Last week the EEOC issued a press release that they had filed a class action lawsuit against “New Prime, Inc.” known to truckers simply as “Prime” and yet another sponsor of the non-profit organization “Women in Trucking“.

How many times lighting has struck this organization who claims their “Mission” is to “encourage the employment of women in the trucking industry, promote their accomplishments and MINIMIZE OBSTACLES faced by women working in the trucking industry.”

The massive CRST expedited cases which we have covered here. Duke’s V. Walmart, that by some stroke of fate the WIT organization aquired a sitting male board member from Walmart and a corporate sponsorship prior to the announcement that case would be heard by the Supreme Court, and now Prime, who seems to have acknowledged there are issues by placing a female student on a truck with a male trainer.

The Prime solution? Female students can only be trained by female trainers.

Sounds easy enough except Prime did not have as many female trainers as they were hiring female students so they fired them or put them on hold until they went elsewhere. Sounds like an obstacle to me. Not only an obstacle for women who are trying to enter trucking but makes it darn near impossible to promote their accomplishments if they cannot even get out of the gate from the carrier terminal to learn.

According to the EEOC what Prime has done violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits sex discrimination in hiring and terms and conditions of employment.

On the surface this issue seems to have caused some confusion in the trucking world because indeed more female trainers are needed and it is true that entering Women will be safer with another Woman. It is not 100 percent though because Women DO harass Women.

The problem in trucking is there is very little harassment or personal conduct guidance AT ALL, for ANYONE, combined with the greed fueled “Truck Driver Shortage”, the environment is one of poor training, poor recruiting, a shortage of qualified trainers of both genders and an abundance of students who were sold a bill of goods to coax them to enter the industry.

Let me translate the issue with “Prime” in this hypothetical manner:

What if: An African-American was hired by New Prime, Inc. in order to meet diversity quotas but then told the student trucker that they could not be trained by a White person and would have to wait without pay for an African-American Trainer to become available? What if the student is NOT told that there will not be any African-American trainer to come get them because the carrier does not employ enough to meet the degree in which they hire African-American trucking students?

Would that sound right to you? I certainly hope not ….

By having these unmatched students on hold without pay two things occur. They become disgusted, quit and go to another carrier or in some of these cases; the carrier fires them when they cannot provide a trainer they knew they never had. The carrier appears to be attempting to diversify the fleet but actually they are setting the stage for these students to disqualify themselves or simply let them go after wasting their unpaid time.

The case by the EEOC against New Prime, Inc is for back wages and damages.

It is true there is danger for Women entering trucking at the hands of truck driver trainers but violating the civil rights code is not the way to solve it. There are good male trainers and bad female trainers. The problem is not gender specific.

The problem is poor leadership in the carriers, a lack of conduct and harassment training overall, little oversight or accountability.
New Prime, Inc recognized the problem and decided to put a band-aid over a gaping wound.

I became aware of the initial case in December of 2009. I directed public questions to the WIT organization about why they were not becoming involved in this issue to MINIMIZE OBSTACLES for Women who were being encouraged to enter trucking.

I was told by WIT Director Marge Bailey in March 2010 that President Ellen Voie was contacted by Paul Taylor from the “Truckers Justice Center“. It was he who had filed the original discrimination complaint. I was advised by the WIT director that: “neither Prime nor the woman suing them are members of WIT therefore it is a lawsuit outside of our organization and like any other association WIT represents their members.”

Following the posting of the Prime discrimination case on the “Women in Trucking” Facebook page on September 23, 2011 Ellen Voie was asked if Prime was a sponsor and she replied: “No, they are not a sponsor. They are a member, however, as any company or individual can be a member by paying dues.”

A play on words? or did they become involved with the organization after there was an awareness of impending litigation?

We have seen it before from this organization and the conversation on Facebook only became more heated when President Ellen Voie was pressed about the content in her “FREE to member sponsors Anti-Harassment Employment Guide”.

Apparently this trucking women’s advocate is not aware that most carriers already have a harassment policy because it is the law. They simply fail to inform, enforce and manage their own policies.

When Allen Smith of “Ask the Trucker” asked about the content of the guide which has reportedly been guarded from view to even the “WIT Driver’s Advisory Board” , Ellen Voie explained that the guide was a benefit for WIT members (Corporate Members that is) she pointed out that WIT is a non-profit association. (One in which she doubled her salary last year) she went on to note that truck drivers make up only 20% of the WIT membership which is LESS than 2% of their (her) income.

According to Ellen Voie, Corporate members fund the WIT organization and should have a reason to join with member benefits designed for them. She said: “Drivers have their own member benefits, such as the Salute to Women behind the Wheel.”

Gee Thanks Ellen! I’d rather spend $1000 of my own money to travel to Louisville Kentucky each March and wear a WIT T-Shirt for a picture and free potato chips rather than being educated on how not to be raped or discriminated against by one of your carrier member sponsor funding sources any day!

If you are not in the trucking industry your head is probably spinning at the degree of ignorance we have in leadership positions but if you are in trucking this is the norm so there are very few who will stand up and say this is wrong. Believe it or not, there are more than a few Women who will defend this line of reasoning as well but they are the minority but strategically placed corporate apologists.

Selling the personal safety of Women to the highest bidder? That is what corporate level sponsorship means correct? I can think of a 4 letter word that begins and ends with a “P” right about now.

It seems Ellen Voie does not give away freebies willingly so she should be able to appreciate that these female students were employed by New Prime, Inc and expected to receive a paycheck. If you are a female affected by this practice of New Prime, Inc. based in Springfield, Missouri I encourage you to contact Jan Shelley at the EEOC (314) 539-7918 to file a complaint about this carrier.

Paul Taylor, of the “Trucker’s Justice Center” , the Lawyer who filed the initial New Prime, Inc. Discrimination case will be at the 1st Annual Truck Driver Social Media Convention in Tunica, MS on Oct. 15th.

REAL Women in Trucking is a PROUD Sponsor of this event hosted by Mr.& Mrs. Allen Smith of the “Ask the Trucker” and “Truth about Trucking LIVE” blog talk radio program.

It is my sincere hope that more people in and around the trucking industry begin to wake up to what is occurring with regards to women being LURED into an industry that is utterly unprepared for their arrival.
I look forward to meeting those who wish to RAISE the low standards in trucking in Tunica, Mississippi on October 15, 2011.

Technorati Tags: Allen Smith, CRST, Discrimination, EEOC, Ellen Voie, Inc., New Prime, Paul Taylor, Social Media, Trucking, Walmart, Women in Trucking

Should the Department of Justice Office of Violence against Women provide financial assistance to the Women in Trucking non-profit organization to protect females entering trucking from Harassment when the primary offenders are sponsors of WIT?

Today, an article in “Trucking Info” titled “Harassment by Men Discussed at White House Meeting by Women in Trucking Officers.” it was announced that Ellen Voie, President of Women in Trucking was granted a meeting with White House advisor on violence against women , Lynn Rosenthal and Judge Susan Carbon, director of the Office of Violence against women at the Deparment of Justice. The meeting was facilitated by Marlise Streitmatter, deputy chief of staff for  U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.

While I am happy that this issue is getting much needed attention, I can only hope that these Women in Washington D.C. do some background work before they grant funds to this trucking organization.

According to “Guidestar” a non-profit review website , the salary of the main “Officer” doubled in 2009 which was the year more than one of the WIT sponsors was engaged in discrimination and harassment litigation. No achivements to combatting harassment occured during this period, to the contrary. (Link: Women in Trucking 990 Filings )

By 2010 , the WIT had still not made violence against women in the trucking industry a priority and although we have pushed the issue hard to the forefront there remains an obivious conflict of interest and string of questionable tactics leading up to this request for funding from the federal government.

2010 would have been a grand time to make the topic of violence against women in the trucking industry priority number one but instead the focus was the fanfare on President Ellen Voie getting a tattoo of the WIT logo on her backside at a trucking convention while grasping the hand of her friend and wincing from the pain. The tattoo party did not have broad appeal but harassment in truck driver training carriers does.

