobs are hard to get and that's because nobody leaves. They get good pay, benefits and retirement that they often can't get from non-union employers.

Greg about 80% of the truckers in the 70's were Union and the Teamsters had more power than the UAW. However if you ever crossed one of their lines they would make your life a living hell. After my dad did cross that line to FEED US and keep our house and that was his reason not to BREAK THE UNION he had tires slashed windsheilds broken on his truck so he could not move. He refused to let them stop sayng I will not be bullied into submission by a bunch of hardheads. They found the ones doing it and threw the book at them. Turns out it was the LOCALS PRESIDENT AND HIS SHOP STEWARD UNDER ORDERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL. Maybe that has somthing to do with him not getting his pension. At the time he was driving for Artam the LARGEST FLATBED company out there.

Well, we already bid runs by seniority, always have. Overnite is history and UPS is the new sherriff in town. UPS has aprox 200,000 union employees compared to about 20,000 at the new UPS Freight. They also have alot of rules. Overnite was very laid back. Face it, its a union company and I'd rather be a part of the majority. I signed my union card. For those who dont know I work at UPSF, which used to be Overnite. I also think the unions and the employers have learned from their mistakes. Unions have found out what happens when they drain the company. They both work harder to avoid labor issues and strikes.

IMHO, one would have to be a glutton for punishment and abuse to work in the truckin' biz w/o union representation. Just look at the OTR guys. If you non-union OTR drivers want to keep working for nothing, or working insanely long hours for something, than more power to you. That leaves more spoils for the union guys. And no, non-union shops are NOT bleeding the unions dry. If anything is it's the influx of cheap labor from south of the border.

Aaaaaaaah!!! Come on Mugs -----Tell US how ya really feel.

Then explain to the newbie's out there, how come they're going to have to sit at the house, waiting for a phone call from dispatch, because they are bottom of the board, and there isn't work today..or tomorrow..or the day after that...because the senior guys work everyday.

Ok
 

Before I came back on OTR with Crete I drove for Walgreens out of Houston as a casual driver. Got good runs and penty of days but hated driving local. The company drivers were Teamsters.

Personally I will do better doing my own retirement with my two 401K's and land I own and other investments than I would of done by relying on a pension. I also have a great rainy day savings built up but I am single with no kids to drain me.

While with Walgreens I talked to the other drivers about the Union there (Teamsters) and was told at that time they planned on going with another Union as they had honored a strike and refused to cross lines. When they then had to go on strike themselves and expected them to reciprocate they did not and picked up the slack at Walgreens. They were not happy and the strike ended quickly because of it. So the Teamsters seem to not really care for all their people.

Because seniority has it's privleges. Unlike OTR where the top-rate men get starved out.

I went through the layoffs, waiting by the phone, junk runs, etc. Some guys quit and went back OTR but I stuck it out. After awhile I landed a bid-run and am presently set for life because of my seniority. Start at 0830 everyday and off by 1830 and gross over $1,000 per week with weekends and holidays off. So tell me how the OTR guys have it better pissing in parking lots and living out of a box? :roll:

It's not easy. And it involves a 4-letter word that most steering-wheel holders don't want to hear...WORK. You've got to pay your dues to move up the totem pole. Any other way is non-union abuse of seniorty. Although I'm sure guys like you like it that way.

CFM except for one company the LONGER I WAS THERE THE BETTER I WAS TREATED FOR THE SIMPLE REASON I PULLED REEFER AND MY LOADS SHOWED UP NO DAMAGE AND ON TIME. When the new guys are showing late frozen produce claims up the butt and not caring the company will give the loads to those who have proven them like they should.

I've worked at UPS for 18 years. There are always pros and cons to being unionized. However, the pros far outweigh the cons.

Cons: Union dues @ 20.50 a week.
Strike possible every 4 to 7 years depending on contract.
Lots of distrust between labor and management.


