okay
 	
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		what would you rather have
 		or you want salary too plus what what's most important to you
 	
 	
 		well
 	
 	
 		
 
 	
 	
 		as far as tangible benefits go i would say that uh health insurance of all forms is probably my next most important concern
 	
 	
 		right
 	
 	
 		i feel that a company that can provide good health benefits such as health care dental and vision
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		as well as good long term and short term disability plans uh goes a long way toward satisfying my needs
 	
 	
 		um-hum well i'll tell you i think that is the most important thing  i've uh i'm not working right at the moment but the company that i did work for
 		excuse me i had health benefits you know dental vision all that pension plan um
 		now i don't have that although i do have a pension that i'm drawing from them which thank God i had
 	
 	
 		right
 	
 	
 		but uh man i think those medical benefits are the most important uh
 	
 	
 		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 of your compensation package
 	
 	
 		right um 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  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
 	
 	
 		yeah they look at you say well you're still breathing so uh
 	
 	
 		yeah yeah right  oh you've got a cold go home and take uh liquids and uh rest
 	
 	
 		yeah
 	
 	
 		but um
 		that is definitely the most important um pension i guess is next um thank God that i had one
 		i don't know what happened to the salary employees when uh the company went bankrupt but i was union so mine was being put into a like a trust fund you know
 	
 	
 		right
 	
 	
 		so but i don't know if they ever got anything or if they lost all of theirs or
 	
 	
 		i suspect that it just disappeared
 	
 	
 		yeah that's what i was thinking too i really feel sorry for all those people that spent all that
 		time there you know
 	
 	
 		right
 	
 	
 		so where what company do you work for
 	
 	
 		um i work for a little start-up company here in Pittsburgh called Trans Arc um
 	
 	
 		um um-hum
 	
 	
 		have you heard of them
 	
 	
 		no
 	
 	
 		they we do uh distributive system software
 	
 	
 		um-hum um-hum
 	
 	
 		for Unix based workstations
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		so
 	
 	
 		no i i worked for a trucking company P I E nation wide you probably heard of that
 	
 	
 		ah yes yes fact my mom drives trucks so
 	
 	
 		oh does she really oh how about that
 	
 	
 		yes
 		so yeah i see uh after the merger uh you see a lot of Ryder PIE stuff on the road
 	
 	
 		well you did
 	
 	
 		so did did Ryder get out of the business is that what happened or
 	
 	
 		well Ryder and P I E went together you know and then then that ended it
 	
 	
 		right
 		ah so that the merger pretty much ended the whole thing
 	
 	
 		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
 		it was downhill from then on you know
 	
 	
 		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 but when when the company goes bankrupt i mean the they're just cut off completely and you're responsible for your own
 	
 	
 		right
 	
 	
 		and and that's exceedingly expensive
 	
 	
 		right
 		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
 	
 	
 		right
 	
 	
 		but three hundred and fifty dollars a month God that's terrible
 	
 	
 		it's definitely excessive
 	
 	
 		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 and a lot of them that if you do get a job they don't pay benefits
 	
 	
 		true
 		yeah they're starting to to cut back especially start-ups i know here at Trans Arc we get uh
 		we get
 		health care and that's it and there's no dental or vision
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 		um-hum
 	
 	
 		and the the short-term disability policy is is a ninety day policy and there is no long term disability policy
 	
 	
 		um
 	
 	
 		so you know at least in the case of this particular company they tend to scrimp a little bit there
 	
 	
 		um-hum um-hum
 	
 	
 		and you know of course they can use the excuse well we're a start-up
 	
 	
 		yeah right
 		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 and everything else you know
 	
 	
 		right
 	
 	
 		so i don't know what's happening and what's going to happen but uh
 	
 	
 		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 such
 	
 	
 		um