The twitter tag I created for the website “REAL Women in Trucking” and companion Facebook fan page called “Real Women Truckers” is @WomenTruckers and this is the bio:

“Violence against Women in the trucking industry is being covered up. Are you part of the problem or part of the solution? Demand the ATA MAN UP, show leadership”

It has over 3000 followers and I have been using it for about 2 years to talk about this issue and other violence against women issues such as domestic violence, child abuse, human trafficking and other human rights/social justice issues.

Violence against Women is a serious topic worldwide and it is a statement on society. It is not unique to trucking culture but it does occur and raising awareness of the many aspects of how violence is acted upon Women is the first hurdle in holding people accountable. The people who commit this injustice upon women are not only those who commit the offense but also those who try to cover it up and those who would try to benefit from programs and grants to pay their salaries when they have a history of trying to interfere with exposing such crimes and injustices.

The point I have been trying to make with the @WomenTruckers twitter tag is to ask people in the trucking industry to look further than their nightly news at the horrific images of women and children being beat, raped and repressed in other countries and start looking at it in our own country and our own industry. Women most certainly are being used to push political and corporate agendas so I feel it’s time to make a few demands for using our image and the favorable tax incentives given for hiring women. Not special treatment, fair and just treatment.

In my PowerPoint presentation from last fall of 2010 , that is posted here on this site, specifially in Part Two ( Social Media and Women Truckers ) I discussed the Violence against Women division of the Department of Justice. I made references to the NFL Players association campaign to raise awareness of violence against women , links to “The List” campaign of celebrities and other research tools for the topic to encourage action. I mentioned “Truckers against Trafficking” a newly formed organization who has emerged in the past two years with an outstanding awareness campaign to educate truck drivers on the $32 billion dollar industry of modern day slavery. Human trafficking has been reported in all 50 of the United States.

I mentioned in that presentation that the U.S. Women Veterans Administration was studying unique PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) for Women Veterans ( Article: Suicide Rate among Young Women Veterans ) I specifically mentioned this because I feel it is my patriotic duty and this is why.

In the very popular thread beginning in 2008 that has since been removed from the “Women in Trucking” forum. I stated that I felt raising awareness of violence and harassment toward women entering the trucking industry was our duty because returning female veterans would have difficulty fitting back into normal society after being in combat situations.

It was my instinct that these women could find a great deal of freedom if they found trucking but not in the current low standard of training and unsafe sexual climate that currently existed. As many of you know I was stalked online for months by other women from the WIT site and referred to as a “loose cannon” and a “radical feminist” for talking about such topics of harassment and sexual misconduct in truck driver training carriers.

My membership was later revoked by President Ellen Voie following my appearance on the Dan Rather “Queen of the Road” episode where her sponsor CRST Van Expedited was featured regarding a massive sexual harassment case that was underway.

Ellen Voie and I exchanged numerous emails about the topic of what was occurring in the training carriers, including her sponsor’s carriers and while she was always very good at making me think she understood the problem well, she offered little concrete evidence of an active approach when it came to defending the women affected.

You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do. ~ Henry Ford

My quest over the obstacles I encountered in my personal truck driver training carrier led me into yet another set of obstacles to discover if the stated mission of WIT applied to a person like myself. This is what prompted me to renew my membership for a second year in hope of persuading Ellen to choose between the women of the organization who were seeking assistance or her sponsors.

CRST Van Expedited is just one of the sponsors of WIT that are in current or recent litigation. This particular carrier is one of the most high profile because of the EEOC mishandling which has been written about in a number of legal blogs. This case has put the trucking industry on the EEOC radar and commentary on this case is easy to google on the internet. Then there is the recent Karen Shank V. CRST case which was won by jury trial for a staggering $1.7 million judgment.

I have been aware of the Karen Shank case for at least 2 years but not of the specific details. What I do know is that Tracy Hamm was to be called as a witness for the Karen Shank case and although she did not have to attend the trial she remains a key component. Ellen Voie had communicated to Tracy Hamm at my persistence around the time of the first Salute to Women behind the Wheel at the Mid- America Truck Show in 2010 after her repeated claims she did not have access to the female drivers to ask them about their stories. In this workplace bullying documentary from 2009 Ellen Voie appeared to me that she was discrediting the female drivers claims even though she had not spoken to any of them. ( Raw Sound Bytes from a Trucking Convention ) , Off camera she tried to discredit my story to the filmmaker but I had never worked for her and my own training carrier never attempted to discredit my student truck driver training story. I was not even finished writing my story on the internet when this occured so it was puzzling to me when Filmmaker Beverly Petersen informed me of the comments that were made. I have consulted with this filmmaker about disclosing this information because I feel it is relevant. I was a Woman with no advocate at the time I began this journey and I had put my faith into the WIT organization.

When I was finally able to pressure Ellen Voie to speak to Tracy Hamm, Ellen excused herself from the conversation before Tracy could tell her everything about CRST management conduct. Ellen did not call her back but she did ask Tracy for solutions to problems at CRST. Later I persuaded WIT Director Marge Bailey to hear Tracy out who was not a disgruntled former employee but someone who just wanted to make a difference and drive a truck.

That was in the spring of 2010 and after Donna Smith and myself had offered Ellen Voie an enormous amount of content to “Flex some Muscle” on behalf of women truck drivers stretching from 2008 until we cut off communication after years of her chain yanking with no results in 2010.

It became apparent that WIT was not a true advocacy for women drivers issues, but rather an organization where women can gather. There was no value in advocating for women truckers or women entering trucking on the issues of violence or harassment.  But perhaps now that there is a potential money stream from the federal government this has changed?

What I do is a labor of love and I receive no salary for it. My salary has in fact decreased since I began writing about this topic but this non-profit in question whose records are public show that a salary has doubled during this period and this causes alarm about the integrity of the advocacy.

There is access for this organization to XM/Sirius radio programs to speak and gather information on these topics on the Evan Lockridge Program and the “Freewheelin” Program. The drivers listening to these radio broadcasts only heard Ellen Voie promote her Tattoo Party for WIT in which very few people participated and WIT Director Marge Bailey promote her recruiting /date-a-trucker website over the past 2 years.

To the driving population in the trucking industry, and especially women truckers on our fanpage this was a slap in the face to ignore important issues by an organization who claims to aspire to represent them. Some drivers began to express that WIT was using them as a vehicle to promote their own agenda which seems to be primarily motivated by greed and the ability to become a lobby power in Washington D.C..

I recently wrote about non-profit research on the “Life on the Road” blog. In trucking, it causes alarm when drivers are “nickel and dimed” by various entities when they are seeking assistance so it is imperative to for them to understand that a non-profit can sometimes be very misleading and very little of the funding may go toward the stated mission.

Here are a few facts:

Ellen Voie’s name appears in a Pedophile crime website on how NOT TO handle a situation in a trauma. This is in regards to the insensitive manner the Trucker Buddy pedophile issue was handled with the Mother. (Link: Crimeshots~ How Pedophiles Operate )

This highly sensitive incident would be something one could learn from in the future but in my first phone conversation with WIT Director Marge Bailey February 2010 she went straight on the attack of the Mother who she said had a child that was “not even in the trucker buddy program” As if that mattered!

This is not the first time I have heard this line of reasoning from these Women. “Well she wasn’t even a member”, but you see I WAS a member and I was stalked online by other WIT members and to this day there is interference to prevent my posts to be published on the topics of violence against women in the trucking industry in trade publications and blogs. Even carriers who have contacted me to ask for a banner exchange have later been contacted by WIT to discourage them. In one case telling the family owned carrier that they must go through WIT to get Women to apply for their trucking jobs. The carrier refused the strongarm tactics and rude manner of the calls but how does that help Women exactly?

Hope Rivenburg GATS 2009

When asked to support “Jason’s Law” H.R. 1803” an industry unifying safe trucker parking bill they went further than just ignoring the topic, by accepting informational brochures and hiding them under their convention table at GATS in Dallas Texas. No one told Ellen she needed to hit the campaign trail for Hope, it was only to ask for a gesture of kindness for the young widow Hope Rivenburg who traveled with 3 babies to the convention to collect signatures personally. Being a former Wife of a trucker, Donna Smith and I assumed that Ellen Voie would embrace Hope Rivenburg but we were mistaken which was very dissappointing for both of us.

