Trucking And Unionization...

Both Andrey and Auggie69, you're not wrong. Let in just a bit and it festers and grows over time, years, which we're dealing with now. Youth, because we've over time not instilled patriotism for the US into them, they've been instead taught badly by their parents, our educational system and society at large, and now Socialism and Communism are polling better now then they have in years. I just didn't know any other word that sounded like it'd fit. Maybe control? But to purview of government is to make sure everyone plays fair, that everyone has a fair opportunity. The outcome however is left up to the company or the individual and they live or die by the choices they've made and/or make.

Doesn't the CEO deserve more? It's the CEO that had to accept the risk of starting the business, has to every day work to get business to keep things going. It's the CEO that has to make the decisions regarding which direction the company goes, what the company is and isn't willing to get involved in and he/she has to make decisions about the people applying to the company and the risk they may do good for the company or not.

The CEO does deserve more, but not 351.1x more, which was the case for 2021. Also, driving a truck is risky. The CEO gets to sit safely at home, while the drivers are out on the roads, risking their lives, earning for the company. It doesn't hurt the economy to share the wealth more fairly. infact, it will help the economy. Do some research on income inequality and all the negatives associated with it.

I'm not arguing with you Chris, there definitely is disparity. Individuals who work hard, even risk life and/or limb, should be compensated fairly as you're right, the CEO gets to go home every evening but a driver is out in the thick of it. I was just floating some of what I've heard and been reading. You'd expect the boss to make more, but when it gets extreme you won't get an argument out of me...

I will care about CEO salary only when I become a CEO. My family taught me never to count other man's money. I am OK with these ratios, be it 20:1 or 300:1, or more. Fortunately, not every industry can get incorporated...

Doesn't the CEO deserve more? It's the CEO that had to accept the risk of starting the business, has to every day work to get business to keep things going. It's the CEO that has to make the decisions regarding which direction the company goes, what the company is and isn't willing to get involved in and he/she has to make decisions about the people applying to the company and the risk they may do good for the company or not.

The CEO does deserve more, but not 351.1x more, which was the case for 2021. Also, driving a truck is risky. The CEO gets to sit safely at home, while the drivers are out on the roads, risking their lives, earning for the company. It doesn't hurt the economy to share the wealth more fairly. infact, it will help the economy. Do some research on income inequality and all the negatives associated with it.

This position has no merit. The CEOs pay has absolutely zero effect on your pay. It will not solve anything, nor create problems. It's a complete myth. In trucking, where we get paid predominantly by piecework, the only person who determines your value is yourself.

This position has no merit. The CEOs pay has absolutely zero effect on your pay. It will not solve anything, nor create problems. It's a complete myth. In trucking, where we get paid predominantly by piecework, the only person who determines your value is yourself.

You clearly have not read anything about income inequality. You also don't seem to understand how a company works, and where the money comes from. I'm not sure where the error in your thinking resides. Where do you think the CEO's compensation comes from? Part of it is from the stock market doing better, but employees could be compensated with stock too. As a truck driver, you are not just making money for yourself. You're making money for your company, and others above you get to decide how much you are compensated. I hate to burst your delusional bubble.

I will care about CEO salary only when I become a CEO. My family taught me never to count other man's money. I am OK with these ratios, be it 20:1 or 300:1, or more. Fortunately, not every industry can get incorporated...

^^This. If you want CEO money go be a CEO or roll the dice and start your own company.

Chris, I don't disagree with you, but don't start making it personal. This is a great conversation. Let's stick to facts and opinions but not personal attacks.

I'll tell you one thing I'd love to see more of, and that is data to back the non-union argument. It's easy to come up with data for the pro-union argument, which I've done on a small scale already. I'm happy to dig up more.

We know that worker wages have gone flat for decades while upper management wages have soared. We know jobs have gone overseas in huge numbers. We know technology has made producing almost any sort of product more efficient, which has led to hyper-growth for corporate profits and (again) upper management wages, but without the hyper-growth in worker compensation.

It's easy to find data that shows the skyrocketing levels of debt required by the middle class to maintain our standard of living over the years because wages have not kept up with inflation. It's also common knowledge that the gap between the upper 1% and the remaining 99% has grown greater over the years, and is now at or near an all-time high for the United States.

All of that is easy to find. The information is well known and understood, and it all points to the fact that as the unions dissolved, so did the finances of the middle and lower classes.

I honestly can not think of a single data point that shows that the elimination of unions helped poor and middle-class workers, and helped boost our standard of living for the lower and middle classes. Honestly, I don't think I've looked for any. Maybe I will!

I know we have many people here who dislike unions, and I have no problem with that side of the debate, but I can't get on board with no data pointing toward that being true. The opinion has to be backed by some sort of data.

For what it's worth, I do agree that unionizing trucking would be virtually impossible at this point. The industry is indeed too fragmented, as others have pointed out. So I don't want anyone to think I'm pushing to unionize trucking or unionize anything. I just enjoy these types of conversations and I'm hoping to learn even more.

I’ll never argue the fact that there’s a huge gap between labor and CEO positions, the facts simply prove it. I do want to bring up the fact that especially when you’re talking about the huge corporations that employ tens of thousands of people, have facilities worldwide and work on such a grand scale, there are very few individuals capable of performing that job. In the case of tech companies, people like Elon Musk and even lesser known David Monroe never stop working, are heavily involved in every aspect of those corporations and have a massive vested interest in their success. I think it’s important to take that into account because in those particular cases it does matter.

It reminds me a story about a mechanic who was hired to fix a car. He looked under the hood, hit something with a hammer, the car started, and he charged a $100. The customer said: A hundred?! Just for hitting with a hammer? The mechanic said: No, hitting is $1. The rest $99 is for knowing where to hit!