[speaker001:] [TV] Okay. What would you rather have? Or you want salary too plus what? What's most important to you? [Throat clearing].
[speaker002:] Well, as far as tangible benefits go I would say that, uh, health insurance of all forms is probably my next most important concern.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] I feel that a company that can provide good health benefits such as health care, dental and vision
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] as well as good long-term and short-term disability plans, uh, goes a long way toward satisfying my needs.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh. Well, I'll tell you. I think that is the most important thing [LAUGHTER]. I've, uh, I'm not working right at the moment but the company that I did work for [throat clearing] excuse me [cough] [in background] I had health benefits. You know, dental, vision, all that, pension plan, uh, now I don't have that, although I do have a pension that I'm drawing from them which, thank God, I had.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] But, uh, man, I think those medical benefits are the most important. Uh,
[speaker002:] You, you really don't realize how important they are until you find yourself on the other side of the fence without them and having to cover your own medical and, uh, you can quickly see where they become a very important part of your, your compensation package.
[speaker001:] Right. Uh, I should knock on wood. I haven't, you know, had any serious health problems or anything. I've only probably been to the doctor a couple of times since I [swallowing] left work and it was only for a cold, you know, and they can't really do anything for you anyhow, so you might as well not even go [LAUGHTER] [sniffing].
[speaker002:] Yeah, they look at you, say, well you're still breathing, so, uh,
[speaker001:] Yeah, right [LAUGHTER]. Oh, you've got a cold. Go home and take, uh, liquids and, uh, rest.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] But,
[speaker002:] [Noise].
[speaker001:] uh, that is definitely, the most important. Uh, pension, I guess, is next. Uh, thank God that I had one. I don't know what happened to the salary employees when, uh, the company went bankrupt [mispronounced] but I was union, so mine was being put into a, like a trust fund, you know.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] So, but I don't know if they ever got anything or if they lost all of theirs or,
[speaker002:] I suspect that it just disappeared.
[speaker001:] Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. I really feel sorry for all those people that spent all that time there, you know.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] So where, what company do you work for?
[speaker002:] Uh, I work for a little start-up company here in Pittsburgh called Trans Ark. Uh,
[speaker001:] Um, uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Have you heard of them?
[speaker001:] No.
[speaker002:] They, we do, uh, distributive system software
[speaker001:] Uh-huh, uh-huh.
[speaker002:] for Unix based workstations
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] So.
[speaker001:] No, I, I worked for a trucking company P I E, nation wide. You probably heard of that [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Ah, yes, yes. In fact, my mom drives trucks so,
[speaker001:] Oh, does she really?
[speaker002:] Yes.
[speaker001:] Oh, how about that.
[speaker002:] So, yeah, I see, uh, after the merger, uh, you see a lot of Ryder PIE stuff on the road.
[speaker001:] Well, you did.
[speaker002:] So, did, did Ryder get out of the business? Is that what happened or?
[speaker001:] Well Ryder and P I E went together
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] you know, and then, then that ended it [swallowing].
[speaker002:] Huh. So that the merger pretty much ended the whole thing.
[speaker001:] It really did. It's, it started, I think, a little bit before that but that, when P I E and, and Ryder went together, why that was downhill from then on, you know.
[speaker002:] Yeah, and the, the problem with that is, you know, when you leave a job, you can continue your benefits for some finite period of time.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] But when, when the company goes bankrupt, I mean, the, they're just cut off completely and you're responsible for your own.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] And, and that's exceedingly expensive.
[speaker001:] Yes, it was over three hundred fifty dollars a month if we wanted to continue our own benefits. We could do that for eighteen months.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] But three hundred and fifty dollars a month. God, that's terrible.
[speaker002:] It's definitely excessive.
[speaker001:] You know. So, but anyhow, uh, and jobs aren't that hard to find, to get another one that does pay your benefits, you know.
[speaker002:] True.
[speaker001:] And a lot of them that, if you do get a job, they don't pay benefits.
[speaker002:] Yeah, they're starting to, to cut back. Especially start-ups. I know here at Trans Ark, we get, uh, we get health care and that's it.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] I mean, there's no dental or vision.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And the, the short-term disability policy is, is a ninety day policy and there is no long-term disability policy.
[speaker001:] Huh.
[speaker002:] So, you know, at least in the case of this particular company, they tend to scrimp a little bit there.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh, uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And, you know, of course, they can use the excuse well, we're start-up.
[speaker001:] Yeah, right [cough] [in background]. But you know what's happening is the, disability plan, you know, so many people are lying about their things. God, there's been big articles in the paper about that. Uh, you know, they claim a back injury and then someone goes out and spies on them and they're lifting refrigerators into trucks and
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] and everything else, you know. So I don't know what's happening and what's going to happen. But, uh [TV],
[speaker002:] Well that certainly doesn't help matters any. I mean, you, you get people who are willing to put their neck on the line to get you, you know, these additional benefits,