Reddaway | Where is Utopia?

[Ice Rider]

After reading a response on another thread about "this company keeping secret" the outcome of an accident investigation it got me thinking.
I have been out here now for 29 years, I have worked for hole in the wall companies where I had to even service my own truck and I have worked for huge companies (UPS brown)
Everyday in these threads you can read about how bad this company is, some cannot even complete a sentence without exclaiming some wrong that they percieve the company has committed. So my Question is, Where is the company that runs to the driver's side after an accident to assure him it was not his fault before the investigation is done? where is the company that shares with ALL their employees every detail of their investigation of an accident? Someone tell me the company that is better than Reddaway? that treats their employees better? I am not saying we do not have problems management needs to listen more and some need to be replaced, but some of you act like it is ONLY here! I had to take almost 3 months off this last year when I was diagnosed with leukemia, I did not qualify for FMLA due to the fact that there are less than 50 employees at my terminal and I am more than 100 mi. from the nearest terminal, this company told me to take all the time I needed...period. pretty heartless huh? When working for UPS brown (a union shop) I asked for 2 workdays off so I could fly to California to put my own father in a nursing home and was told I did not have the time coming and guys with more seniority were scheduled to be off those days so I could not have the time off, so I quit, I now had all the time I needed. So I ask where is this company that gives you all you want? please just one name of a company is all I want, there must be one that puts the needs of their employees above all else... but then, why would you still be here?

 

[Woody]

I thought Utopia was in the White House ..."john"

 

[kwikie]

I thought it was at Disney Land next to the Monorail. Sorry I couldn't help it. As for the company that does all that, they are all the same now give or take. If you do your job and don't try to get to caught up in the BS then things don't seem to be so conspiritorial. As for a company sharing all details on an accident investigation, I don't think so. Too many privacy issues and the possiblity of opening themselves up to law suits, just how the world is today. I only have half the time in the industry you do but I have learned one thing. Those that drive line or whatever your company calls it are the biggest rumor mongers and chatty catheys in the world. Go figure leave a guy stuck in a cab all night with nothing but a cell phone a CB if they use those anymore and night time radio and you have a recipe for things getting all twisted. This is just my opinion and I am certainly guilty of said infractions. Good luck with your quest for Utopia I hope we don't miss the exit ramp.

 

[Truckking]

Yes I think gums get flapped more than they should which causes a lot of hate and discontent with the employees. There is also a lot of frustration associated with this YRC management. I come from the Jared days of Reddaway when Reddaway was the force to be reckoned with. Back then...a bad day at work is when we got news from our TM that our company wide OR was approaching 90. After getting news like that, the company would rally together and get the OR back in the 80's where it usually remained. Funny how things change.

Reddaway is just a sliver of what it used to be. We lost a lot of good people in this YRC transition. We will never get back what we had in the early '90's.

 

[rainman220]

I echo the same thoughts as you truckking. that is how it used to be here at new penn. as trucking companies go it still is better then most of the others out there.

 

[fuller]

Have to agree with icerider had the company do me a real solid had some trouble with my license a few years back. they stood behind me for the three months till i got it straightened out. doubt the current regime would give me the same.Its still a shame the way yrc has taken a perfectly good company and basically parted it out.

 

[Steaker]

Great post :thumbsup: But I can relate to the reply from "Truck King" even more. 20 years ago when I came here from G.I. , this was a growing company with a great future. And for 17 years it kept getting better. I believe I got a raise every year, and the trucks and trailers kept getting better. There was no reason to leave, and I think most guys were glad to work here. Very few drivers started their career here, so they knew it was better at TNT/USF then where they came from. Even though I wanted to move out of State, I never did, because the job was so good. But all that was possible because of OR's in the 80's. The company was a cash machine. Sales people will tell you that those types of OR's are no longer possible for any company in any service area. Because of pricing on the internet, every account demands the best (thinist margin) price. Any shipper can compare us against everybody else and demand the biggest discount. But I will end by saying, "The Management Is Lying" We are not pulling 80's anymore, nobody is. But compare your Labor Ratio to your Revenue, which are the only two numbers that can't be cooked, and you will find that there is plenty of profit after you pay all the other expenses. They have been lying about the Operating Ratio for 3 years. And the lie has taken hold, and the average guy now believes it. And don't forget how our parent company has cut us off from certain accounts that were always part of our high profits.

 

[Ice Rider]

I agree 100% with you Steaker, the problem is with what YRC has done to us. Despite what management say's YRC is calling the shots and have been doing nothing short of gutting Reddaway since they bought us, it is sad, I have seen several guys in Denver leave in the last several weeks, a few with as much as 16 years seniority to go to work for FedEx National because they see the writing on the wall and on day one they get their 15% back! starting pay 52 cents PM and $20 something per hour and a job they can feel confident will be here next year. That is the problem here, to much unknown, we do not know if our job will be here tomorrow much less next year.