Auto Truck Transport Corp. - Kenosha, Wi.

Especially if you was going out west to the coast. I always wondered why it was out there that we had to get permits like that. Always hated running across 10 from Garland to Cali because of stopping in New Mexico and then 3 hours later you had to stop in Arizona. At least we didn't get hassled like a lot of the drivers I seen did.

 

I've been laid off from ATT since this spring. Started in Cleveland, NC back in March of '04. It's been quite a ride and great experience. 35 years trucking experience this coming fall. I've read alot of truth, alot of crap and some stuff in this thread that is just plain funny.

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Sadly, Truck Hauling, just like most jobs, aren't what they used to be. I love this type of work but I don't find ATT particularly reputable overall. Many good people working there, if they haven't left to find work elsewhere.

When this industry was represented almost completely by the IBT many years ago, there was great pay, benefits and almost no turnover. Dennis Troha, founder of ATT, invited in the IAM to represent the employees at his newly created company. At first, all was good. Comparable pay, benefits and better work rules than at the IBT represented companies also owned by Troha. One by one, ATT underbid the primary IBT represented company Active Transportation.

Active only has three accounts now, Peterbuilt, Kenworth and the Internationals built in Chatham, ON. This due to the large number of IBT represented employees at each plant (no IAM allowed). Many of these trucks built by these companies are now being built in Mexico with labor rates starting at the equivalent of $2 per hour.

ATT accounts:

Sterling in St. Thomas, ON is completely shut down as of this past spring - no more Sterlings.

Mt. Holly, NC Freightliner is down to one shift, part time at that. Decking shop is closed, trucks being ferried to Cleveland, NC for decking. Cleveland, NC down to one shift, part time at that. Many of the trucks made at these plants are now being built in Mexico. Freightliner opened a new plant there this past spring for 2 plants total. Last time I checked, Freightliners built for the Mexican market were built in Cleveland, NC - a bare handful of trucks, if that. No big secret where the Mexican trucks are going.

Portland, OR Freightliner is down to one shift and is scheduled to close 1Q of 2010. Building Freightliner military trucks and Western Stars at present - don't know their disposition.

Volvo/Macks built at New River, VA and Macks built at Macungie, PA are now being decked and delivered by the shadowy 'Iron Tiger' group. Word is this was an inside job by ATT to create a non union company. They had major troubles staffing both operations and opted to bring in the IAM to represent the workers, although through a watered down contract compared to the vastly weakened contract in effect at ATT's other facilities.

Inferior work rules at Iron Tiger operations too. IT experienced major problems staffing Macungie and was forced to resort to outside contractors to get the operation going several months after the deadline. We're hearing IT is using 'employee relations' contractors (anti union contractors often employed as strike breakers) to staff the Macungie operation.

I have little knowledge of what's going on at Springfield, OH and Garland, TX International operations. I think its safe to say both are down to one shift each with more of their trucks being built in Mexico. Remember the midline Ford F500-F600-F700 trucks that were built in Louisville, KY? Every single one now being built at the same plants in Mexico that build the Internationals for the American and Canadian markets.

Springfield, OH ATT is unique in that the in-house 'employee relations' unit (thug squad) is based there. These guys are the ones deployed to take care of the 'trouble makers' system wide. They were very effective during the union selection election back in 2005. A fascinating event as a number of outside 'contractors' were brought in before the election to 'influence' the workers and left shortly afterwards. Every single one of these 'hired thugs' were based out of the Springfield operation in conjunction with the 'squad' already based there.

Garland, TX finally got a modern and long overdue new facility but the quality of their employees continues to drop. Completely 'ghetto' IMO. Even the employees for the van service in use at Garland are suspect; the worst system wide as ATT now uses the same contractor at most of its facilities.

I'm guessing the Laredo, TX operation is still operating well as it handles the ever increasing number of Mexican built trucks. If the US and Canadian DOT begin to allow Mexican Drivers full access to America and Canada I suspect ATT will be a mere shadow of its former self.

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Hauling and setting up new trucks is a great job and alot of fun IMO. Sadly, pay - benefits and work rules are going right down the drain. Long time ATT drivers will tell you it was easy to make $60-$70k a year in the late '90s and be home several times a month. Now, everyone has to stay out 5-6 weeks at a time to make $45-$50k per year. If someone tells you they make more than that it probably isn't their W2 taxable earnings and just some obscure figure including company contributions, freebees, etc.

