Mid States Express Inc.

When I heard this was here and I was being insulted, threatened and lied about I didn't give it much thought and never thought I would reply to it and to be honest I don't know why I am but here goes.

If you want to lump me in with the ownership thats certainly at your discretion. I was hired to do a job to the best of my ability and as I've done with every employer I have fulfilled that commitment. It was unfortunate that I wound up in a moral quandry in terms of fulfilling my obligation to my employer and doing what was right.
However I don't feel I compromised my principles.

The truth is I was given the same answers to my questions as you were to yours, and towards the end I realized I could continue to do my job at the outside chance we would remain open and had we remained open we stood a better chance of the court forcing them to pay something closer to the full amount owed a much greater chance than we stand now. And by the way they have ammended from chapter 11 to chapter 7 which further proves my point that it is now harder for us to get what we are owed.

Whether you want to believe it or not I knew what would work better for the employee group more than most of you. I fought the union because of the disservice unions had done to me and my family as well as knowing anyone that got caught up in that approach would loose. Unions are relatively easy to defeat and the employee group attempting to organize or supporting are always the ones that get it the worst. I had been on the losing end of that fight before.

I also knew who we worked for and knew they would waste every dime of money they had defending themselves from the union even if it meant shut down. Those that attempted to organize only gave the ownership an outlet for their money other than paying our medical bills.

Our best chance was them being successful in recovering. That didn't happen and if you want to blame me so be it. The reality is Baker did his best to make it hard for me to leave even after he left. The first offer I received came right as he was terminated and the only reason I didn't leave was because I didn't want anyone to feel I left in support of him. I stayed like most of you in order to support my family until I found something else.

I never backed down from him, the teamsters and their threats, and I won't back down from any of you or the ownership.

I did what I thought was right. If you didn't do your job you received fair and just discipline from me. I never threatened any employee with anything other than discipline within the confines of company policy and removal from the property by the local authorities when they became threatening and most of you know that. If you did your job you seldom even had to deal with me. Either way I don't give a #### what your opinion of me was.

I feel bad that all of you got screwed, and I've done what I could to write letters of recommendation to everyone that asked. I hope that all of you find gainful employment and eventually receive what you deserve from Mid-States Express.

In the end...they owe me money just as they do you. I wound up unemployed just like all of you.

Good luck and live well.

 

C Johnson? Who are you? Part of Management? Did you know, if you was in management, that all of you from Term. Managers up can be and most likely will be sued or charged if crimes were comitted? As management, middle, lower to the top all had responsibilities to the employees as well as to your supervisers. I asked my immediate boss about the insurance theft many times, then his boss and then the next boss all the way to the top and not one coward had the fortitude to demand an answer. Me, a driver was giving information to the coward district manager my wife would find on the web!! That is and was the problem with MSXN...COWARDS for bosses!! Afraid to question anyone for fear of something? We employees had no real boss, not one man that would demand from the almighty H's as to where our insurance money was going. I wrote corporate and got an answer from somebody in claims,,!Q! In Claims of all places..and all he said , was, I will forward it to someone!!! COWARDs and self serving non bosses...all you guys would do was what ever the Hartmann's told you to do...you let us down!!

 

Do you really think middle and lower management had any idea what was going on with the insurance ? How would they know ? If you asked questions many times evidently you knew something wasn't right . So why did you continue working for them ? Ever hear of mitigating damages ?

 

So who are you? Wat postiton did you hold. You mentioned you took Bakers position.

See, this is a typical management response. " Do you really think middle and lower management had any idea what was going on with the insurance ? How would they know ? If you asked questions many times evidently you knew something wasn't right . So why did you continue working for them ? Ever hear of mitigating damages ?

This is so what and how this all happened...Management "We know NOTHING!"..I am near retirement...and why I kept working their is really none of your business...but Managements denial and lack of it helped this all to happen. There was no real management!

So what was your position...? Let me guess, chief of operations? Vice President? Head of nothing doer of everything?

You sound just like all the others in management..."ever heard of mitigating?" NO! I am just a stupid "Truck Driver"....what were you? Let me see, ummm, Baker ran Mid-States so you knew nothing and had no idea...or do you know what happened to the thousands of dollars I paid for insurance I never received? Where did my money go and who has it Management that knows nothing!!

Why do I bother, and really why am I upset and why did I work for them? Mister, you are no longer a non boss. So if you were non effective in what ever your position was, why get on here and dare to question or be little anyone?

Management? Was there management at MSXN? Almost laughable! Do you have any idea of the lives this company has damaged and effected? Probably not any more so than you knew when all this misapropriating of insurance money was going on? I knew, so you had to know! Why didn't you do something? What did you tell those under you when they asked you about it and I bet you was asked. "Uh, I don't know nothing!" Is this what you told them? Did you ever find out as management? Did you? Probably not! So why get on here and defend yourself? Management has no excuse for not know, other than they were afraid to find out and turned a deaf ear. Looked the other way, hoping things would get better.....

I would still like to know what your position was?

 

You all have a right to be upset
But I think its great to have a insider helping your cause
Or at least posting his side
Please keep this thread respectful !!!!!!

 

I think the thread can be respectful. I dont think CJ knows what he was involved with completely when he joined Mid States. Only the owners new they were hurting the working people of this company.

I will say that CJ I have seen you in action, your a mediocre leader at best. You do talk down to women. I cant testify for the spitting in ones face, but you have serious issues. This I have seen personally. I hope whatever trucking company hires you takes a long look at what position they put you in. I know you had no respect for any of your men. That's why the all called you Little Hitler. Not only do you look like him but you act like him.

