Comments By Banks

I've experienced a lot of betrayal in my life, but none like this. My wife has done the unthinkable and taken a job with Old Dominion Freight Lines... I don't know what to do

I meant lease operators like their vans are.

I think those tractors are leased, but I could be wrong.

The union got a big raise, they didn't lose any workers

They're laying off a bunch of workers. Feeder drivers aren't working and union package handlers are being replaced by automation. It's all over other forums, just not being reported by the MSM.

We're talking about workers getting a fair wage

What's a fair wage? That's subjective, that's why I keep going back to personal responsibility. My coworker and I make the same amount of money, but we feel differently about it. I think we're paid fair because I live comfortably and this is the most money I've ever made and the easiest job I've ever had.

He thinks we don't because he lives paycheck to paycheck. Paycheck to paycheck will never stop because people overextend themselves, in his case it's with a pick up truck he doesn't need and other toys he's constantly bragging about.

Well then, where are workers getting the idea that they'd be better off without a union?

I answered that too. The union creates their own negative press and their bad at what they do. Think of it this way, would you hire a lawyer with an average 1.5 star review on Google? You probably wouldn't. The unions made themselves obsolete.

And if we don't need unions, then how do you explain the charts I've shared and what should we do about it because the situation is unsustainable?

Board room boys club. Board room picks a CEO and negotiates the salary. They're all friends and give each other more money. Unions have nothing to do with it, in fact they do the same thing. Unions don't negotiate how much execs do or don't get paid.

Two generations ago, we had a huge middle class and the highest standard of living in human history.

There's a lot of different reasons for the decline in the middle class. Most recently, it's wall Street deciding they want to be in the real estate game.

Then you have people borrowing too much money for frivolous purchases. Afterpay, affirm, klarna etc all encourage people to buy now pay later.

You also have artificially increased wages. Walmart lobbies for a higher minimum wage to put the screws to smaller companies and put them out of business. That artificially increased wage decreases the gap between skilled labor and unskilled labor putting everybody in the same pool and causing prices to go up because corporations won't eat that loss.

2 decades ago, people actually worked. Today, people are walking into jobs with a list of demands they feel they're entitled to.

Then there's the issue with the government guaranteeing student loans and 18 year olds drowning in debt before they have a chance, just to become a barista.

Unions can't fix any of this, but they can make it worse.

There's no reason we can't have a strong middle class and a high standard of living now like we've had in the past.

See above.

Listen, Banks, I get your position. You feel the whole thing is hopeless, so you're just going to focus on yourself.

I'm not hopeless. My bank account is flourishing and I've positioned myself to be able to make my family comfortable. I'm not sitting around crying about how much money the CEO of FedEx makes. That doesn't fix anything. I grew up on welfare in a roach infested apartment. I learned about money management watching YouTube videos and reading books. If I can do it, anybody can.

As you're well aware, people have no discipline. They want instant gratification.

We have a ton of technologies now that have made us far more productive than ever before.

What are we producing? We're a society of spoiled consumers. All production is taking place in Asia or South America.

Union wages have exceeded non-union wages in blue-collar jobs for decades.

Yellow had the lowest paid employees in the LTL sector. The union even accepted a 15% paycut and lowering pension contributions.

Union workers have had better job security

The steel workers disagree. Former yellow employees disagree (that's about 7 companies in 1) . The old Levi manufacturing employees disagree. NEMF employees disagree. The union employees at UPS getting laid off and replaced by machines disagree. The list goes on.

The failure we should be talking about is the failure of worker's wages to keep up with executive pay and corporate profits.

UPS execs get paid a lot, but package handlers make 17-21 an hour. The CEO made 19M last year and that was after a pay cut. There's nothing unions can or will do about this because they do the same thing.

So, I guess what I'm wondering is, if you don't want unions, then what action do you propose workers should take?

Personal responsibility. McDonald's was never meant to be a career. People campaigning for 25/hr to flip burgers because they can't afford rent is stupid. I work with people that complain they can't make ends meet and then they walk outside and get in a pick up with a 900/month payment.

I can't imagine that you're ok with this. No one should be happy about this, except the upper one percent.

I don't really care, to be honest. I've never been one to sit around comparing my bank account to someone else's. I make responsible decisions and live within my means.

Imagine sitting around saying "I have to chuck boxes every night for 17/hr but Taylor Swift makes millions and millions to sing every now and then." Sounds stupid.

they no longer have anyone holding them accountable or demanding better pay and treatment for the workers?

They were never held accountable. It's nothing for the execs to refuse to negotiate while the workers wages stagnate and they continue to work. Or they'll figure out a way to shut that particular building down putting all of those people out of work. Estes did it with no problem.

They've put out anti-union propaganda, hoping the workers would fall for it and refuse to unite. When this happens, management has a free ride because they are united.

Those videos are stupid and nobody pays them any mind. The unions negative press was brought on by the damage they did. Like workers, they need to take responsibility for this. They suck at their jobs and that's why they're becoming obsolete. It's not because corporate showed new hires a 10 minute video saying unions are bad.

Like I stated, it's because there are so few and billionaires are competing for their services.

Is there a limited number of cashiers in the world that Walmart and Target have to compete for?

My local Walmart DC has billboards up all over the place that advertise a starting wage of 27/hr. That's because the work is hard, not everybody can do it and they're competing with other warehouses for the limited amount of people able to keep up the intensive pace.

If the unions really are that effective, why does your largest union sector put up the lowest pay increases over time?

You ignore the failures of every other union and remained focused on UPS (which is laying off union employees all over the country) and the NFL. Those aren't real world examples.

The largest union in the country is the teachers union. 15 years ago, the average teacher salary was 53k. Today, it's 65k. Less than 1k per year increase.

Professional athletes are not a real representation of unions. There's a very small percentage of them on the planet and the richest people are competing for their services because they generate revenue. Those numbers are also earned. For example, Brock Purdy made 900k in 2023. Patrick Mahomes is looking at about 53M a year. Their union should do something about that pay discrepancy. They do the same job, right?

The numbers NFL players make is tied to how many tickets they sell, merch they sell, advertisers they get and bonuses for performing well. Saying it's solely because they have a union is ridiculous.

Just for the record it’s not my unreliability it’s the insurances that requires it.

Incorrect. If what you posted is accurate, you have the experience to satisfy the insurance requirements. See my first response to you. You have a whole bunch of other issues that make nobody want to touch you.

I'm curious as to how you have 20 years experience when you posted This 7.75 years ago.

You also failed to mention here that you have a DUI. That's not a minor detail.

Another question

From 2015-2021 I bounced around every 3to 6months cause the pay wasn’t sustainable.

This was one of the busiest times in recent history. If you couldn't make it work in that window, what makes you think you'll make it work in this economy?