Con-way in Canada , a

[icuicp]

Could some of you up north tell us about Con-way in Canada? I've read some of your post , but there's a lot I am curious about.
For example how does your pay compare to the US? Your healthcare? How does our Canadian division compare to other LTLs Canadian divisions? How does being classified as a skilled trade help or hurt? Does our change in hours of service affect you at all? If you had to choose to work in the US or Canada which would you take? Are Canadians interested in unionization?

I have million questions , but I'll start here. Thanks for your input.

[Dude-PWB-]

Pay is comparable, 24.65 top rate i think. We top out after 2 years though. Healthcare is a little different, because we have public healthcare here, so what we don't pay in premiums, we do pay in taxes so to speak. Some provinces, Alberta is the one that comes to mind, has a yearly healthcare premium, but that is paid for by the company. I don't think it is much, like under 500/yr. Our benefit package is a package that includes dental/prescription drugs, etc. The premium on that is about 10 bucks a month, and the company pays for it, but we have to claim it as a taxable benefit on our taxes, so it's likely a wash.

Compared to other LTL's, including Reimer (YRC) Vitran, Manitoulin and a few others, we are likely on the top of the pack, or fairly close, however, the lack of an increase for the last few years has really narrowed the gap. There are no LTL's locally that i would even consider working for, they just don't compare. Not sure about the trade/skilled labor issue, not sure it would matter much here. Plus, the companies that have control of the trucking associations and the transportation department in their back pockets would fight it tooth and nail.

Unionization is almost a non-issue here. We have a very strong Labor department in government and have laws that deal specifically with the transportation industry. The unionized companies here can offer little more protection labor wise than is already afforded by the government. The hours of service regulations are not an issue because our hours of service go beyond yours with regards to hours.

We are a different dog in Canada really, just with the amount of area that we cover. We took a big loss when they closed down the head office in Toronto. We had a voice that spoke out for some of our unique situations and needs, now that we are controlled by Ann Arbor completely and as an extension by the different regions, we are completely on an island with regards to any concern or recognition within the company.

[eurodaytona]

How many service centers are there in Canada? I get freight on my route from XHL and XCQ (ontario) terminals i think. Also, every now and then i see pup trailers with the "417" number on them and the Conway Freight Canada logo. I guess they are supposed to stay up in canada? Im curious about p&d runs too, i bet there are some long ones.

[Dude-PWB-]

Actual facilities I think would be around 15 or so, with a bunch of zones piled around them. Not sure about XCQ, I think that would be Quebec City as a guess, but XHL is Hamilton, ON. The 417 trailers are Canadian trailers and are supposed to stay in, or be sent back to Canada because they have had the tax paid on them in Canada, same with the 434 tractors I think. Some P&D runs can be long, I had one years ago that was quite often a 400-500 mile rounder, not a lot of stops but still made for some long days.

[icuicp]

Pay is comparable, 24.65 top rate i think. We top out after 2 years though. Healthcare is a little different, because we have public healthcare here, so what we don't pay in premiums, we do pay in taxes so to speak. Some provinces, Alberta is the one that comes to mind, has a yearly healthcare premium, but that is paid for by the company. I don't think it is much, like under 500/yr. Our benefit package is a package that includes dental/prescription drugs, etc. The premium on that is about 10 bucks a month, and the company pays for it, but we have to claim it as a taxable benefit on our taxes, so it's likely a wash.

Compared to other LTL's, including Reimer (YRC) Vitran, Manitoulin and a few others, we are likely on the top of the pack, or fairly close, however, the lack of an increase for the last few years has really narrowed the gap. There are no LTL's locally that i would even consider working for, they just don't compare. Not sure about the trade/skilled labor issue, not sure it would matter much here. Plus, the companies that have control of the trucking associations and the transportation department in their back pockets would fight it tooth and nail.

Unionization is almost a non-issue here. We have a very strong Labor department in government and have laws that deal specifically with the transportation industry. The unionized companies here can offer little more protection labor wise than is already afforded by the government. The hours of service regulations are not an issue because our hours of service go beyond yours with regards to hours.

We are a different dog in Canada really, just with the amount of area that we cover. We took a big loss when they closed down the head office in Toronto. We had a voice that spoke out for some of our unique situations and needs, now that we are controlled by Ann Arbor completely and as an extension by the different regions, we are completely on an island with regards to any concern or recognition within the company.

Thank you.

[icuicp]

Actual facilities I think would be around 15 or so, with a bunch of zones piled around them. Not sure about XCQ, I think that would be Quebec City as a guess, but XHL is Hamilton, ON. The 417 trailers are Canadian trailers and are supposed to stay in, or be sent back to Canada because they have had the tax paid on them in Canada, same with the 434 tractors I think. Some P&D runs can be long, I had one years ago that was quite often a 400-500 mile rounder, not a lot of stops but still made for some long days.

