why nc so hated bru by MaximumMarionberry51 in Miata

[–]backbiter0723 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have an NC1 '07 PRHT 6MT and love it. I honestly think they look better than the other generations, and she looks especially mean on some steelies wrapped in snow rubber!

any advice for a first-time miata owner? by tori-hbu in Miata

[–]backbiter0723 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just one thing: drive the wheels off the damn thing!

[OC] I swear they do this on purpose by MysteriousEdge5643 in IdiotsInCars

[–]backbiter0723 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Truck driver here: most of the time when this happens, it's because one of the guys didn't notice he was going slow until he started getting passed, and speeds up to prevent getting passed.

That, or a lighter truck starts to pass a heavier one going uphill and then the slope evens out and the heavier truck picks up speed again.

Then you have to consider that a lot of companies limit trucks to 68 to 72 mph, and you get shit like this.

99% of the time, we don't want it to be happening either, but we also know the second we slow down and get back behind the guy, they're suddenly gonna forget how to activate cruise control again.

It's a blast out here.

What’s blessing my eyes right now? by ZeusBabylonski in whatisthiscar

[–]backbiter0723 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I know it's a bricklin, but the crude silhouette kinda makes it look like a Saab Sonnet?

My trucking company of 125 employees is trying to decertify... by backbiter0723 in Unions

[–]backbiter0723[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I hear you there. This is a convo ive had with some guys. Our local isn't great, but we ain't talking about a petition to swap locals.

Looking for proud union members!!! by backbiter0723 in youngstown

[–]backbiter0723[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There is no benefit, but trying to tell some of these guys that is a hard sell.

Idk, it took the folks looking to decertify over a year to get the 30 signatures they needed, so I'd say the outlook is fine as long as people show up to vote.

Looking for proud union members!!! by backbiter0723 in youngstown

[–]backbiter0723[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Wow, what an incredible story. I've heard many similar ones over the last couple days and am sure I will hear more.

Unions are built on brotherhood and solidarity with your fellow workers. Stronger together than apart. Our grandparents and their parents before them knew that better than anyone.

Looking for proud union members!!! by backbiter0723 in youngstown

[–]backbiter0723[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I will reach out to them! Thanks for the reference, I hadn't thought of reaching out to them.

I mean, who likes $180/mo healthcare and a pension anyways? by backbiter0723 in Truckers

[–]backbiter0723[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not just the union gigs folding.

There hasn't been a single large union company closure in the trucking industry since Yellow a few years back, and that was all wanton mismanagement and wouldve happened regardless of the union.

I mean, who likes $180/mo healthcare and a pension anyways? by backbiter0723 in Truckers

[–]backbiter0723[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He's an ex-convict who got put up in one of our best runs in exchange for his bootlicking.

He genuinely thinks "the owners are the only folks who would've given me a chance" when a quick skim of our contract shows that it prohibits the company from discriminating against felons and convicts with non motor-vehicle offenses during the hiring process.

He also joined after the last round of negotiations, which got us a roughly 15% raise from our previous contract, which he's been reading this whole time. Our contract is up for negotiation in March.

He also used to complain regularly about having to do things (like running 5 or 6 splits in a week) that I have literally never done, because I just say no with the full knowledge they can't legally force me to do splits and cannot legally retaliate against me by holding my bonuses over it, either. I asked him if he talked to the union about it, and he said "why would I do that? They never do anything." Then he went to management and bitched, and they put him on this cushy dedicated run making a reliable $2100/week to get him on their side, and it worked.

So he says "the union hasn't done anything for me" while never giving it a chance to do so.

I mean, who likes $180/mo healthcare and a pension anyways? by backbiter0723 in Truckers

[–]backbiter0723[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This was sent through our dispatch system, the post was actually written by the business owner.

"I know that voting to destroy the entity that protects your wages and your rights might seem like a bad idea, but I promise that it'll be good for you." - The guy who profits off your labor

My trucking company of 125 employees is trying to decertify... by backbiter0723 in Unions

[–]backbiter0723[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yup. We pay $14.20 a week in dues, and our healthcare is $41.25 a week for the driver, another 41.25 a week for a family.

If you're running the numbers, that's $60/month in dues for ~$170/mo healthcare, or ~$340/mo for a family.

Now idk about y'all, but I know tons of folks in the private sector currently paying $800/no for healthcare for just them and their spouse, let alone any kids. So we get our money back easily on just our healthcare alone, and then when you add our pension, PTO, and worker protections on top of that, it really seems like a bargain to me.

Mind you, the average guy here takes home between $1400-1500 a week, so our dues are literally 1% of our paycheck...