This is not to say other members of WIT have not committed their personal time to worthwhile unifying driver issues but it was not because of the organization. So why now is she suggesting that she is going to Washington D.C. to ask the Department of Justice for Violence against Women and the Department of Labor for grants or funds to set up a 24 hour crisis line for drivers?

In a nutshell what she is saying is she wants the federal government to give her funding to set up a driver abuse reporting line when in fact the carriers who commit the most driver abuse are her sponsors!

This is not the first time she has said she was seeking funds for a drivers crisis line, in fact the idea came from Donna Smith of “Ask the Trucker” and myself but it was not intended to be managed by someone with a history of covering up abuse from carriers to drivers or downplaying it and shifting blame.

This “shifting of blame” is an Human Resource method I have written about a number of times over the past 3 years. It is the adversarial management style , the “US vs THEM” manner that many harassment and retaliation issues are mishandled. Poking at the conscience of trucking insiders as I have done and leading them to the solutions is only one part of this task.

Making them take action, even if that means spending money to enforce policies they already have in place or have been working on to insure they are working is the hardest part. Slapping a logo on a website for an organization that has provided ZERO concrete achievements since its inception only serves to further intimidate drivers.

Is this on purpose? Is that why the WIT wants to be the steward for driver crisis line it previously stated was not what they were set up for? That they were not an advocacy group? Why the sudden interest in Violence against women grants from the Department of Justice?

Food for thought: A driver with OSHA concerns (Occupational Health and Safety Administration) related to the trucking industry contacted me about a “tell-all” undercover documentary he intended to produce. In his industry networking for interested parties to collaborate he contacted WIT and told me he spoke the Ellen Voie at length on the project. He said he felt there was something just not right about the website and her responses given that she portrays herself to be “For Drivers”. Shortly following his conversation with her he was contacted by a eager funding source for his project but in the contract stages the fine print stated the financiers had final editing rights to the project. He took it upon himself to investigate who was truly behind this funding source and GUESS WHO… according to him it was the ATA and it was his impression that they were “tipped off” to the project intentionally.

Sexual Misconduct, Harassment, Violence against women in the trucking industry is related to OSHA these are labor issues and anyone who knows about human resources and workman’s compensation insurance claims should be able to see the correlation of how costly it could be for carriers to experience an increase of such claims. Mental distress, retaliation these are among some of the contributing factors that could affect judgments which in turn could affect workman’s compensation insurance premiums.

Is this why the FREE to corporate sponsors 30 page document WIT is peddling is not available to individuals? I don’t know this for certain but I will venture a guess that it should be seen as a valuable incentive to understand and this is why I published information publically.

Human Resource departments and other personnel that handle claims against carriers are supposed to save the carrier money. Unfortunately, this sometimes means to intimidate people with valid claims of abuse which is the short route to a solution. The road less traveled is eliminate abusers, Like unprofessional trainers, co-drivers, dispatchers and poor recruiting.

Create a company policy that works and train more staff on how to deal with victims of trauma rather than attacking the person reporting abuse without doing a full and thorough investigation of the events.

The American Trucking Association has it’s stamp of approval on program called “Troops 2 Truckers” and we should all realize it is our patriotic duty to welcome returning veterans into the trucking industry, this includes returning female veterans. Rape, and retaliation for reporting abuse in the military that occurred by other members in our military is the focus of a lawsuit against the Pentagon. ( Link: 17 Veterans Sue Pentagon Over Rape Cases )

There is also another suit brought from Peace Corps volunteers against the organization for similar issues of mishandling rape and retaliation for reporting abuse. ( Link: Peace Corps Volunteers Speak Out on Rape )

Like truck driver training we are talking about intense unsupervised training situations where people of unknown origins are expected to conduct themselves to a very high standard but very little training for this is provided.

This is a tough issue and it is completely irresponsible to allow a proven corporate apologist with definite conflicts of interest do intake for trauma victims that will be funded by grants by the Department of Justice or by the Department of Labor when in reality many driver abuse cases reported on internet trucking forums originate from WIT sponsors.

Here’s a suggestion: WIT should cut ties with sponsors involved in any harassment and discrimination litigation until they can prove they are worthy to join a driver advocacy organization. WIT should cease to seek  sponsorship dollars from a carrier following the public announcement of mistreating drivers.

This was the case when a female student from CR England was abandoned by her carrier that I wrote about here on this site and on the “Real Women Truckers” Facebook page. The story was made public by a veteran male driver on Facebook. The carrier only reached out to get the woman a bus ticket home after they became aware that other drivers were sharing the topic on the social networking site.

I spent several hours on the phone with this lady who was left living in her car at a Wal-Mart parking lot and was devastated after the way this carrier treated her. I sent her money to eat and tried to get her off to another training carrier so she could take another shot at trucking.

This story was very public like some others I have been involved in and was yet another opportunity for Ellen Voie. So, did WIT reach out to this woman? No, but she did take action by selling the offending carrier a sponsorship. A carrier well known to drivers for it’s unethical lease program now has the WIT seal of approval. How exactly does that help the woman sleeping in her car in a parking lot? Are we to believe all the internal carrier issues are now solved upon purchase of a sponsorship to WIT?

If this female student truck driver had access to a driver crisis line that was directed to Ellen Voie, Marge Bailey or others from the Drivers advisory board what guarantees would this Woman have that the sensitive details and names of those who committed the abuse towards her would not be shared to the carrier sponsor?

Getting REAL means stop trying to cover up abuse and start addressing it with long term cost effective solutions not short term Band-Aids. After all we are talking about women being beat up raped, thrown off trucks during training and sometimes abandoned in a strange town when they have no money to go home and sometimes no home to go to.

If you want to be part of the solution show leadership and get informed. Why should the federal government Department of Justice- Violence against Women commit funds to an organization whose sponsors are the main offenders?

One last footnote, recently the Injury Lawyers USA announced a helpline for Truck Drivers and Taxi Cab Drivers who have been hurt on the job. ( Link Helpline for Truck Drivers ) make sure you understand that retaliation, workplace bullying and mental distress leading to PTSD could be considered under workmans compensation.

Technorati Tags: Department of Justice, Ellen Voie, Harassment, Lynn Rosenthal, Marlise Streitmatter, Non-Profit, Peace Corps, Ray LaHood, Sexual Harassment, Susan Carbon, Trucking, Trucking Topics, US Women Veterans, Violence against Women

It should come as no surprise that Ellen Voie, President of Women in Trucking has announced a FOR SALE training document on harassment following the recent judgment against one of her sponsors.

Ms. Voie has only eyed the harassment topic toward women in truck driver training carriers when a clear and present monetary opportunity presents itself and the goose that laid the golden egg has just landed on Plover, Wisconsin in the form of a $1.17 Million Dollar Judgment against CRST International.

The Karen Shank VS. CRST was won by Bohbot & Riles , LLP in San Bernardino, California by jury trial on May 3, 2011. The case is significant because it named the individual trainer in addition to the carrier.

If you will recall here on this site Ellen Voie claimed she had no access to any women who alleged harassment from her sponsor CRST Van Expedited which turned out to be false. Ms. Voie had access to Tracy Hamm who was named in the original EEOC filing that is currently under appeal. Tracy Hamm had been scheduled to be called as a witness in the Shank case.

Following the lengthy Q & A on this site with Ms. Voie regarding the EEOC V. CRST case, Ms. Voie dug herself into a deeper hole of deceit with remarks and her actions of consulting with a private investigator to look into my background which I believe to be one of a series of attempts by her to intimidate me for speaking out on harassment from her sponsors and retaliation in the trucking industry.

This came after her comments on the workplace bullying documentary in which she remarked that the women of the CRST case “just wanted to be in a lawsuit”. Is it any wonder Women remain the last Minority? Madeleine Albright, the first Woman to become a United States Secretary of State once said: “There is a special place in hell for women who do not help other women” but perhaps Ms. Voie interpets that to imply it’s okay to profiteer from them when your sponsor is causing the abuse.

