Estes | Didn't realize how Petty Estes can be

joebob7845

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I found out the hard way that 1 locked up brake drum out of 18 tires. Is considered an at fault incident worthy of a 5 day off work with no pay. Never left the yard only pulled it around the building. I guess the appeal system doesn't work either. I caused no damage to any company property. Has anyone else had this kind of treatment by the safety dept.
 
Hooked to a set, the front trailer was a old gi trailer. the front trailer brake was stuck on the right side the left side wheel still turned, drove it 300 yards around the terminal and stopped. The stuck wheel left a skid mark on the payment. Asst. terminal wrote an accident report. Safety came back with a letter, stating this was a preventable accident and recommended 5 day susp. without pay, I have the letter. What a joke of a safety dept.
 
Hooked to a set, the front trailer was a old gi trailer. the front trailer brake was stuck on the right side the left side wheel still turned, drove it 300 yards around the terminal and stopped. The stuck wheel left a skid mark on the payment. Asst. terminal wrote an accident report. Safety came back with a letter, stating this was a preventable accident and recommended 5 day susp. without pay, I have the letter. What a joke of a safety dept.
Sorry you work for a chicken s&%t outfit.
That's defective equipment.
They may claim you were negligent, but that's BS.
It would never get to the committee with a union outfit.
 
5 days seems excessive considering spotters do it all the time. Dragging it 300 yards probably left a pretty nice flat spot on those tires but that doesn't deserve a suspension. I would have called a regional manager and asked why that's deserving of a 5 day suspension.

The management at this company is pretty dumb on all levels and most only have the job because they know or are related to someone that works at the company. I highly doubt anyone at Estes reads this board or is willing to put in the effort to try and find out who is who when they could go on Facebook and join one of the driver pages and easily get their names. Don't give them that much credit.
 
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I am an estes driver. just for comparison I got 5 days suspension for losing a dolly down a hill and it striking a trailer. also on two separate occasions I've dropped a back box, both times in front of hostlers and there were no reports written I just cranked them back up and went about my day. what I've learned at Estes is that for 1 reported accident there are 500 that are unreported, so Estes takes it out on the ones who actually get caught. kinda like punishing you for saying something. it is a daily occurrence here that people damage equipment and just move on because no one saw it. 90% of the time they pass the buck to the next driver.
 
Hooked to a set, the front trailer was a old gi trailer. the front trailer brake was stuck on the right side the left side wheel still turned, drove it 300 yards around the terminal and stopped. The stuck wheel left a skid mark on the payment. Asst. terminal wrote an accident report. Safety came back with a letter, stating this was a preventable accident and recommended 5 day susp. without pay, I have the letter. What a joke of a safety dept.
So why did the front trailer brake, right side remain engaged? Winter conditions, frozen? Poor air line hook up? Someone had to get the trailers there, hooked? Take it you were at a terminal with no shop? Did they get it unstuck?
 
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No current Estes driver will dare to comment, since management watches any negative comments.
That's a crock of ::shit::. Nobody is scarred of making comments here. Dish it out when deserved. You come on here, new to forum, just to post this and you don't work for the company anymore?
 
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I am an estes driver. just for comparison I got 5 days suspension for losing a dolly down a hill and it striking a trailer. also on two separate occasions I've dropped a back box, both times in front of hostlers and there were no reports written I just cranked them back up and went about my day. what I've learned at Estes is that for 1 reported accident there are 500 that are unreported, so Estes takes it out on the ones who actually get caught. kinda like punishing you for saying something. it is a daily occurrence here that people damage equipment and just move on because no one saw it. 90% of the time they pass the buck to the next driver.
Might not be the job for you
 
So why did the front trailer brake, right side remain engaged? Winter conditions, frozen? Poor air line hook up? Someone had to get the trailers there, hooked? Take it you were at a terminal with no shop? Did they get it unstuck?
Worn-out brake shoes can roll up on s cam that applies shoes to the drum
Sometimes you can hit the drum with a big hammer causing them to release, other times you may need to back off on the slack adjuster.
Lack of grease at times.
 
Worn-out brake shoes can roll up on s cam that applies shoes to the drum
Sometimes you can hit the drum with a big hammer causing them to release, other times you may need to back off on the slack adjuster.
Lack of grease at times.
Can't help to feel that this story was prefabricated to drum up union support. I'm all for unions but for truthful information. A lost meaning in this day and age.
 
Can't help to feel that this story was prefabricated to drum up union support. I'm all for unions but for truthful information. A lost meaning in this day and age.
Don’t you think for a minute the Union would help you either. I work for ABF and was spotting a gear along the fence line at one of our terminals and before i knew it the gear was in the yard next door. Apparently there is a 2-3 ft drop at the fence line that I was unaware of and I had no way to stop this 2500 pound gear. The only damage was the chain link pulled away from the fence and needed to be reattached to the post. No post were damaged. We’ll according to ABF, a gear is a motor vehicle and I was hit with a preventable accident, losing almost a million miles of safe driving. Mind you I was pushing this gear by hand. I have received no help from the local and even contacted the Southern Regional freight director who said he’d look into it and get back to me. Over 3 months later this clown has yet to call me back or reply to any further emails. Union my ass….
 
Don’t you think for a minute the Union would help you either. I work for ABF and was spotting a gear along the fence line at one of our terminals and before i knew it the gear was in the yard next door. Apparently there is a 2-3 ft drop at the fence line that I was unaware of and I had no way to stop this 2500 pound gear. The only damage was the chain link pulled away from the fence and needed to be reattached to the post. No post were damaged. We’ll according to ABF, a gear is a motor vehicle and I was hit with a preventable accident, losing almost a million miles of safe driving. Mind you I was pushing this gear by hand. I have received no help from the local and even contacted the Southern Regional freight director who said he’d look into it and get back to me. Over 3 months later this clown has yet to call me back or reply to any further emails. Union my ass….
Was A grievance filed?
 
Was A grievance filed?
I never received a letter for this accident, and the local said it’s not contractual. I did write a protest letter but that went nowhere. So I was charged with an accident (that didn’t involve driving) lost all safe driving miles and the local says I wasn’t disciplined and it’s not contractual. Never heard such a thing in 23 years.
 
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