We remember when Swift Transportation made a complete mess of the Volvo account years back - that very sad situation may be the future for truck hauling. Poorly qualified, poorly paid and poorly motivated people with an 'anything goes' attitude ensuring the predictable results. Hoping to be called back before the time limit but so many people have transferred back into the Cleveland facility with more seniority that my position has fallen quite a bit.

Hope is eternal. Looking for the recall and hoping to see the IBT become the dominant representation in the truck haul field once again. Also hope that everyone understands and supports the Employee Free Choice Act that is currently before Congress. ATT/IAM hated 'card check' during the last selection election as they know the Troha installed IAM would have been kicked out. IAM is favoring it now for some reason.

 

Wow! How things change.

Quality of workers has gone down at Garland? How is this possible? i had chains falling off my set while going down the highway in 05. i didn't think it was possible for quality to go down further. Ditto on "ghetto."

Ditto on the (racist) suspect van transporters in garland. How sad.

 

Auto truck transport was my employer from 5-03 to 10-06 what an experience. First off if you are going to screw one union in favor of another don't you think that those drivers ,and shop people that you rehire who were slighted will cause problems For You?

I worked out of Macungie ,Pa ,And Jim and Jerry were for the most part nice guys,but to uphold that nice guy image there were a good many guys out of their own terminal who got SCREWED period!

The way it worked at the end of the day the loads that were not covered became HOT(####) loads that had to be covered by the first drivers who signed the board that next dispatch.

This didn't happen in Macungie they got put back in the list of loads for the next dispatch,and the top drivers on the board got to pick from the ( BEST ) loads not the garbage.

So now lets see between Jim and Jerry BUILDING loads for their teamster buddies so they could go where they wanted to go,and the drivers from outside terminals picking from the best of what was left the rest of the drivers in the Macungie terminal got screwed in their home terminal ,and every other terminal they went into,because the other terminal managers didn't like the way Jim ran his dispatch so they screwed us on PURPOSE!

There was a female dispatcher in Portland,Oregon who loved to send all the Macungie drivers on little shuttle runs to Canada while the drivers she catered to from North Carolina ,and her own drivers hauled the best loads always. I put a stop to her games in a way she will never forget.

The women who ran the terminal in St Thomas ,Ontario were as crooked as the day is long,as were the other terminals.

I look back on freezing my tail off in minus 40 degree weather ,and being treated like dirt up in quebec ,and wonder why I even did it. I had to fight for breakdown time. I had to fight for delay time . I slept in airports for flights that were delayed ,or didn't happen! I saved them wrecker bills numerous times by doing what it took to get the set moving again FOR WHAT so they could find a way to not pay you for doing it.

You guys who brag about this company were either paying someone for good loads, or knew someone on the inside, or were the biggest ### kisser in the world its that simple!

I look at my poor vehicle that I used for work that the rotten ####### keyed the #### out of,and wonder how rotten could human nature be?

There were some big mouths at the Macungie terminal who thought their #### didn't stink they know who they are. They thought they had control of the terminal,and the rest of us were beneath them! You reap what you sow have fun on the outside looking in. I hear Iron Tiger is hiring.

 

All i can say (maybe i was lucky or something; i was never corrupt.) was that ATT was THE best OTR gig i've ever had bar none, period. Please let me know when they are hiring again.

1) i only went to magungie like twice, but now that you mention it, jim+jerry (are they brothers?) were really nice. The MR series trucks were-----interesting.

2) RE: "hot" loads.

a)1st off, no dealer i ever delivered to EVER was looking foward to recieving a "hot" load. In fact, most didn't realize they were even coming.

b) funny how when you went to springfield, they would count how many people came in on the van, then they would put out the load list and all the short runs would be "hot" if it was monday thru weds. On thurs and later and long california runs would suddenly "appear."

i personally didn't care as the way i looked at it was it was all money and there would always be another run. In fact, i was known to sometimes pick the shortest run (lots of times it would be a 4way) because i pychologically wanted to get it over with and reposition myself to go to another terminal asap. Short run or long, it's all money.