Ms. Voie was persuaded to speak to Tracy Hamm after her insensitive remarks about the women of the CRST cases and she was provided training solutions that had been presented to CRST but ignored while Tracy Hamm was employed by them. Tracy Hamm was a student and a trainer for the carrier who posted on the Trucker Desiree blog along with former CRST Safety Personnel Tom Hansen.

Tom Hansen and I were later interviewed by Dan Rather in an investigative report on truck driver training issues at both Covenant Transport and CRST Van Expedited in an episode called “Queen of the Road”.

The solutions Tracy Hamm offered Ellen Voie are public here on this site in addition, there were numerous solutions provided from archived blog talk radio shows hosted by Allen and Donna Smith of “Ask the Trucker” , some of which Ms. Voie declined to participate.

My own posts about solutions for truck driver training carriers are also public but suddenly a 30 page document available FOR SALE to carrier members but not available to individuals is now being peddled by WIT.

I personally sent tips, tools and link suggestions to Ms. Voie prior to her discussions with Tracy Hamm and Donna Smith with the hope that she would utilize them for the benefit of all women entering the trucking industry. This is a matter of personal safety and highway safety in my opinion. Those ideas and tools are designed by drivers for drivers and carriers that train students. This is of particular importance in carriers who use the “team business” model such as CRST and Covenant Transport.

Our Mission is to share information for ethical purposes to raise the low standard of personal safety and training that occurs in trucking. To sell safety to women from content that is public following a landmark harassment case screams of continuing conflicts of interest by Ms. Voie who personally attempted to cover up and discredit my truck driver training horror story.

I would like to congratulate Karen Shank for having the courage and endurance to fight this ugly beast that is truck driver training. We here at “REAL Women in Trucking” provide self-help tools and information to fight back against truck driver carriers who create obstacles for women entering trucking.

It is a victory to see that trucking trade publications have acknowledged this case despite the persistence of CRST who intends to appeal the decision. The 30-page WIT document states that it focuses on “employee training”, yet, few of the WIT driver advisory board members have been driver trainers at a training carrier or employed by one. It is also unclear if members of the WIT drivers advisory board have had any access to the document which seems to be held as if it is the holy grail. Ms. Voie has never been employed as a truck driver.

The opinion of Allen & Donna Smith of “Ask the Trucker” who are advocates for student truck drivers is that the WIT document is something that should be posted publically as a PDF and should be part of the NPR (Notice of Proposed Rule) that FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro referred to as a “Notice of Entry Level Requirements”.

Currently, there is no oversight in the trucking industry to prove any tools or training to prevent harassment, retaliation or sexual misconduct have been implemented or if a system is working properly.

A person has a reasonable expectation they will be trained in a safe environment and should not have to join a club to have access to information on how to keep safe from their own employer who is also in membership of the same organization.

A trainer for CRST, a Male wrote to me today and wanted to know also why Ms. Voie is not being challenged on this issue because it is public knowledge that many individuals provided her vital research tools over the past 2.5 years therefore this document should be made available to anyone who wants to read it.

Technorati Tags: Ann Ferro, Bohbot & Riles, CDL Training, Covenant Transport, CRST International, CRST Van Expedited, Ellen Voie, FMCSA, Harassment, Karen Shank, Trucker Desiree, Trucking

Women have proved to be reliable and efficient truck drivers, but recruiting, training and retaining them effectively in the trucking industry offers unique challenges. During the recession, when loads were scarce and the driver shortage mostly vanished, carriers had little reason to rework their employment process in a way that would speak to woman drivers.

Now, however, trucking insiders predict a massive shortage of drivers in the wake of the federal government’s new Compliance, Safety, Accountability safety-measurement program, which is expected to oust low-scoring drivers from the employment pool. That means higher-scoring woman truckers and women interested in becoming truckers will find themselves popular with carrier employment recruiters, who need to do their homework and find out what makes a female job candidate choose one carrier over another.

Women drivers are recruited by some carriers at levels exceeding 25%, but currently comprise only 5% to 6% of the driving population. Unfortunately, few woman drivers are able to withstand the manner in which their training is conducted — and those who do realize quickly that the recruiters played up the romance of the open road and glossed over some significant drawbacks for women.

I believe it is time to fully address these things so the trucking industry can move forward, and my first piece of advice for recruiting women is: “GET REAL.”

This is not a “pedicure and nylons” profession, and the female counterpart to the fabled “Knights of the Road” is not “Truck-Driving Barbie.” Explain the hardships inherent in navigating 80,000 pounds of metal through congested traffic, the danger of sleeping in the cab at unpoliced truck stops, and the sheer inconvenience of not being able to shower every day. Downplaying those things increases driver turnover when the truth hits home.

That is not to say that Pretty Girls cannot drive a big rigs, but trucking is still very much like the wild west & the unsupervised nature of the work presents personal safety issues that must not be glossed over.

Potential and new-to-the-profession women truck drivers need to be able to seek advice from other women in their company, and that support also should be available on an industry level. Perhaps American Trucking Associations and/or individual state trucking associations could provide professional support and information systems for female drivers and direct them to carriers in their area with good track records for recruiting and retaining women drivers.

A vital part of retention is understanding women drivers’ needs and remembering that it’s most often a single woman, not her married counterpart, embarking on a truck-driving career. Things important to a single woman driver differ from those of single male, married male and married/significant-other team drivers. Often as not, a single woman driver not only manages her truck from the driver’s seat, but her household as well — particularly if she’s also a single mother.
Unlike a married man driving solo, a single woman trucker generally lacks a support system at home a phone call away. Indeed, many times she is the entire support system for her family while she is on the road. An employer who wants to retain her services as a driver must understand that she needs to be more flexible when taking home time and might even want to take it at different locations in order to visit grown children, grandchildren or to deal with elderly parents.

Training also is critical for retaining women drivers and should begin prior to the classroom with recruiters giving female recruits an accurate depiction of all aspects of a life in trucking, ensuring that only informed and truly interested women enter training.

Because truck driving is still a mostly male profession, trainers tend to use techniques designed for men. As more women enter training, trainers need to incorporate the cultural lessons of the 1992 bestseller “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus.” While women do need the same driving and compliance training provided their male counterparts, they also need gender-specific training on the personal challenges and dangers inherent in life on the road.

For example, being women means we are far more susceptible than men to personal attacks. Carrier trainers need to discuss and address these dangers head on, instead of avoiding the subject because it’s “sensitive.” Night parking in well-lit areas, companion dining where possible, locked cabs at all times and emergency response training all should be a required part of classroom training.

Carriers also must establish supportive policy to protect their women drivers. Unfortunately, the risk of attack for women is not confined to outside sources. I personally know women who were assaulted by male drivers who were their co-workers with the same carrier. This risk is particularly great in mixed-gender team situations. Some trainers & other authority figures will often “show up” at orientation centers to sort of “troll” for incoming single females who are vulnerable & looking for a friend. Incoming women entering trucking must educate themselves on how this can set them off on the wrong foot & derail their long term success as truck drivers.

A company must have a strict policy against sexual harassment that extends to any and all encounters with women drivers who are co-workers. An abuse reporting procedure also must be provided that is confidential, responsive and reacts quickly to investigate and resolve issues.

Too many female drivers are lost from the industry in the first year because of misleading recruiting, shallow training and carrier failure to address personal safety issues. That’s unfortunate because women truck drivers are usually meticulous, safe and take great pride in their work — and because truck driving can be a rewarding profession regardless of gender.

Women who stay in trucking do so because it provides a freedom most haven’t experienced before and an opportunity to take pride in a job that’s critical to our economy. Women can be a large part of the solution to the upcoming driver shortage if carriers are willing to adapt their recruiting and training programs to address our cultural and personal differences.

Until big trucking can free themselves of the denial that is hurting women entering trucking & “GET REAL” I have taken the initiative to utilize you tube for series of videos that use tough talk about real issues for those entering truck driver training. “Advice for Women entering Trucking” is just one of many more to come on this topic to keep women safe by educating them before they are harmed in truck driver training.