Pros: $28.17 an hour. Made $74,000 in 2007.
Free health insurance. Yearly deductible of $100 for the
whole family.
$100 dollars a month in pension for every year I work.
25 years = $2,500 a month in pension. 30 years = 3,000 a
month. Plus a 401k and stock plan where I can buy stock at a
%10 discount.
A contract that spells out everything.
Grievance hearings to challenge company breaking contract.
Protection: Not fat guy doing nothing protection, but if you're
wronged you have route to get your job back.
5 weeks of vaction now, 6 weeks in 2 years, and 7 in 7 years.
That's the max.


All in all I like being in a union. I work my butt off and I get paid well to do it. Is it perfect? No, but what is. All I know is that I sure have a lot of people telling me how lucky I am.

That's the way it's supposed to work. The longer you're with a company the more choice you have to pick your route. Otherwise, without a union, some guys nephew rolls in and gets the gravy routes all because "he knows someone." Or, some supervisor doesn't like you and sticks you with the crap routes. Not fair but with a union in place you have an avenue to fix the problem. Unions would not even exist if employers treated people right in the first place.

AMEN

Thank you guys for your honest opinions, I am going to sign my card today and look forward to what is coming in the future.

Ibamars when I was an Executive Chef in Denver the Sysco guys were also Teamsters, They were awesome to deal with and would help me out a lot when bringing in my deliveries, of course I kept them fed really good. I can remember a few times my driver would get to the hotel and his load had shifted during transit all he did was call the office and they sent someone down to straighten out his load. He had it made, but then came the grocery workers strike in Denver and after a few weeks the teamsters decided to unify with them in the strike and he was worried, and so was I as who would deliver my food? Fortunately with the Teamsters joining in the grocery mangers came up with a new contract very quick, and life moved on..
Are you with UPS now?
Again thanks for your help..

Timberwolf

Hey brown67 my sister in law works the Denver Hub for ground, she has been there over 20 years now. My wife is from littleton area and I grew up in Evergreen

Your right Mugs. Attaining seniority is a lot of work. I never had to worry about seniority for anything other than my shift bid, for 14 years. In those 14 years, I went from driver number 36 in seniority to number 14, out of 65 at the terminal. The thing about my bid though, is it was an entire year of the same days and start time. I did not need to sit at home and wait for a call from dispatch. If I wanted OT, I told dispatch the last day of my week that I wanted to work, and I knew what time to start, what truck to drive, and where I would be going, before I started that night.

In 2002, the year before I took lay-off, I made $84,300 in wages. As a local bid driver, working the bottom of the board for 05 & 06, I made a combined for the 2 years, $68.900. As an O/O, in 07, I grossed $145,987, and had over 3 months off.

My point for this thread though is this, The way LTL bids work...by the day..correct? The guy on the bottom of the pole stands a good chance of not working any given week, because the list does not ever rotate. Senior driver bids every day.
As an O/O I work first in first out. If I don't want to work..I don't. I grossed more in January this year, than I did for nov & dec of 07 combined.

Orangetxguy has some valid points. If you want to work for a company, then union is a great way to go. Being at the bottom stinks, but after that its great. An o/o never has a ceiling to how far they can go. Also, no bottom to how low they can go too. Start with one truck and go from there. In the end it just boils down to what you like and what works best for you and your family.

So when UPS Freight becomes part of the union, does this mean they OTR drivers will be paid better? They offered me a job today but I was disappointed to hear what the pay rate was for OTR work to be honest..

Floored

You must be talking about UPS Freight Truckload. Thats a different division from LTL and doesnt pay as well. They compete with other OTR companies for freight and pay their drivers OTR wages. The union is organizing the LTL division.

my experience.. twice
 

I really don't want to pee in the wheaties of anybody, but (as a wannabe trucker) at present, I would prefer to have nothing to do with unions, and the Teamsters in particular.

Twice I've worked union shops with the Teamsters. Both times I've been burned.

The first time was with the food service/hotel people in Williamsburg Va. When it came time to negotiating a new contract, the union kindly negotiated us a pay *decrease* of 25 cents per hour, and a reduction in benefits. ( I won't discuss the letters sent by the union to the members - other than to comment that grammar and spelling were not professional).

