Hey Anti Union Folks...

[Turtle]

A Comdata card is like a debit card. Comdata is a financial processor that offers "trust enabled" payment transactions. You have an account at Comdata the same as you would at a bank. Comchecks issued are like cashier's checks or money orders, in that they are the same as cash. The Comdata card can be used at ATM's as a debit card, can be used at most truck stops (not Flying J) to pay at the pump for fuel. It can also be used at many retail stores for point of sale purchases, same as a debit card.

But Comdata can also impose certain rules for allowable purchases, as determined by your company. Some will only allow fuel and oil to be purchased with the card. This comes in handy for large carriers who want to track and control spending. Many carriers pay the drivers via Comdata, by loading their line haul pay directly onto the card, and then you pay yourself via ATM transaction or by cashing a Comcheck at a truck stop. Drivers who run loads from brokers often have the broker pay them via Comcheck.

So basically, Comdata offers business a way to control cusiness purchases, and it offers a way to pay people to are geographically dispersed, or those who don't have bank accounts, or for emergency funds. The card is loaded in real time (no waiting for a day or two for the transaction to hard-post at your bank before you can gain access to it), and then the funds can be withdrawn just like from a real bank, either by Comcheck or with the debit card.

 

[Moot]

Maybe because the rates keep going down because any scab is willing to work for food and under cut the next guy instead of showing some solidarity to keep rates up..

I'm not anti-union although my personal history may suggest otherwise. I was a member of some food workers union for a couple of years and a Teamster for about 5 years. I also worked for a non-union LTL company for 13 years and have been an owner/operator for 11 years.

As an employee of the non-union LTL company I was well acquainted with the term scab. All of you union morons recite the scab creed without any idea of the definition of the term scab. Look it up! How does that definition apply to someone working for a non-union company. How does that definition apply to an owner/operator in the expedite industry.

Your ignorance does more to promote anti-union sentiment! Keep it up and some day our ancestors will be using you for oil. Chuck.

 

[chefdennis]

Moot wrote:

Your ignorance does more to promote anti-union sentiment! Keep it up and some day our ancestors will be using you for oil.

LOL, Moot, can you tell us how you really feel about him...? LOL!

 

[jmore1276]

Many do lose their butts, and quickly. And it can usually be traced back to a couple of reasons why. One, they fail to fully research the industry, and instead see, on the surface, something that looks quick and easy. This is particularly true of former UAW employees who for years have seen expediters come and go, looks easy enough, seems to make good money, I can drive, I can do that.

And by failing to fully research the industry they make the cardinal mistake of failing to understand that each truck is an independent business, and thus fail to leave behind their employee mentality, and along with it the safe Utopian fantasy of a Union cocoon. The comfortable, cozy world of Union Socialism is a far different place than the uncomfortable, bitterly ruthless world of the Free Market Supply and Demand Capitalism of the self-employed.


Solidarity and Free Market Capitalism are in direct opposition to each other. There are no scabs in Free Market Capitalism, there is no solidarity. The strong survive and the weak perish. The failure to understand that one simple fact is why so may fail out here.

Actually...In my opinion of coarse (and yes we all know what they're like) "Collective Bargaining" is in total spirit of Capitalism. But instead of one person (easily replaced) negotiating his/her fees, A group (more powerful and able to put more pressure on the people who profit from their work) set the price. Same pricipal just more power.

 

[theoldprof]

Hey people, let’s walk in my tracks at a typical GM/Union day. Clock in at 6:00 am. Jobs passed out about 10 minutes later. Grab push cart with tools and walk about two blocks to the machine. Something broken UNDER the machine. Lift floor grate, climb down oil coated ladder. An arm is broken off the machine and lying on the floor of machine pit. Everything is totally covered with sloppy oil and grease. Walk back to shop and get chains and hoist. Rig hoist to bring broken parts to floor level. Find skid and put broken parts on skid. Walk back to shop and have someone bring parts to shop with fork truck. The walking part is going Squish, Squish, cause your shoes are covered with oil. Your clothes are covered with oil. Your head is wrapped in rags, kinda like a rag head. While parts are being delivered to shop I squish squish back to the machine with a 20 lb industrial drill. Drill the broken bolts out of the botton (roof) of the machine by pushing UP on the drill. Bolts are drilled, squish, squish back to the shop. Parts are delivered. Tear parts down and clean them up in wash tank. Lay clean broken parts on skid to be delivered to machine shop for replacements. Then it’s lunch time. All thirty minutes of it. About the same after dinner. That went on for nearly forty years. You didn’t see me mention any part about sitting on my azz on a fork truck on the dock did you? The next day would be different. I might get to work on TOP of a machine, up in the steel where the temp might be 120 degrees. Sounds like a nice soft job, huh?

 

[Turtle]

Nope, sorry, not in a forced union shop. Collective Bargaining is a fancy phrase for collusion. If I were able to work there without joining the union, and then negotiate my own wages, either above or below the collectively bargained rate, that would be capitalism. But a forced union shop completely removes the entire concept of a free market where the strong survive and the weak perish.