Technorati Tags: American Trucking Association, ATA, CDL Training, Harassment, Lady Truck Drivers, Recruiting, Retention, Sexual Harassment, Truckers, Trucking, Women Truckers, You Tube

“Social Media & Women Truckers – Part Two” focuses on Violence against Women in the Trucking Industry & notable Social Media campaigns that have changed the rules on humanitarian issues and activism.

Being successful in social media does not require a sales team, a research and development department, a marketing firm or “guru” but it does require effort to make a commitment to positive transparency.

Taking action to respond and interact can be time consuming BUT it can be executed rather effectively from just about anywhere with the use of smart phones.

Managing a Facebook and/or Twitter campaign during a lunch break via cell phone is very much a reality. Therefore, never underestimate the velocity of an individual as opposed to an organization. There is no way to gauge how far the message can travel and you never know who is listening. Furthermore, never ASSume anyone at all is listening or cares about what you are saying.

As an industry there needs to be more accountability aimed at government funded truck driver training fleets for the conduct that occurs. Very little is expected of truck driver student candidates to behave as good citizens YET many do take the initiative to try to raise the standard, only to find themselves being retaliated against for speaking up about driver abuse.

In other areas of trucking which requires experienced drivers there does not seem to be any recognition of how truck drivers are trained and why many do not make it past 2 years in the industry.

Even trucking professionals do not seem to understand “Where truck drivers come from?” in the here and now. The enormous turnover rate in training fleets affects the quantity of experienced qualified drivers who would apply to private and specialized fleets.

Until the entire industry holds those who are doing this accountable, you are all culpable for what is going on out here on America’s highways.

*** Relevant links (Gold Letters) in this powerpoint will help locate additional information ***

Technorati Tags: Activism, Retaliation, Social Media, Transparency, Truckers, Trucking, Violence, Women

I’m required to work 70 hours a week and if I’m lucky I get one day off…away from home. Many others complain about working 40 and only having 2 days off. If I text and drive it can cost me my career, yet you can do it and it just costs you a fine.

While I am doing my best trying to find a safe place to park for the night so I can get my legally required 10 hour break, you are kicked back relaxing and watching TV while you have your RV parked at the truck stop.

When I stop to put fuel in my truck, I have to wait in line while you hold up the line playing lottery scratch offs, I’m on the clock, you are just having fun. When you are snuggled up in your warm bed in the winter, I’m freezing my butt off because my truck is considered a nuisance to people like you, so I cannot idle it to stay warm or to keep it cool in the stifling summer heat.

I help to provide this country with everything it needs to keep functioning on a daily basis, while you seem to want to interfere with every aspect of my job, however you would be the first to complain if me and my coworkers decided to stop doing our job.

So please answer me this question America, how is it that the American truck driver is considered a second class citizen, one that should be banished from public view?

You regard us with no sense of importance; animals in fact have more rights than we do. You continue to take away more of what little rights we have left and then claim a moral victory under the guise of safety for the American motoring public.

We make sacrifices to keep food on your table, gas in your car, clothes on your kids, and a roof on your house. All the while making it harder for us to provide our own families with any of those things, I guess somewhere in your sense of humanity you find it fair, you somehow feel you are entitled to label us, mock us, and degrade us.

Then you wonder why many of us want nothing to do with you when you come up and ask us for help when you are stranded on a highway in the middle of nowhere………so ask yourselves, are America’s truck drivers really a problem, or are we an asset?

J.Haggard
11-11-10

Jason has been in the transportation industry for the last 15 years, he spends much of his time communicating with state and federal officials regarding laws that adversely effect the everyday life of professional truck drivers. He has worked as a company driver and as an owner operator hauling everything from boats and produce to furniture and Department Of Defense freight. He is also a strong supporter of Jason’s Law (named for Jason Rivenburg) and educating the general motoring public about how to safely interact with commercial trucks on the road. When not in a truck or dealing with trucking related issues he likes being Dad to his two children, working in his small electronics repair business, or fishing Minnesota’s many different lakes.

** R.E.A.L. stands for Reaching Out, Encouraging others , Achieving personal Success and Leadership **

We encourage all drivers to utlize social media as a method to raise the standard in the trucking industry and thank Jason for permitting us in reprinting his facebook note for the public.

Technorati Tags: America, Jason's Law, Parking, RV, Truckers, Trucking

The “Social Media and Women Truckers” seminar at the 1st Annual Memphis Truck Expo was not only to educate those in trucking on how to get started with simple basics, but also to fire a warning shot across the bow of those who have not removed the cotton from their ears on how truck driver abuse is beginning to catch up with the trucking industry.

Social media has been an outlet for a number of topics where outrage and a demand for accountabily have been raised. The timing could not have been worse for trucking as the economy, CSA2010 and other climate change regulations have impacted profits. To the neglected industry of trucking, the backbone of America, having drivers be able to speak for themselves outside of their cabs for the first time must seem like the perfect storm.

Driver abuse by carriers is being exposed in an way that has some professionals listening and some carriers suspiciously quiet. Individual drivers are speaking up by using social media and people are listening.

Driver recruiters claim to be having a tough time finding qualified candidates but they seem to be missing the point on how misleading advertising and poor treatment has made drivers feel manipulated. Perhaps it is time for carriers to review how cost-effective their comission packages & advertising budgets are being used to lie and mislead drivers? Does it make good business sense to buy endless print ads and radio commercials when active social media truckers can debunk your claims in 140 characters or less?

Social Media requires a committment to positive transparency and it is a bumpy road getting started if you have lots of potholes in your driveway.

The supply chain and logistics community have been for the most part separated from the driver population until the advent of social media and as it turns out, truck drivers are filling in some of the blanks on how their crucial part of the transportation sector actually works. It is not always pretty.

In the preview called “What are you Sponsoring?” , the persistence to control the message set the stage for a social media experiment which was a success. Integrity is all you have BUT if you have been absent of that in the past, THE GOOD NEWS IS: It’s never too late to get some.

I encourage individual drivers to start learning more about social media and begin networking online with other active groups of social media truckers. I hope this slideshow series will motivate the problem solvers.

The issues related to violence against women in the trucking industry have been introduced on this site , on Facebook and on Twitter. I will continue to expose this problem and the carriers who permit it to occur.

Technorati Tags: Advertising, CSA2010, Logistics, Radio, Recruiters, Social Media, Supply Chain, Truckers, Trucking

Congressman James Oberstar (D-MN) , the Chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has sunk to a new low by using a female truck driver in his new television ad campaign called “Joyce“, without addressing the national truck parking issue.

The ad features female dump truck driver Joyce Fisk of Knife River Corporation, Fisk testified (SEE TESTIMONY) before the Federal Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on the need for long-term federal highway funding in March 2010, and made valid points about the dire need of prioritizing infrastructure projects.

What is not addressed in her testimony is the need for safe parking, which is not an issue for Joyce Fisk, as she is a local driver. Safe parking is a critical topic for “Over the Road” truck drivers who support “Jason’s Law” HR 2156 and companion bill S971 which was introduced by Congressman Paul Tonko (D-NY)

Hope Rivenburg, the young widow who has in addition to giving birth days later to twins after the murder of her husband, has worked tirelessly attending trucking conventions, fairs and personally making phone calls to get our elected officials to address the truck parking crisis. Mrs. Rivenburg has made a series of trips to Washington D.C and while many trucking publications and organizations have used her husband’s murder to sell their memberships and magazines.  Very few have put forth the effort to pick up the phone themselves to call legislators on behalf of this bill to make it a priority in the way ordinary individuals have done over the past year.

Still, despite our efforts Hope Rivenburg has received little more than a blow off from many of our public servants involved in transportation and infrastructure funding. In the past few months numerous calls have been made to Congressman Oberstar’s offices for information regarding why “Jason’s Law” is being ignored while other infrastructure projects are being funded.  Addressing truck parking creates jobs yet we are facing truck parking closures in many states and Congressman Oberstar seems oblivious to this.

