Need Advise For My Trucker Husband

My husband worked for Exel for nearly 3 years and LOVED working for them. Great pay, great home time, great benefits, and he was respected and taken care of. Earlier this year the tire company account that he delivered for went shopping since their contract was up. JB Hunt came in and low-balled them and Walmarted the bid super low. In short, Exel lost the account to JB Hunt.
There went that great job, great benefits, and respect he had.
The majority of the Exel drivers bolted for higher ground within the first month they took the account. Our son is getting occupational therapy and we REALLY needed the insurance not to lapse, so he decided to stay with JB Hunt, since they promised he'd keep his seniority, and insurance would rollover day 1. It all doubled in cost. Total out of pocket nearly quadrupled. But, it was insurance.

As the transition is going on we're noticing that they are starting their new drivers at $10k a year less than he started out, and about $16k a year less than he was making with Exel. We got nervous. They did lower his pay, and played around with the pay scale a couple of times. He was cut down by around $200 a week. Managable. We've been doing fine. Was initially irritated when their excuse of a fm decided to CALL our home on a Sunday to MAKE SURE he knew to leave out on time. Are you kidding me? He's been on this account for nearly 3 years and NEVER has been late for the Monday am delivery. Been driving for over 5 years and suddenly he's going to forget to leave out on time? Give me a break. I wanted to pick up the phone and remind him to not forget to wipe the bullcrap from his mouth, I can smell his breath clear over here. But, I was nice.

Found out recently that my hubby was their top earner and top seniority for that account. They wasted no time throwing trainees his way (he really knew that account and they were completely clueless). He talked with one of the few hold outs from Exel and he wasn't making nearly as much, because my husband had lost of stops on his runs. That was where the money was. This guy wanted his run but didn't want to do all that unload. My hubby's not afraid of working hard. He knew that made the $. He made the 90 day new employee probation with flying colors.

Here's when things went south and in a hurry. We got comfortable when they didn't cut him loose at 90 days (still training newbies off and on). One afternoon he was at a stop. While backing his trailer, the side wall of the back trailer tire scraped the corners of some bags of potting soil hanging off of a pallet and ripped the corners open. They didn't lose any dirt, just tore some corners. The manager saw dollar signs and reported him. He was honest and up front (really fought with himself to go and buy those bags but saw something in that manager's eyes that said don't!). He told his fm, took pictures. Ironically enough the bags next to them were full of puncture marks from their forklift driver. But, she reported him and filed a $40 claim on the bags of dirt. He gets back in to the shop, they pull him in, chew him out, and put him on probation. Over dirtbags. Hmm, maybe they took it personal, being dirtbags he ripped and all. We ALLL know what happened with those bags of dirt. 1. The manager's garden just got fixed. or 2. They were taped and sold and somebody got $40!
Oh, and this was after, too, them pulling him in awhile back and balling him out over being over his time by 10 min. Something that Exel used to let him flag! He was clearly on their radar.

Fastforward a month. After driving trucks for nearly 6 years and having never had any accidents, and even more years on a straight truck. He makes a turn at a red light, going right, onto a tight, tricky road. There was a little BMW Roadster next to him at the light on the left side. When nearly through the turn, the back trailer bumber scratched the beemer. He gets back in, and they can him on the spot.

So, to the job search. No love lost, he hated working for JB Hunt. Got spoiled I guess by the guys at Exel. Plus, we flat out didn't trust them. It took him a month from application to start date to get on with Exel because of their extensive background checks and safety checks, tests, etc. So, while going through all that he worked with a temp service. They loved him and when he finished to start work for Exel, they said come back anytime! So, that's the first place he went. Something to get money rolling in. They knew about the scratched car and were ok with it. When they pulled up his DAC they bumped into a little surprise. JB Hunt, well, let's say they embellished the bags of dirt and turned it into a preventable accident. SO, they denied him work over it. And we're running into that at a lot of places. Two preventables in a month's time (after 6 years clean). Amazing. No telling what else they have thrown on there. A lot of places are telling us to get 6 months with no accidents and then call them. Weeeellllll, gotta have a job to do that.

Anybody know of a decent company that will get him home on the weekends and will hire him with the 2 preventables on his DAC? We are in the Dallas, TX area. Any advice?

The irony here? Exel required 2 years driving experience for this account, plus a months worth of interviews, background checks, tests, etc. JB Hunt, 1 year ex, and the orientation. Within minutes of my husband scratching the beemer, one of their drivers plowed through an intersection t-boning a little old lady with a heart condition. Surely that guy's applying for unemployment right now.

Soooo, all you smart guys and gals out there, I am all ears (well, eyes rather).

Sorry for the length! Hope it wasn't too boring.

 

To halfburn. He tried. We thought we might have gotten a transfer up to KC, but the posting was out of date, there were no openings. In fact, they had a hiring freeze. Too bad. Exel rocked.

 

That is really too bad that they did that to you. And you aren't the first person I have heard them do that to. I have a friend who's father in law has been driving since the 60's. He drove with them for a time and ended up getting sick and had to go into the hospital, ended up in a coma for short time. When he got out and recovered and was ready to work, he came back for a short time and they canned him and hit his DAC with an accident WHILE HE WAS IN THE HOSPITAL! Amazing. Of course it takes money to fight it and since he was unemployed thanks to them, he couldn't fight it. What a racket they run!