Mid States Express Inc.

You might find out what courthouse it's going to be held at and call that location, find out who the judge is. Contact his office and find out what you need to know. At that time find out if you can file anything or say anything at the hearing. Please let everyone know.
The more of you who make that call, the more you will be heard. If a lady in Michigan is going to make the effort to be there how about the rest of you? The Hartmans have not only taken your money but have lived quite well on it. It's time for them to make restitution to all of their employees.

 

Great plan Jodi,
Don't forget to find out if you need a permit to do that. Wouldnt want to see anyone get in trouble trying to make themselves heard.

 

I got a travel trailer..I can come and stay there and do an informational picket just as long as we are needed...I can sleep about 12 people in my trailer! Lets somehow figure this out and get it done! We need to all step up somehow and do this..I think I could pack my trailer with people. The reason I am saying this as some will not have the money to spend on motels. Camping is a whole lot cheaper! So if some in the area have campers that they could house some people in that may work too. Or a spare bed in their homes. I guess maybe a centralized location..maybe in Indiana..and everyone could meet there and plan on what needs to be done. I would think we could all drive there and back home in a day. Come on Indiana employees..figure out a meeting place for all of us and lets make a plan to go do an informational picket. Lets get the media on our side and make this not happen to any other employee again.

 

I have just fired off an email to our congress women Debby Stabenow. I am writing a letter to our atty general Mike Cox, gov Jennifer Granhom, and our representative Pete Hoekstra. I will contact the bankrupty court tomorrow and see if we need to contact them to put ourselves on for unsecured creditors. I will find out if we can be heard in court. Mr Ross..can you contact someone from the law office to see what they say about the class action suit and what we would like to do. (or is there someone in particular that I can contact at the law office?) We are tired of just sitting here not doing anything. Like I said I dont want to miss that opportunity of what we could have done and didnt. Do we need to go see local lawyers? Can they advise us? What rules does Illinois have about informational pickets? Where is there corp office Galena or Aurora? No matter how you try to keep anything hushed...they still have friends that appear to not be their friends and your friend instead..some cant be trusted. What this company has done as we all know is so wrong.

 

MadinMichigan,

Sound great now lets give Jodi242 message a couple of days to get out to everyone. I am not sure what terminal you are from or what you did for MSXN but we now need to get the word out to someone at each terminal so the can help spread the word.

I think it is even more important that if we do this we need to be there atleast a few days, once we start this we must give the media time to react.

We need to find out how many people read this and from what terminal they are from so we can make sure we have enough people there to support the cause.

We need one person to step up and be the contact person on this .... not sure how you would get your information out there.

 

Hello my fellow Mid States employees, well, it was suggested we as former employees do something besides merely talking about the evils as what has been done to us at the hands of the owners of this company, so I took it upon myself to do just that. A few minutes ago, I fired off the following letter to 5 different places; the White House, namely President Barack Obama, The Washington Department of Justice, The Wi. Attorney General's office, the IL. Attorney General's office and Fox news. If anyone can think of any other office I might have missed, please let me know so that I can forward a copy of this letter to them as well. Please feel free to critique this letter. If you feel it needs amending, I will be glad to do so. And now.. here is a copy of the letter I sent out....



To whom it may concern,
Hi, I am in dire need of your assistance. I along with 750 other employees in nine different states have been taken to the cleaners and fleeced out of thousands and thousands of dollars by a trucking company called Mid States Express Inc., that was based out of La Salle, Il. For years people have payed hard earned wages into a self funded health insurance plan, only to discover that this company had been redirecting the money into other areas of their business. When myself and other employees went to our doctors, we were told that the portion of the medical bills Mid States owed per the health insurance plan were not being paid. The end result was that we the employees, were being held liable for these debts. For many of us, present company included, these debts have gone to collection, resulting in our credit history being ruined. I think the financial number for the debt is something in the neighborhood of right around 4 million dollars now and growing. On the 26th of March, Mid States Express, Inc. closed their doors without notifying anyone, thus resulting in much pain and hardship among the 750 employees. It is a fact none the less, that many employees, when they went to the bank to cash their checks were told their checks were no good and that the previous three before, had bounced as well. It is such a horrific story that needs telling, that needs exposure, and seemingly, not one of us can find anyone to tell our story or to make the owners be held accountable for their dasturdly actions that has resulted in many people losing their their 401ks, homes, their cars...on and on. I will include a link to a trucking board that can also off you more information as it pertains to this company.. the link is as follows;
http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...ompany-here/24614-mid-states-express-inc.html