3) i only went to portand once(this in itself is a subject for another thread) but i didn't care too much for her (forgot her name) also the decking crew left a little to be desired also. (too horny) Was it because magungie drivers were teamster? ( i was out of cleveland)

4) St. Thomas:
i forgot her name----50 y.o. woman wearing miniskirts! i personally did not have a problem with that or them in general. But some other women drivers apparently did have a problem with the clothing.

But in general, they were cool to me. Again, it may be due to the fact as stated above that i would sometimes take the shortest run due to my personal psychological reasons. i think they remembered this and dug it.

a) the security guard there was real grumpy, i forgot his name.

5) i agree about saving wrecker pay only to have them not be appreciative about it and try to be "tight" when paying stuff they owed you i.e., cab reciepts that didn't have the phone number on them etc.

6) i think the reason why i got along so good with them is i was easy-going, i only broke down twice, delay pay was rare for me and at the time i didn't employ it as a "strategy" but i think taking the shortest run every now and then actually paid off.

 

Since Troha owns the entire industry segment; one has little choice unless they want to haul used trucks. Troha and Co. are working overtime to reduce this segment into just another non union 'OTR job' just like Unimark; $1.50 per book mile and you're on your own. If a segment of the trucking industry ever cried out for professional representation, its the non union TL freight haulers.

Never had a problem with the Macungie facility other than driving some funky, slow trucks.

The 'hot loads' tactic is just a ruse to clear the boards of the runs no one wanted and are lingering. Longer runs became scarce during the first half of the week in order to quit paying 'weekend delay' time.

Portland was/is a strange cookie. A 'family' of post 'Rajneeshees' from the nearby cult that was shut down by the Feds many years previously became ingratiated with ATT at around the time the transportation service was set up. Members of this family were involved with the transportation service, employed in the decking shop and worked at the nearby Freightliner plant.

During the union selection vote in 2005, this 'family' were the most vocal 'anti Teamsters'. Whenever one would inquire about their views the responses were always the same. Implausible scenarios and open contempt for daring to question. Also, the company's only known (to me) female to male transsexual transferred from Cleveland to Portland. He/she has since transferred to Garland after the big cutbacks in Portland.

ATT is real big on openly promoting 'diversity', meaning black on white intimidation and 'alternative lifestyle celebrations'. Larger than average numbers of black employees and gay-homosexual employees. 'Diversity' issues are tied in to employment issues, meaning if one questions the quality of union representation, declining pay, abbreviated work rules and completely strange contracts then one must be a 'hater'. A brilliant tactic that works.

St. Thomas ATT/ACS was run just like the rest of the ATT terminals - they looked out for their own first. No point complaining about it as IAM representation was non existent, as per agreements with Troha from the beginning of their relationship'.

One office employee appeared to be (and was reported to be) a male to female transsexual. Never had a serious problem at St. Thomas other than the transportation service owner was rabidly 'anti union' and failed to understand why I never followed his 'don't disagree with me or else you're stupid' logic.

Everything I submitted that was properly documented was reimbursed with few discrepancies. The small amounts I let go as IAM 'impotence' reeked and I was the known 'bad guy' (Teamster supporter). You aren't doing the company any favors by trying to cut corners. Always get your necessary approvals and use legitimate means to get the job done properly the first time.

Nothing wrong with taking advantage of 'delay pay' for sound reasons, 'strategy' or otherwise. Positioning yourself to be available for the high paying moves is always intelligent. Back to Back short moves will kill your paycheck as you're not getting paid for any of your return transportation time, which, as you know, can be quite lengthy. Getting paid 'movers guide' miles never helps either.

I notice a number of people who 'cook' their log books in order to make more time available. Kinda defeats the purpose of 'professional representation' doesn't it? I'm all for 'work less, get paid more' and not the other way around.

I enjoy what I do and want to enjoy life in the process. I prefer not to sacrifice my well being for that of the company owners; the primary reason why I endorse professional representation in the employment arena.

 

1) magungie:
a) Yes, the macks were "funky" to say the least. Especially the vocational cabover chassises----the fan would turn on every other minute or so.
b) the girl, yes the girl, not woman who decked there was cool. But i think she got laid off back then.