 

[theoldprof]

Turtle, how would you like to be the person in charge of payroll. Let's see, there are 14,000 hourly employees and there are 14,000 different pay scales. Do you see a problem there. Wouldn't your job be simple?

 

[aristotle]

We have a Toyota plant here in Georgetown,KY. Employs around 8,000 people. 8,000 reasonably happy, well paid people. UAW is met with scorn here as it is a job-killing machine. More non-union auto plants are scheduled to be built in the South as we speak.
The regional mindsets between Northerners and Southerners could not be more stark than it is over the issue of unionized labor. Study the Toyota business model and you will see efficiency, friendliness and a cooperative spirit between workers and staff. When I deliver to a UAW plant up north, it is always an unpleasant chore. The union mentality is wiping out whole industries in the Midwest and Northeast. The more liberal and Democratic these areas become, the more they retreat into decline and collapse. Their wounds are self inflicted. I really don't know how Michigan or Ohio can be saved.

 

[layoutshooter]

Give me Michigan and I will save it!!! The very FIRST thing I would do is repeal the Granholm/Obama style taxes. I would eliminate un-paid welfare. (I don't care what the Feds would have to say about it.) Re-builing infastrucsure would be a priority. The wasted welfare money would go along way to pay for that. The State would become "Business Friendly" as opposed what it is today. AND I could do this while improving the environment, stopping urban sprawl and re-building Michigan's lost wetlands. After doing all that I would get down to business!!! LOL. Layoutshooter

 

[Turtle]

Turtle, how would you like to be the person in charge of payroll. Let's see, there are 14,000 hourly employees and there are 14,000 different pay scales. Do you see a problem there. Wouldn't your job be simple?

Computers handle payroll already. They don't care how much people make, they just process the numbers. It's all 1's and 0's to the computer.

 

[aristotle]

Layout... Michigan is a beautiful state. If things become unbearable up there, you are always welcome in Kentucky.

 

[layoutshooter]

Kentucky is very pretty, just WAY too hot for me. No water either. I don't know if I would leave Michigan, I perfer to take it over!!!!! LOL. Thanks for the invite. Layoutshooter

P.S. Not much layout hunting there either.

 

[aristotle]

Kentucky has the largest elk herd east of the Rockies. We have a very active hunting season for elk in both eastern and western parts of the state. Bear season, too, in the Appalachians of eastern KY. We shoot those pesky rattlesnakes and copperheads on sight anytime of the year. Waterfowl, not so much. Union organizers are skittish as well and seldom seen. They aren't indigenous to Kentucky, but are reported to pass through sometimes on their way to an Obama fan club meeting in neighboring states. Their funny accents blow their cover. We find them to be an amusing, yet harmless nuisance species which we catch and release.
The recidivism rate of their returning to Kentucky is amazingly low.

 

[BillChaffey]

The only union I ever belonged to was the National Maritime Union. When I went to the union hall to join I was told there was a $30.00 dollar extra fee. I paid it. Then when I was given my union book there were 3 "fighting fund" stamps on the back $10.00 each showing my voluntary contribution to the union.

 

[layoutshooter]

Michigan and Pennsylvania both have elk and elk hunting, not sure on the size of thier heards. Michigan issues about 1000 elk tags a year, not that many in PA. PA may just have the BEST black bear hunting in North America, if you are after really big black bear. They take several every year in excess of 700lbs and many more than that over 600. Michigan bear are small compared to that. 400lbs would be big. I don't like the snake stuff. Michigan has only one small rattle snake species and it only resides in one county. I would miss the waterfowl hunting since layout hunting is my passion. Kentucky has much to offer the sportsman, sadly, not what I like the best. Too bad, I like the lack of Unions there. layoutshooter

 

[highway star]

I enjoyed a very close encounter with some elk. We unloaded our snowmobiles in Hillman and headed to Atlanta. I was about a 1/4 mile behind my friend because of heavy snow dust on the freshly groomed trail. I came around a curve and he was stopped. About a 100 feet ahead, to the right of the trail were 27 elk. 12 of them with huge racks. (How do they carry those things around?) We just looked at them laying there for about 5 minutes. They didn't seem concerned about us at all.

Eventually, 1 of them got up and meandered across the trail, followed slowly by the others. Judging from their lethargic nature, they must have been union elk.

 

[chefdennis]

Judging from their lethargic nature, they must have been union elk.

Teamster Elk! Probably resting up , and then they head back to the terminal to be hitched up the those freight sleds!

 

[jmore1276]

I'm not anti-union although my personal history may suggest otherwise. I was a member of some food workers union for a couple of years and a Teamster for about 5 years. I also worked for a non-union LTL company for 13 years and have been an owner/operator for 11 years.

As an employee of the non-union LTL company I was well acquainted with the term scab. All of you union morons recite the scab creed without any idea of the definition of the term scab. Look it up! How does that definition apply to someone working for a non-union company. How does that definition apply to an owner/operator in the expedite industry.