To be blamed for stealing money from us directly no. But you did steal our motivation to work for a person we had no respect for. The Hartmanns knew it. Brad kept you on a leash the best he could. I would like to see one person come here and say they received a written letter of recommendation from you.

 

Seriously Broadwaybill

Think about what you are saying .... I was part of management in the Columbus Ohio terminal, I shared the same insurance as you had or any other employee had.. Do you really think if I knew that we were in some kind of insurance scam that I would continue to pay my weekly premium ? I don't think so. To this day I still have medical bills that have not been paid. I still write out monthly payments to my son doctors so he can continue to see them.

If fact most Managers did not have a clue until their employee groups started complaining. Once employees started complaining there was no one in upper management that could answer our questions. NO ONE !!

As far as terminal manager, middle, lower management and supervisor being sued ... for what ? Our stupidity for believing what we were told from the ownership of this company. Stupidity is not a crime ...

MOST managers in this company gave 100 % dedication to the Hartmanns including myself and we are in the same boat as any other employee out there.

Even after I knew the insurance bills were not being paid I still put a smile on my face and went to work daily, there was 30+ employees who were counting on me to do my job so they can do theirs.

I made that choice again I made that choice no one forced me to work for the Hartmanns. No one forced the other 500+ employees to work for them either. Now because we all chose to go to work daily does that give anyone the right to steal from us NO .... but it happen. Will we get what is owed to us... NO filing chapter 7 will see that we get nothing. If we do then its a added bonus to the employees.

I have read this forum weekly since MSXN closed their doors and it looks as if some of the employees are working hard to get the word out ..... GOOD FOR THEM. I hope those people get what they are fighting for

As for everyone else if you come on here and want to blame someone for your misfortune then blame the right people. DO not blame the people who worked the hardest for you, do not blame the people who worked side by side daily w/ you because we share your pain.

Now w/ that said I am still unemployed, I guess I better hit the streets and look for a job.


Just remember when one door closes another will open .... Hang in there all good things come to those who wait

 

I must agree with you BAACK...but this insider evidentally does not know anymore than my terminal manager, district manager or anyone else that was in this so called Management. Maybe we would be better off with one of the office janitors.

This is the frustration we all have. No answers, nobody to go too and this has been going on for years.

Mr. Johnson asked why I did not quit. There are several reasons. The main one is, age on my part, vested in the retirement, knees, hips, shoulders going from slinging tires and hard work and no insurance to get them taken care of..NO INSURANCE even though I was paying $75 a week to this company for insurance. I still have no insurance but I certainly do have bills coming in.

So, like everyone else, by the time I realized the company insurance was no good, since NOBODY KNEW ANYTHING, or Management was not talking, either way, days led into weeks, months and so on. The law suit had us in limbo for a long time. We were told after that was settled everything would get better and we would have new insurance and all past bills would be paid. Well, we had new insurance for a short period of time and then we found out, the company canceled it, NEVER SAID A WORD TO US and continued to collect our premiums once again....now anyone want to tell me to be civil....Let me tell you, I am being respectful and civil.

I have only two questions for our insider:
1. What was your postion?
2. Where is my insurance premiums money?

 

Chris the hubby and I say "hi" and he said "I see you have people mad at you here....what else is new?!?" he also said "the wife made oatmeal raisin cookies and I can't find you so I can't share"

 

I just have to say as a female employee who worked under Chris Johnson for a year in Columbus Ohio Terminal .... He never disrespected the female employees group in Columbus.

Chris was honest, fair, respectful and BLUNT to all his employees in Columbus. Were there employees in Columbus that did not like him ... YEP sure was but they were the ones who did not do their jobs. Were there employees in Columbus that liked Chris ... YEP sure was but they were the ones who came to work daily and did what they were being paid for. If I had the chance to work w/ Chris again I would do it in a heart beat. (Chris you can leave the red pen at home... I do much better now)

I also know that MSXN hired drivers, dockworkers as well as office staff and paid them less then what they were worth ... but you get what you pay for. I was underpaid for what I did for this company but the one thing that never changed, regardless of what I was paid I did my job to the fullest. It a choice that I made when I took the job and or the job assignment I had over the years.

I was thinking .... We all have known for at least 4 years or more our medical bills were not being paid but yet we still worked for this company. We never knew when we came to work if there was going to be fuel for our drivers to complete their task for the day but we still worked for this company. We never knew if we were going to have phones, electric. running water ect. but we still worked for this company. Why is that ? Why did we keep coming back for more daily ?
For me it was because I enjoyed my job, I enjoyed working w/ my co-workers and customers I thought this company would never close that why I stayed.

I had the chance to work in the Cincinnati terminal for about 6 months after the manager there took a leave of absence. MSXN was in one of their lowest time and the employees in CIN was worried about their jobs. The one thing I told them was the Hartmanns were like #### roaches, even if you dropped the atomic bomb on them they would still be around. They thought it was funny and the ones who have been around long enough knew what we were going through was nothing new and they would pull through.

Until March 26 I really believe they (Hartmanns) would never go anywhere and to this day I believe if the bank never pulled the funding we all would be still working for them. We all would still be paying for insurance, 401 K, STD, LTD and life insurance. I believe they would still be taking what did not belong to them and using our money to fund the company. And we would still be taking our paychecks weekly.

Everyone of us made it possible for the Hartmanns to last as long they did. With every premium we paid kept this company a float for another day. WOW does that make us part owners ... YIKES .... I made it possible for me not to get my last paychecks... silly me ... Anyhow I wished this company was still open I really miss yelling at the dispatchers and Manager because they didn't deliver freight that my customer were waiting on ...LOL