Werner Enterprises, Inc. - Omaha, Ne.

Mack you're probably right, and -=*Gulp*=- I might be making a terrible mistake, but I just have to hang on for 1 year, if I don't get a good paycheck from them, atleast the G.I. Bill will be paying me some money besides... so atleast I have that to fall back on eh? And I agree with your 3 in the afternoon.. night to me would be supper time at say... 5 PM or later.

 

home time with werner was always very good (for me) as long as u give them warning. however if ur hometime is approaching make sure the night dispatchers (fleet coordinators) know this or they'll try sending u in the opposite direction, usually due to the 'pony express'. fleet coordinators (night/weekend guys) generally dont care/know what u already have planned with your dispatcher (fleet manager) so it's up to u to let them know what's going on if it's something important. and even then they might say 'the load comes first'.

also, as far as training goes, i trained for about a year and u DO NOT have to help unload the truck (dollar gen/family dollar). ur time is meant to be getting experience driving. $gen was implementing rolling containers last i knew so it probly isnt so bad anymore. but if some doorknob trainer tells u that u have to help unload, ur not getting paid for that and u dont have to.

 

Varimon, thanks for the warning there. I appreciate it a TON. and hey I won't be doing anything extraordinary that I will not get paid for, so there's one up on me. thanks for the Info. Looks like Werner is coming around to be an ok company after all.

 

In my experience, people who wind up overseeing the safety aspects of a company, often over time develop a sour taste in their mouths for drivers. Why exactly, I cannot say. Maybe it's because when a driver is involved in an accident, or when there is repeated instances of drivers who genuinely come up dirty, it complicates their job. They have to do paperwork.

Some may even feel that the negatives that they are required to document reflect upon themselves, and it makes them look like they are not keeping things under control. And if you ask me, they aren't.

I don't offer this to defend Werner, because they aren't really defendable in my opinion. For over five years running, of all the major motor carriers out there, they have amassed the highest accident rate. One out of every seven of their trucks has been involved in a DOT reportable accident. They are an accident magnet.

This is in spite of the fact that they have the utilized the paperless log system, that is supposed to be tamperproof. The only good stat that they hold at the moment, is that their drivers are not often found to be in violation, and thus are put out-of-service.

They hire a great deal of newbies. I don't blame new drivers. I also don't know for sure whether or not this is related to their horrible stats. I suspect that it is, and the reason I think it is related, is probably because they are not staying on top of the training that their newbies receive.

When you contrast Werner to Schneider, who vastly strengthened their training standards, and to JB Hunt, who basically suspended the hiring of newbies with absolutely no experience, both of those companies completely turned around their safety stats practically overnight.

So it's easy to see that the safety department at Werner stays rather busy, and has for quite some time. It's not hard to imagine that their attitude would suck.

Varimon, you are a smart person. The fact that you kept documentation to attest what happened over a period of a few minutes, which clearly shows the breathalyzer had a problem.

Pull your DAC report as soon as possible, and if there is ANY reference to that incident on it, don't walk...RUN to the nearest lawyer, and go after them for everything you can get. You can't lose.

The regretful thing here is that you essentially quit, rather than to have let them fire you. It doesn't change anything, because you still have the proof that the machine malfunctioned. There is no way to explain a difference of that magnitude any other way.

So, the worst thing at this point is that they use this erroneous finding to prevent you from moving on with your life. I hope for your sake they don't, because that's not fun.

Please keep us informed on how it all goes, and I do wish you well.

 

i realized i could've handle the situation better 2 min after it was over. generally such situations dont provide a lot of time to think it thru. regardless of the outcome i highly doubt i would be working for werner at the moment anyway. at the very least, they should have had me retake the test before starting with the accusations.

i fully understand safety has a hard job to do. however, guilty even when proven innocent is hardly conducive to a good relationship with the drivers. i believe these people frequently forget if it wasnt for the drivers they wouldnt have a job.

 

:smt065 Finally got enough energy to fight.

I won the Unemployment tribunal and they reversed the charge of misconduct that Werner reported and gave me my full benifits back.

I have a Work Comp attorney who has sent a letter to Werner stating they are representing me.

Working for Werner had its ups and downs but in all I loved my account, I loved my truck and I was happy with them. I admit I had times where I wanted to quit due to stupid idiotic stuff from other company drivers being bullys, dispatch mistakes and unreasonable demands. Sometimes the wear of driving in an out of Atlanta taffic 2-3 times a day wore you down and a little thing just made you break. But even with all the crap about being a company driver with Werner one of those newbie companys I was proud of my job and who I worked for. When my accident happened the dark side of Werner came out and it saddened me and turned my first driving experience into one of a living hell a nightmare that I cant wake up from. I dont know what to say to a newbie hiring with Werner in one way I think its a good thing because I became a good driver with them and had some really awesome times but then what if they have something happen to them like myself would it turn into a living hell for them too?

 

I understand your sentiment very well.

When I was leased to Hall Systems in Birmingham, Alabama, which had recently been purchased by US Xpress, and was eventually folded into the company, a week before I pulled my trucks from that company, one of their company trucks hit me in the rear end shoved me into a truck in front of me.

The company truck was just about totaled. The trailer I was pulling was severly damaged. I tapped the truck in front of me, which damage a small portion of my grill. The trailer he pushed me into was not damaged at all.

They fired the company driver, and I made it clear that I was not seeking anything for the minute damage to my grill. Three days later, the safety manager in Birmingham basically accused me of "staging" the accident. Not only did I laugh at him, I made it clear that there were plenty of witnesses on record to what happened and how it happened. I asked him to justify his remarks. He backed off, but after a day or two of thinking that someone would even consider such a thing, I decided that this was not the environment for me or my other drivers.

I pulled the trucks and have never looked back.

I too, do not respond well to accusations of being guilty of things that are ludicrous, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

 

SouthernLadyTrucker,

I hope and pray that when and is said and done, That you can go on with your life and not let this riun it for you.

In A way I`ve been in your shoes. I`ve been hurt on the job Twice in the last 10 years and BOTH times got dumped on. First time was from repetative wrenching and I was conviently laid off from. I PAID OUT OF POCKET for my medical bills. Fortunately My wife and I had VERY GOOD medical ins. (not through MY company).

The second time I was working at a "TEMP" agency like Manpower. I was working in a Factory was developed Tendenitus of the wrist. The Factory had me terminated because of this and SINCE I was with a TEMP agency I had no LEGAL recourse.

Even though I`ve been accepted to go to work at Werner , I` m looking at other options and I WILL have A LAWYER on retainer just in case. I`ve Been a sub contractor for a few years so I KNOW ALL ABOUT the stinkiness of how your dumped when "MURPHYS LAW" happens.