Your ignorance does more to promote anti-union sentiment! Keep it up and some day our ancestors will be using you for oil. Chuck.

I didn't say O/O's were scabs. Just that people who look out only for themselves and undermine a better deal for all are scabs...and of coarse Union Bashers are scabs because they would surely cross a picket line again for themselves and hurt others who have put in alot of time and effort into raising the bar for all not just themselves but even non-union workers who get better wages because of this higher standard. As far as these prisoners...did the union bring them in? Or the State? Maybe your elected officials are anti-union and the unions can only do so much. Especially with people like you around who probably vote for anti-union politicians for your own selfish reasons but have no problem reaping the benefits so long as it suits you. And BTW. I hope that wasn't a threat. There's no place for that here. If you want to speak your mind so be it. But don't get nasty DUMMY.

And don't ever threaten me Dummy

 

[jmore1276]

We have a Toyota plant here in Georgetown,KY. Employs around 8,000 people. 8,000 reasonably happy, well paid people. UAW is met with scorn here as it is a job-killing machine. More non-union auto plants are scheduled to be built in the South as we speak.
The regional mindsets between Northerners and Southerners could not be more stark than it is over the issue of unionized labor. Study the Toyota business model and you will see efficiency, friendliness and a cooperative spirit between workers and staff. When I deliver to a UAW plant up north, it is always an unpleasant chore. The union mentality is wiping out whole industries in the Midwest and Northeast. The more liberal and Democratic these areas become, the more they retreat into decline and collapse. Their wounds are self inflicted. I really don't know how Michigan or Ohio can be saved.

The only reason these non-union plants are sooo "friendly" is because they fear unions there. They pay good wages because the union sets the bar. BTW...Japan subsidizes Toyota $1500 per vehicle to export them here. All the profits go back to Japan. As the toyota work force ages more and more are voting Yes for unions. They realize 401k's arent as good as a pension (especially lately lol) and realize without a union the company can take everything they worked for away without a hitch.

When the unions go...toyota workers will be making next to nothing. I find it ironic that people buy non-union cars in the USA when in their home country they are Unionized and get better bennies and pay than our own Unionized USA workers do here. Our government doesn't subsidize our exports and since ww2 there are no gm plants in Japan because of NATIONALSM. But don't let that happen here. Don't blame the unions for being mad. You'd be mad too if everyday your rates were getting cut because some foreign company who's gov won't let them fail profits from our new CHEAP non-union labor. That's why the transplants are here. The workers over there get way more money and benefits. We are truly the suckers in this "Free Trade Deal.

 

[jmore1276]

I am not Anti-Union, I am opposed to what they have become. I come from a family of coal miners, I know what happened and why. Unions today no longer look out for the "Rank and File" they are just another "Big Business" ripping you off. Let's see, I will go back in my life and Unions I have belonged too.

1969, UAW, Ford Motor. Ford learns after two weeks on the job that I have a 1A draft status and fires me. The UAW just said tough, you are not yet in the Union and maybe I should think about running away to Canada and working for Ford up there.

1973-76 United Steel Workers, Teamsters Local 299 and Michigan public school employees union. Not many problems except at the mill. We had many woman working there who were physically unable to handle the work. The union forced the company to pay them the same wages as those who could handle the work. The company could get rid of or move men who could not handle work to lower wage jobs that they could handle but not the women. The Union forced this.

1996-2000 ASCME (or whatever the initials are) PA State Park system. They allowed the State to use "Prison Labor" to do our jobs. They laid us off every fall claiming there was "no work for us over the winter" but had prison crews cutting brush, improving trails, doing inside painting, all jobs we did through the summer. They did NOT allow secret ballots at Union meetings for contracts etc. Talk about massive intimidation. The Dumbecrats want to make that a law nationwide.

Unions have become a joke. I do not want to be involed in one again. While I understand the consept, I understand that there has to be a way to control safety etc. Unions are now just a bunch of self -serving bullies with the main goal of lining thier own pockets.

Layoutshooter

I agree that many of the Union officials have lost touch with reality. They get the perks from the company like an AC'd office...never on the floor except at election time...and have sold the union rank and file out. But that doesn't make unions bad. The Rank and file need to oust these corrupt unions and/or leaders and get new ones. If it was up to me, the reps would work the line like everyone else until their needed for union business thus "keeping them in touch" with what it's all about. And I do believe there can be merit conditions (bonuses for individuals who aren't lazy bums for ex.) within contracts. I have always had a good work ethic and believe most people do by nature. I guess when everyone is back to earning depression
era wages and treatment maybe a grass roots effort can rebuild the unions to what they were truly meant for. The advancement of everyone. I will say this, Unions are and have been very charitable to the Vets, their communities, the poor...etc. It's a shame the Big shots ruin what once was a democratic group and replaced it with "stacking the deck: to get the votes THEY want instead of what the members want.