Toxic work politics

Always worth having a skill. My Class 1 is my backup/going to use it whenever I decide to take a short break from wrenching and welding.

 

You are competing with folks willing to work for spit and trucking will continue to slide downhill as it has for decades…take a look at jobs in the Greenstone area…there’s some years of work and its not all trades…I considered taking a welding job a few months ago but im nearing the end of my work years and prefer a warm comfy cab 8 hours each night as opposed to the bowels of a vessel. I’m not overly motivated by money..NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE​

 

What’s crazy to me is the new Canadians aren’t even happy with our rates and they’re the problem . I was talking to a guy from day & ross as they have a big contract with west rock in Guelph a few weeks back waiting for shipping. He asked me does Kriska only do long haul I said no we have local drivers also . He then asked me do they hire incorporated drivers I said no but they use to years ago . He then asked how much do they pay so i told him and he tells me his agency gets something like $42 a hr and only pays the drivers like $21-22 a hr and they have to pay for everything. He also claimed he makes like $7k a month and i’m sure he’s paying the correct amount of taxes from his total monthly income wink wink . Guy starts going on a rant saying how are we supposed to live on these wages and pretty soon no one will want to drive a truck . I’m standing there thinking it’s because of you guys this industry crap now and now you’re bit$hing

 

I worked for a unionzed company for 20 something years left and currently worked for a small Mom & Pops place as a O/o and now leaving there too. Larger Corporate companies are better in the sense that most don't have enough time to talk highschool nonsense daily. Plus the smaller places just try to rip you off and have a smaller business mind towards nickle & diming a driver. If you're not happy don't put up with the b.s. Life is to short. Retention is key to any company's success whether they want to believe that or not especially in recession times. Plus the bigger companies weather the storm much better overall.

 

This is why the industry is staring to shift away from Indian/Middle Eastern imported drivers, the focus now is on SUPER desperate Chinese, Filipino's, Burmese and believe it or not Africans. Thats the long game of undercutting, there is always someone more desperate, who will go lower, and live in the truck, because it's better than living in a sewer with contestant gunfire.

Meanwhile, the US is trying everything they can to get Americans off their ###, and into the seat. We just had a big meeting, with a bunch of our US partner carriers. They were talking about all their programs, incentives and strategies to recruit. I was shocked how much they're willing to invest in company drivers, and how the pay is 2-3x what it is in Canada. When they asked us what we were doing, I kind of sat back and let HR explain that "Oh we post jobs on Indeed and Kjiji and hope for the best" ROFL and that instead of offering any sort of transition into CDL driving for citizens, the Canadian Government is just opening up more express entry visa's (just not for Ukrainians, more on that later)

I swear, it's embarrassing to be involved in any of this somedays.

 

If it takes CRA 5 years to catch him he will have a big nest egg to go back home with tax free ..

 

It not their fault, it's the fault of the large mega companies using their mouthpieces in Ottawa, making it happen. I'm actually proud someone is willing to uproot their whole lives to come here and forge a new one. Takes more balls than I have, and most people have. The problem is the big megas. They can only control 2 things. How low they bid against each other for freight, and their labor costs. So as rates go down, labor has to follow. They cant control fuel, truck prices, service costs, building costs, just labor. And the government allows their mouth pieces, ATA, whatever, to scream "driver shortage" to get these guys and gals over here, just to abuse them and take advantage of them and often put them in danger.
Now whos to blame?
Edit, I think, if you employ these guys and they have an accident and kill or hurt someone, because of improper or lack of training...., the company owners should be charged with MAJOR charges for allowing that driver on the road. And face jail time.
Wont happen tho.

 

From my perspective the foreign truck driver plan has backfired on large carriers. Instead of working for them, the foreigners in many cases went off and became direct competitors of these large carriers. Now they’re dealing with ruthless and unethical competition and their hiring problems have persisted.

 

Very true. They trained their competition. Cut off their nose to spite their face. For profit.

 

I messaged a company that had job posted..Got on their chat line and asked what is the schedule and the renumeration, told them I been on line haul past 25 years with clean drivers abstract. They absolutely will not answer. They ask for resume,,again I ask schedule and renumeration. My point is WTF would I send a resume without know what the job entails or how much compensation I can expect.