Strike Two

And so the lay offs begin. My work friend, dave, is getting laid off on friday because of the teamster strike. i feel bad for him because he just got this job in the end of march after being laid off for 11 months. he had some problems with his medical insurance from his old job after he got laid off and now he has thousands of dollars in medical bills he needs to pay. he is a really nice guy that has fallen on some hard times. i really hope this strike ends soon so he can come back to work.

i don't understand this strike. it seems petty to me. teamsters got paid around $34/hour PLUS benefits before the strike. they are of course asking for more money. they are also asking that a non-working foreman and a non-working assistant foreman be on site (in company trucks) whenever there are more than 10 trucks on a job. the smaller contractors are kinda okay with this because they will never have more than 10 trucks on a job but the big contractors might and they are not willing to pay for two NON-working foremen on site.

i read a news article today that said that several of the teamsters are confused as to why they are even on strike. the original vote to strike was 200 to 34 (in favor of the strike). the article stated that some of the teamsters now feel that they were lied to during the meeting where they voted to strike.

i think the whole this is very frustrating and annoying. it is really starting to bother me now that people that have nothing to do with the union are getting laid off.