Named after slain trucker Jason Rivenburg, “Jason’s Law” was introduced by Paul Tonko (D-NY) after the senseless murder for a measly $7 which was visible on Jason’s dashboard.  Jason was early for his appointment to deliver milk but could not be unloaded until the following morning. He parked in an abandoned gas station where he was shot and killed, leaving his young pregnant wife to deliver twins days later, leaving her with their three fatherless children.

The murder of Jason Rivenburg has grown to be a symbol of the neglect and disrespect truck drivers experience while trying to maintain federal driving regulations in order to keep America’s store shelves stocked. Crimes against truckers continue to grow, rest area closures and increased criminal activity in truck stops have created an atmosphere where truck drivers are sitting ducks because they have few safe places to park and rest.

We have asked Congressman James Oberstar staffers for a clear understanding on numerous occasions why this bill is being ignored and the truck parking issue is not being addressed while other roads projects are moving formard.  NATSO, The National Association of Truck Stop Owners has failed to sufficiently recognize the problems that exist on their properties.  A recent story about serial killers on the front page on USA Today seemed to infer that the rest areas were less safe than the travel plazas, which is not the case.

To add insult to injury, censorship on the Facebook page of Congressman James Oberstar began this week when comments were removed repeatedly that asked why truck parking and specifically, “Jason’s Law”, were not addressed in the “Joyce” television ad campaign. Comments have also been censored from YouTube where the ”Joyce” television ad is being featured. Let me remind the Oberstar campaign that censorship is a social media no-no and there are a good deal of truck drivers who participate rather effectively in social media.

Congressman James Oberstar is the Chairman of the House Committee for Transportation and Infrastructure, yet safe trucker parking is not on his agenda. We do not support James Oberstar as he appears to use tactics which will gain him votes, without addressing our concerns for safe parking or acknowledging the problem of increased crime targeted at truck drivers who move America’s freight.

Technorati Tags: Censorship, Congressman James Oberstar, Facebook, Hope Rivenburg, Infrastructure, Joyce Fisk, Minnesota, NATSO, New York, Paul Tonko, Social Media, Transportation, Truck Parking, Truckers, Trucking, You Tube

Some trucking professionals like to tout their collective careers by adding up how many years all together they have in the industry with colleagues and count this as experience.

Few of them have ever operated a commercial motor vehicle, nor have they been enclosed in a small space with a total stranger and harmed.

This weekend I took notes on a Woman’s story that had elements eerily familiar to many other women I have interviewed over the past two years. I published her account on the Facebook fan page called “Real Women Truckers’ in a note titled “Abandoned CR England Driver“.

The real hero was a male driver who met this woman as she was trying to reach out for help from her training employer, CR England.  He witnessed how she was being treated and circulated it on facebook, he also sent an email to CR England.

There was immediate shock when the entire chain of events was shared, especially from others who work in areas of trucking not related to truck driver training.

I was advised by these true professionals to share the story in Linkedin and in any way possible to get action.

What is odd is that right after the Dan Rather Report series, it was CR England who posted the following remarks on twitter with this post.
“Dan Rather was wrong! Trucking is a great profession. Go to truck school and see the Country. “

The link with that tweet led to an article called “10 Reasons to Choose Our Trucking School” and they mentioned the Dan Rather Report in the post. I say odd but in reality this is typical hyena trucking capitalism. I have seen it time and again, whether it be stealing content from another trucking blog or an organization trying to use an issue they had absolutely nothing to do with advancing take credit and utilize it as a membership drive opportunity.

One of the top reasons listed by CR England on their blog mentions the Smart Way EPA partnership which ironically is a post I recently made about this sham program and how it affects employee drivers and lease Owner-Operators. ( Read: Smart Way or Dumb Way – Examining the EPA Partnership with the American Trucking Association ) The particular incident with the CR England student though had to do with violence against women in the trucking industry.

There has been an outpouring of concern by male and female drivers and it has been been phenomenal but what about the carriers? Where is the accountability?

Under no circumstances should they be able to put a person off a truck and leave them! Even if it becomes violent, carriers are responsible to provide a safe training atmosphere… end of story!

YOU HIRED THEM, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE TO GET THEM HOME SAFELY!

This woman simply wanted to work like so many others who have been cheated out of a dream and a chance by the trucking industry’s mismanagement!

Who was disturbed by this story? Professionals with a quarter of a century in the industry, a parent with Daughters, A representative of a Fortune 500 company listed in the top 100 companies to work for, Social justice attorneys, countless people on twitter and a good community of drivers on Facebook who shared the story over the past few days, many who shared CR England horror stories of their own.  So what does that add up to ?  Um , let’s see … ( 25 cents + plus kids + 500 +100 + all those other people = more collective experience with a conscience than the collective experience of those without it! )

I am asking the trucking community for assistance in this matter to examine their collective conscience on the astounding denial that exists in this industry.  It should come as no surprise that the transition to CSA 2010 will require an environment of greater professionalism yet here are some of the accoutability items that continue to be rejected: Violence against women entering the industry,  Crimes against truckers from lack of parking and Criminal activities in exisiting parking areas such as human trafficking, drug activities, and frequent disturbances that affect restful sleep.

The National Association of Truck Stops (NATSO) and the major trucking carriers have evaded responding adequately to “Jason’s Law” which is more than a safe trucker parking proposal; it is a statement about the conditions these powerful lobby groups and trucking carriers have permitted to occur by inaction. If you treat people like animals, they begin to act like them.

There is a climate of ignoring crime and disrepair yet blocking any sort of competition, it is a battle to maintain an oligopoly at the expense of drivers.

While national news from the state department has made human trafficking a priority, groups like “Truckers against Trafficking” have not been embraced by NATSO despite their locations being centers of trafficking activities.

It is not organizations leading the charge to raise awareness of these issues, it is individuals taking action. Truckers have had a part in saving trafficking victims from truck stops.  Trucking publications have noticeably snubbed Jason’s Law, human trafficking issues and violence against women in the trucking industry yet most of the activity takes place at truck stops!

While there is applause for such campaigns as “Highway Heroes” , no campaign currently exists to encourage better conduct among the driving population. We have trucking heroes but the industry wants to choose which topics to publicize. Is it any wonder that the the Homeland Security program called Highway Watch failed? A program which asked drivers to be the eyes and ears to protect America from terrorist activities?  This very same industry that does NOT embrace human trafficking awareness information, does not make a priority to fight for safe and adequate parking for it’s own, it does not encourage personal safety training or offer guidance to expendable student drivers.  Thankfully, individuals are taking action.

Watch this Video from “Truckers Against Trafficking” about kidnapped teenagers being sold at truck stops , Human Trafficking Video , the heroes are not NATSO , they are individual drivers who care about humanity and grassroots volunteers who put forth time and effort to make a difference.

I do not believe every person in this industry does not care, I believe that they are insulated from the truth of what is happening at the indoctrination level into this industry. The story of the Abandoned CR England Driver  is a snapshot of a system that does not care about the human factor in the supply chain.

Understanding what we drivers experience on the road, what is taking place in the training fleets, learning about the crimes against truckers due to the parking situation, coming to grips that human trafficking is occuring in this environment, my hope some will take the initiative which is the first step in getting out of the cycle of denial in which the trucking industry dwells.

Good citizen truck drivers are taking the initiative to clean up this industry so how can the industry continue to justify the way they bury their head in the sand about what is going on at the entry level fleets?  These things are all connected and I’d like to see some concerned professionals step up and speak up about what is right and wrong.  The court of public opinion outside the trucking industry understands that what is going on in trucking is wrong.  What we lack is a few courageous people to step up and IMPLEMENT a plan NOT a PR Campaign or we will go nowhere.

The problems persist in training fleets due to poor in-house support on crisis situations where the knee jerk reaction is to blame the victim,  poor communication, antiquated logistics software applications, no follow-up and predatory recruiting. The tracking of the freight is state of the art but the human beings who move it are expendable.

Good trainers quit because the bad targeted recruitment, there is a shortage of female trainers because of this. In the CR England post this woman was assigned to training situations with drivers who were not trainers and had only a few weeks or months driving experience! She also had the opportunity to become a trainer herself yet she admits she was not taught to back the truck or even adjust her tandems. This lack of seriousness in the training programs should alarm EVERYONE!