Damn. More than a nice line-haul run. Do you have overtime after 8hrs a day and 40hrs a week?

[icuicp]

Is sub-service an issue there? Was the profit sharing the same as in the US? Is linehaul more proactive about avoiding bad weather?

[upnorth]

I will defer to dude-pwb for the eastern region... educated guess says he's from out east. I'm in western canada. We have 4 main service centers in western canada; winnipeg, mb, regina, sk, calgary, ab and edmonton, ab. British columbia is serviced by a sub-service carrier out of the calgary and edmonton terminals. We do not have a presence there at all, due to the strong union presence in the costal shipyards. We use sub-service from ontario to winnipeg, as we have no drivers between there and here.Profit sharing is the same. ot after 8 hours daily. We are on the 70 hour cycle, but company policy only allows us to work 60 hours, due to the fact that canadian law saws we have to be paid the milage plus ot after 60. Too expensive and not profit worthy for us to run 70. Linehaul is as useless for us as it is for you... Go go go, don't worry about the weather. Thankfully, we have an awesome RM and TM and 2 FOS's who will shut down a run in a second if it's dangerous. Dude is right... we are unique up here, but we are lumped in with the big machine when it comes to concerns and needs.... like tractors that will stay running on fast idle when it's -35, and your stuck on a closed highway.

[Dodge Ram]

The 417 trailers are Canadian trailers and are supposed to stay in, or be sent back to Canada because they have had the tax paid on them in Canada, same with the 434 tractors I think.

You are correct. According to NAFTA, Canadian equipment and drivers can only haul freight BETWEEN Canada and the US. They cannot haul from US to a US destination. That also includes the trailers. I have seen Canadian trailers hauling freight from Us to Us service Centers. That is against the law and it has a very big fine if the company is caught.

[Dude-PWB-]

As upnorth said, yes, 8/40 and technically they are supposed to pay OT after 60 even on a L/H run, but I know guys that go over, and don't say anything and the company looks the other way. When someone gets the urge to complain, and labor canada does an audit, and they will, then the company will be on the hook for all payroll infractions for the past three years, plus a hefty hefty fine. As for linehaul and weather. They try and take a stand, but to be honest, they usually refer locally for the weather because the service centers are so far apart that it can be great weather all around, but one service center has bad weather. Not like say the chicago area, where if one has bad weather, you can rest assured that 5 or 6 also have bad weather, and linehaul will make the call.

Dodge Ram, you are close, but kinda mixing 2 things together. With equipment, the issue is the tax. Since our equipment is usually purchased in the US and the tax is paid there, they are legal to use in the US. But once they are sent to Canada, they are allowed one loaded move inbound, and one loaded move outbound, as well as an empty move internally for US trailers (300's). But, the 417's (or most of them)have had tax paid on both sides of the line, so they are good to go. But of course, with equipment allocation, if you guys are using our trailers, and we are using yours, then we are running illegally because the 300 trailers do not have the tax paid on them here. The company usually gets slapped with a big fine every year, and it fixes them for a little bit, then they just go off the rails again and get slapped again, and so the cycle goes. You don't even want to know the plethora of nightmares they are eventually going to get nailed with up here once they do get caught, like Cdn plated trailers with US safeties, US plated tractors with no Cdn safeties, and so on, and so on. And they have been warned many times, but the licensing dept in Portland just always thinks they are right, until they get nailed, then say they didn't understand. I don't really care, as long as I get a paycheck, lol.

The problems with moves inside the US is with the driver himself. We usually refer to it here as inter-stating. Basically because we are not legally allowed to work in the US without citizenship, or a green card, we can only make a loaded move inbound, and a loaded move outbound in the US, plus an empty move. But, the same thing applies to US drivers up here as well.

The biggest gripe I have operationally is the sales side of things. We used to have our own dedicated BDC (sales department) in our office in Toronto, but they did away with that when they made the big single company shift, and now our sales efforts here are almost nothing. Which makes other companies just laugh their @$$es off at us because we do so much sub-service coming north, because we have more freight inbound than we do outbound. If none of you knew it before, let me tell you now, Canada is an EXPORTING nation, meaning we export more products than we import and it's been like that since jaws was a minnow. But for some reason our operations/sales seems to not understand common international economics. There is no company, other than YRC that even compares to the kind of service we can and should provide up here and we still cover more area's directly than YRC does but the company has no interest in capitalizing on the opportunities that are staring them square in the face.

Lol, that's my little rant for today. Keep asking questions if you have them, I like answering. Most Americans know very little about Canada, and could care less, so I always take the opportunity to shine a light for anyone that wants to see. You don't have to limit it to the company side of things either but you can just bugger right off if you want to know where my fishin holes are!!!