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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by Tharmeni The talk of "scabs" and the management of Northwest is disturbing. As a businessman, if someone is undercutting me on the cost of my service and taking me to the cleaners, I have two choices: Get my costs down to stay competitive or give up. It's a matter of numbers, not conspriacies. I went to hear a national union leader speak a few weeks ago and he said two things that I noted: 1) Unions still are, to some extent, seen as a mechanism to do the smallest amount of work for the highest price and 2) if unions do not change, then you'll have to visit the Smithsonian to see a union member. He said it, fellas, not me. [/quote] Who was the union leader speaking, and what craft did he represent? Of course, this is subjective and regional in nature, but having been a truck driver for 35 years, owner operator, non-union employee and union employee I've seen lots. One of the things I've noticed over the years is that whether a shop is union or not, it seems they both have the same percentage of slackers. At the union shop I work at now, there is a certain amount of peer pressure to do a good job - much more than at any non-union shop I've ever worked at over the years. I have seen and lived through the turmoil of the past 25 years within the trucking industry since deregulation. At most of the companies I witness go under, it had very little to do with labor and much more to do with management that refused to change. They just didn't get it, until it was too late. They thought we were the problem, we were not the problem, we were the solution. If Northwestern is to survive, they have to change the bureaucratic corporate culture, union busting will not save them. They need lots of change at the top. They have to get rid of the us verses them attitude, and make it a team effort by empowering labor to serve the customer and get the job done. I'm so grateful that I'm a teamster. June I was diagnosed with cancer and have not worked since then, my treatment has been covered by good insurance covered through the union, paid by my employer. No Cobra here, 12 months of premiums as well as a small weekly short term disability payment. My total out of pocket expense for co-pays was 2,000 bucks, nothing more to pay this year. When I get back to work, I'll be a grateful teamster doing a first class job. Most of us in labor, very much understand that we make money for the company. If the company doesn't make money, we have no paycheck! Jim I.B.T. Local 533
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