There are carriers who have attempted to curb the way they handle the personality disputes and personal safety issues but they have yet to dig into the core issues with a vengeance. We can easily determine who is doing it and eliminate them but instead we have a climate where untrained in house staff do and say things to encourage the abuser to continue.

By this remark I mean that often abusers lay ground work to “cover their ass” in advance and if personnel is not trained to recognize this they are part of the process of aggravating the situation and possibly making the carrier more liable.  As with Nancy’s story, by the time she made it to the HR department she was the villain and the meeting was handled like a criminal in a debriefing session. This is very common in training fleets due to the volume of turnover but it is not unique to trucking.

Industries still operating in the dark ages still place you in the center of the bulls-eye if you dare visit the HR department where often you will be targeted, retaliated against and eliminated.

For drivers,  generally the DAC is ruined and the women who experience what Nancy did are given a bad reference so they cannot re-enter this industry. Among women drivers this is very well known and it is only now that some concerned men are becoming aware of the problem.  Many erroneous DAC reports have been filed on women truckers who reported harassment or refused to comply with some form of misconduct from the employer.

Question: Who do you think are the biggest foes women drivers?

Answer: Women who work in-house in the trucking industry.

WHY? Because predators make a point to befriended the outer circle of a target. Part of the challenge to these people is to gain respect and trust. This makes it very difficult when they are accused to have the friend remain unbiased.

A disenfranchised person, especially a woman who is desperate for a new life is a perfect target to isolate. Ask any criminal profiler, women like this are preferred targets for crime and violence because no one is looking out for them and it is easy to destroy their credibility if they report being abused.

“Acquaintance-Rape” scenarios occur when a person lets their guard down and the victimizer knows it. If the victimizer has made effort to buddy up with in-house staff this aggravates the situation because they have laid the foundation to discredit the target in advance. This goes on frequently for women in truck driver training; the stories I collect are almost verbatim.

In my own story I became aware notes were being taken about me and entered into the company computer. This meant when I called in distress, I was being prejudged and treated according to the perception made about me on a computer screen. I was not a person; I was an employee number, a gender and an ethnic race with comments about me.

While many carriers say they have a toll free number and emergency system to remove a trainee from a bad situation, the truth is that these systems often do not work. Especially on night and weekend shifts which is when most issues occur. Poor communication during shift changes aggravates these incidents and often the ball is dropped when the regular weekday staff comes in. There is no oversight, no cross check or follow up.

Misleading Advertising Harms People

Poorly prepared females who have been misled into this industry often think they are welcome with open arms and that trucking is one big rootin tootin party. That image that is part of the problem not only for the women entering trucking but for the inexperienced men entering trucking who think all women truckers are “good time sally”.

There is no path to lead any student successfully from CDL training, into reliable training and into a long-term carriers that require stable experience to meet their qualifications standards. For students,  it is a crapshoot but in-house staff can help alleviate much of the trials by being better trained for a crisis. UNLESS this is occurring on purpose?

“We always kept the experienced drivers housed away from the students so they won’t tell them what’s going on “- Quote from a former Driver Liason

Normal corporate structure employees generally have some sort of training to work in environments with the opposite sex yet it is non-existent in truck driver training where total strangers are supposed to live together in a room the size of a closet.

These are people who are expected to follow the letter of the federal law yet many have never worked with opposite gender co-workers. What is acceptable if no one advises them? Combining a former construction worker and a former longtime housewife with zero guidance?  She was recruited at her local workforce office and received paid training compliments of the American taxpayers, if she gets harmed during her training are we to toss her off on the side of the road because she has no “Street Smarts”, she deserved it?

What about the Wife of a truck driver who is not made aware that a female has been put on her husband’s truck and an affair occurs? I understand that CR England may have a waiver that the Wife is supposed to sign to give permission but this policy is not always followed.  Alienation of Affection = Interference with Marriage lawsuits and they can be costly.  States such as Illinois, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Dakota and Utah and North Carolina still permit cases where allegations of emotional harm are caused by a third party to the marital relationship. Wait? UTAH? CR England?

How about suing the carriers whose negligence permitted the situations to occur?

No training in conduct says  ”we don’t care who gets hurt, not on the highway, not in the truck, not in your home“!  Having a supervisory staff that is 20 or 30 years old who have no life experience to answer phones for crisis situations is a huge part of the problem.  If your staff has no idea how to deal with a crisis they should not be in supply chain logistics!

The human factor that is required to move freight is grossly absent from trucking. Someone who cannot handle a human crisis should not be permitted to speak or treat a victim of a trauma. If they cannot recognize a predatory behavior or complete their job in an unbiased manner they should not be placed in a position to deal with people in any capacity. 

Predators can be engaging, charming and they aim to make friends with those who can help them when they are accused. That way no one will doubt one word they say. Predators are not always men, women can also be predators, control freaks and understand we have a growing Pink Collar Crime population.

Hundreds of students each week are being recruited and churned into truck driver training fleets right now and there is a shortage of good trainers because poor recruitment by the trucking industry, trainers who have lost their jobs FINALLY from their misconduct and because some trainers have been accused of doing something that was false or misconstrued.

These are ALL management failures from poor management guidance and lax policies. These are human nature issues that exist in an industry that puts two or more people in super heated training atmosphere and offers little support. There is a whole lot of drama occurring in this training atmosphere which is unsafe for the motoring public as well as the occupants of the truck.

As a trucking professional how do you feel knowing that people who have harmed others have been insulated by your industry and are permitted to drive anonymously state to state?  We need some real men and some real women to step up to the plate to make a broad statement that we are not going to live in denial and we are going to fix this.

We need a real plan to take action, not a PR Campaign and phony facade. I believe the problem is so great now that many of these carriers don’t know where to start.  If you do not take action, you are collectively condoning, violence against disenfranchised women and benefiting from it which is no better than a human trafficker in my opinion!

This is a national problem because the carriers involved are very large truck training carriers that travel all 48 states, right in your backyard.

Following my post about the Abandoned CR England Student, I was contacted by someone who wanted to make law enforcement nationwide be aware of this neglected trucking issue. I personally would like to have truck stops create a safe haven program which would benefit the human trafficking campaign, domestic violence victims and situation like the one Nancy encountered.

Let’s face it; there is more criminal activities at truck stops represented by NATSO than at rest areas or tollway parking areas.

Last night I watched a show about Father Murphy a Wisconsin Priest who sexually abused as many as 200 deaf boys in his care. The little boys are now old men and still trying to get justice. These little boys went to the police and were sent back to this priest to live with him! People get hurt from collective inaction.

The problem with CR England is a problem with all of those who “KNOW” but do nothing, even though the little deaf boy is jumping up and down in front of you begging you to hear him!

Additional Reading:
CDL Trainers should be held accountable for their actions

CR England Training Reviews

Abandoned CR England Driver

U.S State Department – Human Trafficking

Truckers Against Trafficking

Technorati Tags: CDL Training, CR England, Dan Rather, EPA, Human Trafficking, Jason's Law, Smart Way Transport, Truckers, Trucking, Violence, Women

The Environmental Protection Agency partnership with the American Trucking Association for a “Greener” Tomorrow may look, … well “Green” to outsiders and paper pushers but how does it affects human beings?

Most people could care less about truckers whose job requires them to live without luxuries like daily showers and toilet facilities in order to provide comfort to everyone else. Think about that for a second.

What if you could not take a shower, use a toilet or wash your hands when you wanted to and you had to perform your job everyday in these conditions.

Not only that but you had to sleep in your car and you were not permitted to use the air-conditioner in the summer to sleep OR use your heater in the winter.

Remember Old Ebenezer Scrooge in ‘A Christmas Carol” interrogating poor Bob Cratchit for needing to stay warm as he toiled away at his desk?
Morals and Ethics sacrificed for profits and awards is what you find when you scrape past that façade of the ATA partnership with the Smart Way EPA Program, not solutions for the environment.

Would you feel you were a safe driver in these conditions? How would you feel after sleeping in your car when it is 90 degree outside? Imagine you will be expected to cover 500 or more miles the next day to deliver a load of childrens blow up swimming pools and they had better be on time!