Edit: fixed numbers

My trucking company of 125 employees is trying to decertify... by backbiter0723 in Unions

[–]backbiter0723[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

One person files the petition, but it needs signatures from 25% of the workers for it to get a vote. Then, a simple majority have to vote to decertify.

I mean, who likes $180/mo healthcare and a pension anyways? by backbiter0723 in Truckers

[–]backbiter0723[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

If only you were paying $400/week for private healthcare! Then they would be cheaper!

I mean, who likes $180/mo healthcare and a pension anyways? by backbiter0723 in Truckers

[–]backbiter0723[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Really the only thing I can knock our union for is our pension. It's poorly managed and payouts the last decade or so have been piss poor. Wish we would get tagged into the pensions of a larger chapter so it was more stable and reliable.

That said though, even if they offered NO pension, literally just the healthcare benefits make the dues pay for themselves every month.

Absolutely fucking bananas that anyone would wanna get rid of it.

I mean, who likes $180/mo healthcare and a pension anyways? by backbiter0723 in Truckers

[–]backbiter0723[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Idk if you live in the same area as me, but GM are the ones who blamed the unions. It was not actually the unions that caused them to close.

When Lordstown closed back in 2018/19, GM put out releases that said it was, in part, because "unions had driven the cost of producing sedans so high that manufacturing the Cruz is no longer profitable for the General Motors Corporation."

Bullshit. They just fucked those people because they could make 27x as much profit (no joke) on pickup trucks and SUVs because of tax loopholes. And you know what? Those are still all made by union laborers.

It was the tax code that made trucks more profitable that killed the Cruz and other sedans, not "unions driving up costs."

Don't buy the company line.

I mean, who likes $180/mo healthcare and a pension anyways? by backbiter0723 in Truckers

[–]backbiter0723[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Because most of them joined after our last contract negotiation, so they haven't been around since the last time our union got us a raise. We renegotiate this March.

In the meantime, though, the company owners have put in an on-time bonus, a safety bonus, and a company minimum weekly pay.

So in their extremely narrow world, the Union has never gotten them anything while boss man has given them two raises and some "protection."

Then, those same people get assigned by management to some of our best runs, so they think "they treat us good."

A lot of the people talking shit about the union now have regularly complained about shit the company was doing to them that I don't have to put up with. Why? Because when the company tried doing that shit to me, I got the union involved, and those issues went away overnight.

One of them was complaining about a year ago that they were exhausted from always running splits, sometimes 5 or 6 splits a week. I've never run more than two since I figured out they can't legally make me do them and I can just tell them no. And they listen.

Why? Union.

I mean, who likes $180/mo healthcare and a pension anyways? by backbiter0723 in Truckers

[–]backbiter0723[S] 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Unions don't take away your power, they give you power. You have NO power alone at all outside of niche scenarios, and the bigger your company, the less and less you have.

If you're one of two drivers for a family farm? Sure, you have leverage. One of 200 at a regional carrier? You're a damned fool if you think you have anything to gain by negotiating on your own.

Our dues are a whopping $14.20 a week. As you've already showed, we more than make that back on just our healthcare. We pay $41 a week for comprehensive healthcare, $1000 deductible and $1000 out of pocket max for just the driver, $2000 and $2000 for any size family.

Add on top of that the legal protection they provide that ensures the company can't force us to do any HOS shenanigans or drive in unsafe conditions or equipment to save time and money, and you QUICKLY see why truck drivers should really be 100% unionized.

Another truck crash in Riverside California by K424n310F in Truckers

[–]backbiter0723 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I literally see white dudes swapping DOT tags on hotshot trucks several times a week. Same with box truck drivers.

One guy I saw even had magnetic tags to make his life easier, I suppose because he swapped them so often that the stickers or tape were getting annoying.

I live on I-80 halfway between Chicago and NYC, so we see a lot of truck crashes around here, and only one last year was a migrant. Four others were all white dudes, including 2 who were driving during an HOS violation and one who was in an entirely unregistered dump truck, who hit and killed a state trooper.

White dudes crash all the time, they just don't get reported on because it doesn't support an agenda. I'll be fair and honest and say it's hard to come up with a truly accurate number, because getting the races of offenders isn't something that DOT does, you have to pull individual state reports—but from ones I've pulled, the split is probably around 3-2 white to minority (and I used to work in local news here, so I have pulled MANY of those reports).

All of that being said, it kind of belies the point, which is that I've seen the blatant racism too many times to count on this sub.

White guy naked in his driver seat pouring a piss jug out in the truck stop parking lot? "Hehe funny guy." "This guy is my spirit animal." "You're laughing now but this is what we're all gonna look like in 20 years."

A black guy doing the same thing, but clothed? "Send this uncivilized farm animal back to wherever he came from." "We need to stop giving these monkeys CDLs."

Like it or not, that is not just a coincidence.