In short, we; myself and many other employees, have contacted congressmen, senators, labor boards of our states, and in some cases the F.B.I., only to be rebuffed by being told that there is nothing that can be done for us as they have claimed bankruptcy. I appeal to your sense of right and wrong, to your sense of justice, to your consideration for the working man, in hopes you will take under consideration, my request for your assistance in this matter. If you wish, I may be reached by phone at my home.
I sincerely appreciate your time and patience in this matter.
Respectfully, Gary L. Hatch

 

Gary...letter sounds great..I am writing mine and will be sending them out tomorrow. For some reason our gov doesnt have email. But those that I can email, I will. Maybe with at least one of us in each state, we can do something productive instead of sitting here on pins and needles wondering what happens next. I told the hubby...Gary is a Harley man. We are Harley people also! I know what kind of determination Harley people have! We are just tired of all of it. When we found out we could not get to the 401k...we were ticked to say the least. Something that he has put into for years, and we cant touch it because they wont make Hartford the adminstrator. That is BULL! We dont know anyone at any other terminals in Michigan. I dont know if any of the other people do or not. I think there was a terminal in Midland and Escanaba? But not sure who was there to contact. But we have all the numbers of the guys he worked with. I have the name of the court and the judge from the filing of the class action and I will call tomorrow and report on here as soon as I find out any info.

 

This is my letter I am sending out tonight

To whom it may concern:

There are roughly 750 people in need of some guidance from the decision makers of this country. I am going to list facts and I am looking for someone to tell me who can fix our problems.

1.) Company we worked for closed it doors with no notice, we were informed by a e-mail that was sent from Steve Hartmann (one of the onwers) that the bank has stop funding the comapny and they were not going to support our paychecks.

2.) Most the 750 employees had their March 13th and March 20th paychecks bounce due to non-payment from the banks. When we were hired at Mid-States Express Illinois base trucking company they held back 2 weeks pay before we received our first pay check. Meaning we are out 4 weeks of pay not to mention all the fees that we had occur from our banks from bounce checks from this company. Even worst then that most American citizens live paycheck to paycheck and when we paid our mortgages or even car payments .... these check we wrote now has bounce as well .... MORE FEES

3.) Medical insurance : Employees paid weekly premium for our medical only to find out this company has failed to pay our medical bills for the last five years or more.

4.) Since January 1st we have paid our weekly premium for our 401 K and this money was never turned over to the right place.

There is more but these are the most important ones that need to be address A.S.A.P

We have contacted congressmen, senators, labor boards of our states, and in some cases the F.B.I., only to be rebuffed by being told that there is nothing that can be done for us as they have claimed bankruptcy.

Are they right can the Hartmann Family hire a group of 750 + employees, work them for little pay and steal our hard earn money ? Can this really happen ?

Please direct us in the right direction so we can get what belongs to us .

 

Hi Jodi, the letter you are sending out tonight was indeed, quite informative. I am going to continue to look for places to forward my letter and this link, so that they, whomever it is that they be, will have an opportunity to read what you, and so many others have written on here in order that they can get a clear picture of just how badly the employees of this company have been treated. If we flood the various agencies with our letters, I cannot help but think that someone out there will sit up and take notice. It is only with persistance and perservering that we will get anything accomplished. So let us keep the heat on, and do what we must to try and bring some form of justice to those deserving of such!

 

I think the letters are the way to go but we need 750 people to send them out. I still like the thought of getting together in Galena as well ... That is how the media is going to get in touch with our story. If is very important that we get this story out before May 6th.

I even sent this letter to the vice president too... I started sending the letters out to other Sentors beside the one where I live.

Let me take the guess work out it of it ... here is the link to the White House

Click on

http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/

There are 7 people people there you can e-mail .... Hell lets get the wife as well ... maybe she will feel for us as well. Who knows