Rhianna Weir , writer for the Madison, Wisconsin trucking examiner wrote an article this week aimed at the non-trucking community that Saturday July 24, 2010 people take an hour out of their day to sit in their car, which is about the same area of space found inside the sleeper section of a semi truck. Challenging them to idle their car, SUV or pickup truck for no longer than five minutes and then try to relax for just one hour.

The first thing the non-trucking community needs to understand is that the American Trucking Association does not represent drivers; it represents carriers who are interested in profit not people. They are interested in media coverage to appear compliant and interested in formulating an image that seems genuinely concerned but these are strategies, anything that could affect profits by way of capital expenditures is not going to be embraced.

When public pressure gets turned up on safety issues a “partnership” will soon follow which helps control media creating a favorable image, a compliant and obedient image and this takes the spotlight off of the real issue.

In trucking when this happens it is the drivers who suffer because no one properly represents them and the nature of their job makes them unable to fight back.

Bill Hutson, a driver for 30 years and founder of a non-profit called Table Talk Ministries aptly puts it, “No matter how you squeeze a turnip a trucker pops out” and this seems to be the strategy of the ATA when they applaud themselves and the carriers they represent in their partnership with Smart Way Transport.

In this video from “Big Truck TV” it is clear that the ATA created this partnership for a very deliberate purpose but if you are an actual truck driver this video might make you vomit.

The truth is that some recipients of the Smart Way EPA award who are truck carriers represented by the ATA are able to reduce the idle emissions by inhumane and unsafe practices such as harassing drivers, charging drivers to idle but not providing solutions such as “Auxiliary Power Units” commonly referred to as APU’s .

These carriers are permitted to get way with saying “we are testing them” but they are not required to provide them despite rebates and other incentives like those which are funded through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The federal Department of Transportation regulations require 10 hours of rest for every 11 hours of driving. During these times, truck drivers often idle their engines to rest comfortably as would any other normal human being when they sleep.

Trucking idling laws fail to consider this and that many truckers are employees and do not have the option to buy expensive APU equipment and install them. Lease Owner-Operator truck drivers also generally have in their contract that they are not permitted to “alter” the trucks they are making payments on and this includes installing an APU. Smart Way EPA lets carriers receive awards who DO NOT provide solutions for employee drivers, this is unsafe & inhumane.

Performance scores are listed on the Smart Way Transport web site , a higher score or more favorable score would make a company more attractive to prospective shipper partners who care about environmental impacts and their own reputations but what if the carriers were reaching the score levels by inhumane means?

Smart Way encourages carriers to improve their score by adopting various fuel-efficiency and emission control technologies, policies, and strategies to their fleets but do they understand how these methods are practiced before they throw their annual shindig in Las Vegas, Nevada to hand out awards?

With so many states adopting new idle restrictions it seems that getting a photo opportunity accepting a Smart Way EPA award for a press release would be a trucking fleet President’s wet dream.

According to the SmartWay Transport web site, “A score of 1.25 represents outstanding environmental performance. These Carrier partners are already utilizing most of the commercially available fuel saving strategies and are actively evaluating the latest emerging technologies. Partners with scores of 1.25 are awarded the honor of displaying the SmartWay Transport Partner logo, EPA’s symbol for superior fuel efficiency and environmental performance.”

In practice, from a driver stand point, “fuel saving strategies” comes out of the drivers pocket. Being charged to idle or harassed for idling is one strategy used by some of the carriers who appear as award recipients on the Smart Way EPA website. Trucks drivers suffer with a fan if possible or pay for expensive motel rooms if they can find one that has truck parking, most do not and if you have a pet you are in really big trouble.

Now the first assumption is that if you have a pet in the truck you are exempt, that is not true in all states and if your company has idle restrictions they might still charge or penalize you for idling your truck. It is actually illegal in most states to have an animal in a hot vehicle but not illegal for an employer to do this to their employee. Also, driver’s do not have the option to put say $20.00 in the tank and use the receipt on their taxes for the fuel they burn in their company truck. Seems weird if fuel cost was all that mattered but even if the drivers were paying from their own pockets, the idle calculations still occur and maybe this affects qualifying to awards, just sayin..

Trucks drivers who are employees, which many fleets are on the Smart Way list are generally issued trucks to drive. It would make sense that if there was a limited amount with APU’s or bunk heaters, they would go to solo drivers who must park at night. Unfortunately it does not work that way. You can beg, plead, threaten, turn in hospital receipts from getting sick from trying to not idle and it will do you no good. More often than not you will be harassed verbally and over the Qualcomm about idling your truck with a complete disregard that the temperatures outside are so extreme that it would be unsafe to NOT idle your truck.

I suspect that measurement of idle time internally at trucking carriers may be linked to the SmartWay program so that they might qualify to be award recipients so let’s examine how this is being manipulated. I have copy and pasted and explanation from the website “The Rip Off Report” of how idling is calculated on each truck from “Baldy” of Pensacola, Florida.

He writes: “The onboard computer or “Qualcomm” measures engine running-time, speed-time (overspeed), and idle-time (among other things) and breaks this down into percentages. When it says that you are 30% over-idle, it means that 30% of the engine-running time was idle-time. Turning off the engine does not decrease the idle-time. It only keeps it from getting larger. The only way to lower the idle-time is to run more miles (run-time) than you sit idling (idle-time).

Example: If you cranked up your truck just after the weekly reset (mine was on Monday morning) and idled for 30 minutes without moving the truck, and then turned the truck off for the rest of the week, your idle-time for that week would be 100%. If you did that, and then ran down the road for 30 minutes before turning it off for the week, your idle-time for the week would be 50%.”

In a nutshell every second the engine is on it is calculating idle time against the tires rolling on the ground so even at a stop light the meter is running. If you are a solo driver running 5 or 6 days a week and you can drive 11 hours a day, you still have to remain parked and still a good deal of time.

Trucks have very little insulation, a fixable design flaw and like technology advancements like I brought up in “My Green Idle Idea“, the trucking industry does not embrace anything that costs money when they can find a way to make drivers pay for it.

The general public does not like truck drivers, they are afraid of them and they do not understand them so it’s perfect to pull this kind of crap because no one will bat an eye.

Fuel Saving Strategies noted by SmartWay should be understood to mean that a truck driver who is an employee or Owner-Operator who either is not provided a solution for idling or is forbidden to purchase an APU unit for their truck is actually paying for the carrier’s trip to Las Vegas to accept the SmartWay EPA Award. How do you like them Apples? The average paycheck per week being about $700 for driver in some companies I have heard as much as $300 has been charged to a driver from a single check. That’s a lesson most drivers do not want to experience twice.

A driver sitting with no load or during a rest period must idle in summer or winter or they can become sick, and most certainly will be operating the truck in an unsafe manner when they can roll again. Carriers who set idle policies do not take weather into account such as the case of the driver who posted about being charged to idle during a snowstorm and being told to buy more blankets even after becoming sick. Read Story Here

Some drivers report having their DAC reports ruined after complaining about being charged to idle or protesting idle policies. Citations given to drivers for idling in states who have adopted new laws are rarely paid for by carriers and with new CSA 2010 regulations drivers remain unclear how this will affect their records.

Until the general “Green” loving public can wrap their heads around how they are being bamboozled with “better air quality” campaigns that cover up safety shortfalls and inhumane practices against truck drivers this issue cannot be resolved.

Let the good times ROLL in Vegas for the SHAM called “The Smart Way Transport Partnership”
The slogan is accurate, “The Smart Way to save money, fuel and the environment” but here is the translation, “Save Money by Killling a Trucker, the Smart Way”.

Additional Reading:

Rhianna Weir Challenge
Preventing Truck Drivers from being Comfortable Underway Again
Smart Way Transport Partner List
Smart Way Award PDF
Fleet Owner – Smart Way names Excellence Award Winners
Rip Off Report Charging Employees to Idle
Smart Way Carrier Score Explanations

Technorati Tags: American Trucking Association, ATA, Environment, EPA, Idling, Smart Way Transport, Truckers, Trucking