H&R Transport

Thats weird... we were on elogs by then. No one pushed anything. You drove what your elog would let you do and that was it. Never had a problem with getting paid for hours worked even if it took a bit longer because of weather conditions. Right now there ice road jobs look pretty interesting and i would go back in a heartbeat. Even if @Prairie Boy made fun of me everyday for wearing shorts lol

 

Don't know of single soul that's not paid. As far as Union Rep, I'm the guy that deals with them. We don't force anyone to exceed hours. Are you sure you don't mean Pioneer out of Fort Nelson, BC?

I've been back there for 5 years so if anything happened prior to that I may not know about it. Can't believe that someone who has that kind of a dispute wouldn't go to labor board.

 

What is your 8-5 job?

 

It's difficult to understand because "paid by the hour", for too many companies, has lots of conditional provisos that you come across only after they happen, and then you're told "Yeah, we don't cover that . . " And of course, there's lots of "well then, don't drive for them" but in a non-utopian reality, if you need a job and have a job, even a ####ty one, it's better than not working or bouncing around looking for a non-####ty employer. Too many company names on a resume isn't looked on as a good thing by prospective employers. So, while some people have jobs where "paid by the hour" is as simple as it sounds, that isn't everywhere. One tanker outfit I worked for would pay breakdown time, but not weather, and not detention, but they "paid by the hour". Now, do YOU understand?

 

What you described doesn't fit the description of 'paid by the hour'. Companies that claim they pay by the hour and then pay as you describe should not be lumped in the same category of companies that do pay for all hours at work. When I started local I was paid 18.50 I think it was from the time I showed up until the time I left the office. They even paid overtime after 44 iirc. Pretty good for right out of the gate and doing auto parts.

 

You and others don't understand that there are companies that will nickel and dime you and NOT pay by the hour, while they "pay by the hour". When I saw some of the replies to dragon's question, based on experiences I've had with companies in the past, "paid by the hour" or "paid for hours worked" wasn't completely clear to me either. Example - stuck in a traffic jam because of an accident up ahead. Sat for almost two hours, no big deal. Get back to the yard, and they want to know what took me so long (aka they think I'm ####ing the dog just to pad my pay cheque). I told them about the accident and traffic jam (2 lanes - no where to go), and they "informed" me that sitting in the truck for that 2 hours wasn't "work", therefore, not paid. Same went for weather delays. So, to me, in my experience, "paid by the hour" is a great blanket statement, but I found out that there are lots of "special" rules for that. If you don't operate like that, cool for the guys that work for you. For others that have never been nickel and dimed "by the hour", good, you're lucky you never had to deal with the ########, but your own work experiences don't make you an expert on everyone's' "paid by the hour" work experiences, regardless of how big you think your ego is, or how much you are convinced you "know".

Another outfit I worked for would pay overtime after 8 hours, and weekly overtime after 50. What they didn't tell us is they would shift hours from days where we drove for OVER 8 hours, to days when we drove LESS than 8 hours, so they wouldn't need to pay overtime. They also decided no one would drive over 12 hours a day, whether we did or not, and would also move overtime hours around. They'd also shift hours over the 50 hours near the end of the pay period, to the following pay period if it reduced pay. They only liked to pay once a month unless you told them you'd like a pay cheque at mid month, and you told them how much you'd like, within reason based on what you thought you were going to get paid. Unless you tracked your own hours, you never knew exactly how much you'd get paid. While that is pretty much outright fraud, they did it and probably still are.

"Paid by the hour" has lots of room for interpretation depending on whom you drive for.

 

. . . or you could have just thought/understood that there are people with hourly pay experiences that aren't the same as yours. Imagine that . . .

 

I get what you've been asking. I've had similar experiences as you, it would seem. I guess we are the only two who know that "paid by the hour" doesn't always mean that, and "hours worked" is a grey area for company interpretation.

 

I think you and some others on this forum are just so used to getting screwed you come to accept that as industry standard. Lighten up dude.

 

So whether or not some company(ies) should or shouldn't be "allowed" to say "paid by the hour" or "paid for hours worked" is 100% irrelevant. "Paid by the hour" is the hook to get drivers. For some #### head companies, it's only after the fact that drivers learn there are a bunch of un-mentioned or secret policies regarding what they do and don't consider "work". If you've never been ####ed out of hours, good for you. I have and I'm betting dragon has too because of word games like "hours worked". Hence, the questions and examples of delays.

Probably better questions would have been "do you pay for driver hours during weather delays, breakdowns and client/customer delays while loading/unloading?" Each one of those is an individual yes or no, because I've had word games played with each of those types of "hours worked". Just because you're sitting in the driver's seat, doesn't mean its considered "work" by some ####### at the office.