Halliburton Cement Op Inquiry

So....update after 8 months. Things didn’t go as planned or as they said it would. After the 3 1/2 week trucking school we all got our CDL. I personally feel 3 weeks is not enough to learn how to drive a truck properly. For the first 3 weeks they had us learning back maneuvers. That’s it. Literally everyday except Sunday we would back to the trucks at different angles 9 hours a day. Halliburton paid us for those days while we were in school as well. On the third week literally one day before our road test they let us drive around an airstrip. We got a feel for shifting and speed control. The next day they made do the official test with a DMV instructor. You got 3 tries. ....continued....

 

The driving school was out in big spring, tx. Halliburton put us up in a “roach motel” labeled Days Inn. There was literally nothing to do in that town. The very small amount of food places hiked the price up on everything. And you shared a room with another person, unless you were a female which were given their own room. We only got one day driving on the road for practice and that was it. We told them we needed more time but they said we would be fine. Just shout everyone passed. We all we’re still downshifting and upshifting erratically and nervous as hell driving on the main roads.
After driving school was over we can back to odessa. We were supposed to begin riding/driving with bulk driver mentors but apparently they didn’t have enough drivers to mentor us. They ended up making us work in the yard sheeping parking lots for almost 3 weeks straight. They kept making excuses why we wasn’t actually out driving like we were promised. You worked 9 hours a day sweeping in the hot sun for $15/hour as if you were a #### janitor. The crazy part about all of this is they made you sign a 1 year contract begin driving school since they were paying for your cdl. If you quit before the year was up you would have to pay Halliburton $3500. Which would come out of your check and the remaining balance you would have to give to them within 30 days or it would go on your credit. They suckered us in big time and lied like crazy. After about 3 weeks of sweeping some of us were paired up with mentors while the other stayed behind changing valves on trailers and the others stayed in the bulk plant sweeping 9 hours a day.

 

When asked when we would be paired up with mentors they said they don’t have an answer and they’re working on it. Immediately following that they told us if we didn’t like how they did things we could turn in our badges and leave. Point blank period. The mechanic shop houses 2 bulk supervisors they seriously hate dealing with people and they hate their job. They’re very direct and disrespectful. Anytime you try and question something they tell you that you can quit anytime you like, they’re running the show and can do whatever they feel.

 

So...some of us finally got to go with mentors for 20 hours and some went to join a pump crew. With a pump crew you have to share a truck with another person and it’s manual labor like a MFer. You’re instructed to drive the pump truck, rig up and rig down plus actually pump the cement. Some cementers like to take a 3-4 hour nap afterwards and then go to the next job. You’re literally on your feet the entire time. Sometimes the job can last 8+hours. Picking up on heavy iron is very body taxing. And on top of that you’re hammering the iron together using a 40 pound sledgehammer. Plus you’re responsible for going up to the rig flow and rigging up the iron bells and cement head. It’s very taxing on your body no doubt. The bulk truck drivers basically were supposed to only rig up their gear but they have it now where you’re rigging up/down the entire #### job, which is not what was told in the interview. Bulk drivers are expected to bring out the dry cement from the yard to location. Load it into the pump truck via hoses. After the job they limit you to 4 hours of sleep and then you’re headed back to the yard. Lately it’s been slow. You’re literally out for one job for 8-12 hours and then come back to the mancamp for another 8-12 hours. You’re not getting paid if you’re at the mancamp and there’s 40+ people on call. The hours are all over the place. You’ll get called out at 2-3 in the morning and sometime that day. It just depends.

 

ALL in all it’s been a terrible experience. The hostility from the supervisors really show you they don’t care about you at all. They’re always saying you can get fired 1000 different ways and you’re extremely replaceable. The moral here sucks. Oh and before you can go on days off they make you attend a safety meeting at 7am Tuesday for people coming back in and leaving. They talk 10 mins about a PowerPoint and dismiss. This cuts into most people commute back home having to wait around on your days off for a pointless meeting talking about the same basic things every single time. Most people have to travel 7+ hours to get home. By the time they do make it home they’ve lost a day of their days off. When it’s time to come back you’re expected to check in a day before your shift starts so you can attend that same safely meeting at 7am.

 

All in all this experience has been anything pleasant. Halliburton is among the lowest paying cement driver jobs out here. Majority of the other companies start out at least $22/hr vs Halliburton’s $15/hr.