2) "hot" loads:
i kind of figured that's why they(springfield) left the long runs until thurday afternoon---to avoid paying the weekend layover. Of which i collected several times.

3) the "diversity" thing:
i never noticed this; i'm not saying it didn't/doesn't happened, but i never really noticed it. When did this start? Could you explain more?


4) St. Thomas:
a) i never really had a problem and in fact liked (in general) being and working in canada; The only thing i didn't like was the paperwork hassles for border crossings---i never did the f.a.s.t. card thing because they rejected my paperwork for minor errors, so i said screw it.

b) i forgot the name of the hotel. Sleep in or something but it was ok.

c)Was the transexual person working in the main office or was it the "satelite" office that IAM drivers like me had to be shuttled to for dispatch?

d) i never met kevin wheelan (carland?) but his son was one of the coolest people i've met---i was going to give him some video games but never got around to it. Stan was/is very cool; The older, grizzled guy who every other word is a cuss world.


5) being tight with reciepts and pay in general.

i think peggy was responsible for all of this. At least in my case. i'm not sure how to put this, but she annoyed me, let's put it that way. i heard she was delinquent with her rent.

6) my other comments regarding my working at ATT:
i think in keeping with my easy-goingness atmosphere i distinctly remember one time at springfield where they were doing the "hot" load bullcrap i just took a really crappy load without complaining----a 4 way one stop in king of prussia, pa, another stop in elizabeth n.j and the last stop in new brunswick n.j. Alot of the other drivers vocally complained in not so nice/nasty terms.

When i got empty, they automatically gave me a "breakdown" load---a bobtail going from exit 8 on the NJTPK to kansas city; i didn't even have to ask for it!

So that furthered my belief that there is always another load(often a decent load) available next.

i think i tended to look at the big picture preferring to look at all the loads as maybe one continuous load if you will or something like that. It all blends into total mileage.

Sometimes you can attract more bees with honey or something like that.

 

Them west coast runs wouldn't get decked up till wednesday, that was robins way of saying delay pay for that yard. After the new contract came out I was finding myself with California runs on a monday, had to be there friday though. While working in the yard once we decked a load for Morgan body in ehrenberg that was still there thursday and ended up on fridays board.

 

i want to know about the transexuals!

 

Do you now? Empty social life you have? Surprised I'd have to point them out to you. I won't give any names for obvious reasons. The one in St. Thomas is gone; stated she/he may seek work in another province?

I ran into two male to female transsexuals (middle aged) when I first started; my trainer knew them and seemed to know all of the 'gays' as we kept running into them - 'gays' were/are often routed together for whatever reason. My trainer was a 'bent nickel' for sure and didn't last a year I was told later on. Someone mentioned he went to work for Iron Tiger Transport - I never confirmed and don't care.

I never saw these two again after my 1st year although I saw one of the 'fan club members' just last year - yes, with another group of 'gays' including the female to male tranny. The female to male tranny is 'married' and probably laid off at this point due to seniority transfer status.

Lots of gay men at ATT; more than a few are 'married' to women. Nothing new here, especially in the trucking industry. Not aware of any 'gay' managers although the ones I had any contact with seemed overtly 'gay friendly'. There was a 'safety man' at Garland not long after I started who appeared to be 'gay' but I only saw him twice with no confirmation. Too many 'clowns' (questionable hires) in Garland so I never overtly made it a destination of choice.

Major personnel changes at Garland over the years as you should well know (and Laredo, Portland...) Musical Chairs at Cleveland but mostly the same people. The assistant terminal manager went over to the transportation company and a steady rotation of 'affirmative action' hires (and fires).

I was rarely sent to Springfield, especially after the fraudulent union election so I'm not aware of the internal politics there but the company 'thug squad' (red circle drivers) are based there. During the union election, a number of 'outside contractors' were brought in to work along side ATT employees and attempt to 'steer opinion' to ATT/IAM/Troha. Every one of these 'contractors' were based out of Springfield. They were mostly all too obvious.

My impression is they were mostly (if not all) unemployed biker gang members'(!) Alot of verbal and physical intimidation; every single one was gone within a few months of the 'election'. I've been told some of these same 'contractors' were used to start up Troha's Iron Tiger Transportation.

What was your employment window, if you don't mind telling me?