The second time I was working security in the Seattle area. Contract time comes around and *poof*.. a 10 cent/hour reduction in pay. Never had any benefits to start with.. didn't have any to end with.

Those are my direct experiences. One other that I can mention happened to my father a few years ago. The maintenance and custodial staff where he was working at the time were union (I don't know which). As such, part of the contract was that ANY furniture moving (desks, etc) were to be handled by the facilities people. Dad wanted a 4-drawer filing cabinet moved from one side of his office to the other (about 8 feet). Dutifully, he submitted the work request. After 2 weeks and repeated calls to facilities, he finally moved the thing himself.
And was docked a FULL DAY'S PAY. (I've seen the check stub)
Sorry, that's a full blown crock. It's not as though the facilities group was swamped with work or under staffed, either. They just fell into that group of employees that feel they can say "Screw you, I'm union- you can't fire me". And you can't say it's not the fault of the union they have that attitude - it's the union that promotes it.

So.. while I assume the unions have done good out there, I've never had any personal good come from my association with one.

Yeah I'm not sure.. I know its out of the Stockton terminal which I see joined Teamsters.. They are paying for 3yrs exp. a rate of .37cpm right now, which seemed low to me.

Yep its UPS Freight Truckload.. Man all these companies are getting carried away with all their divisions and what not.. lol


hmmm.. decisions decisions..

It all depends on the union. I worked for the southern CA grocery union and they couldnt negotiate a contract to save their lives. My dad works for the grocery driver teamsters and has gotten a raise or somethin that benifited the drivers every contract. It all depends on the area and the strength of the union in that area. Yea you screwed you first couple years, my dad was working 3 to to 4 days a week for his first year then did sleeper team for 2 years, but after 19 years he is like #76 ot of 400 and makes between 70-82k a year. they also put in the new contract that the bottom 20 guys are gaurenteed 40 hrs a weekand a schedule, no more calling in and praying for work.

Re: my experience.. twice
 

Go work for these non-union coolie OTR carriers and live on the road for weeks out of a rolling cage making .36 cpm on HHG miles. Then work for a union LTL outift making $70k and paid for everything and then you'll change your tune.

Re: my experience.. twice
 

Re: my experience.. twice
 

Some people make mistakes and learn from them. They are given a second chance. Too bad CFM was a little slow on the up-take. :wink:


Ridge[/quote]


What are you saying? Is CFM banned? I didnt see anything. Is Jared not allowed to promote a union? Is Jared really CFM reincarnated? Please clarify.

Re: my experience.. twice
 

So what's the deal with CFM? Did you guys ban him? I honestly don't think that was needed. Yeah, he gets a little rough at times, but he does offer up a valid point. He also is a good source for those looking for advice on LTL work. Let the guy back in. The whiners who get upset every time he offers a dissenting view just need to ignore him. It's really that easy.

Re: my experience.. twice
 

What are you saying? Is CFM banned? I didnt see anything. Is Jared not allowed to promote a union? Is Jared really CFM reincarnated? Please clarify.[/quote]

What really irritates me on this is there are posters here who say much worse things than CFM did and they are still here.

Re: my experience.. twice
 

What really irritates me on this is there are posters here who say much worse things than CFM did and they are still here.[/quote]

Well if your not bright enought to see it: YES CFM is Jared!

Re: my experience.. twice
 

Well if your not bright enought to see it: YES CFM is Jared!

[/quote]


No need to be a smartass MR Moderator. :roll:

Re: my experience.. twice
 

Hey, hey......watch that or you're on the next train to ban town buddy. :lol:

Re: my experience.. twice
 

Frosty was annoying even though I agreed with most of what he said. I prefer a good local job. What I didnt agree with was constantly putting down people who obviously enjoy OTR. Its one thing to warn a newbie, even necessary, but if a guy is doing otr and liking it then more power to him. To each their own. But yeah, I wouldnt have banned him for it.