The Source for Trucking News, Opinions and Trucking Jobs | Judge denies CRST’s

In my own sick twisted world, I found this absolutely hilarious -

Judge denies CRST’s request for temporary restraining order against Hunt
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — CRST’s request for a temporary restraining order to keep J.B. Hunt from hiring away its drivers was turned down by a federal court June 29, but a CRST official predicted that his company would have ample ammunition with which to go to court.

Typical American attitude - use the court to solve our problems.

According to a report by The Associated Press, CRST drivers had been signing contracts requiring them to repay $3,600 in training costs if they didn’t stay with the company for a year, and that last year the contract was revised to require a recruit to leave the industry if he didn’t stay with CRST for a year.

This is pretty routine for the ‘puppy mill’ mentality. Work and frustrate the trainees so much, they quit trucking altogether or get smart and go somewhere better. (Even if it is only ‘perceived’ as better.) That last part about requiring them to leave the industry if they left CRST was the worse part. I’d like to know if they actually enforce that.

Hunt had mandated that its drivers have a year of over-the-road experience to be hired but that was revised to 90 days, AP reported.

According to Rusch, AP reported, Hunt changed to the 90-day requirement to hire away CRST drivers. He said his drivers were being “harassed by J.B. Hunt’s recruiters.”

JB did that with only CRST in mind. I’m so sure. How can they prove that? Oh yeah, JB recruiters harass them. JB recruiters harass everyone. There’s a JB recruiter at almost every major truckstop in the country.

Changing their hiring back to 90 days experience is targeted at every ‘puppy mill’. Three months is about the point that you start to know what you’re doing and one bad day with your dispatcher and you run across someone that wants to give you more money, and all sorts of other promises. That’s a no-brainer. You’re switching.

“All I ask J.B. Hunt is the chance to let me recoup my training costs before they offer [CRST drivers] a few cents more a mile. We’re equal [in pay] after six months,” Rusch said, according to the AP report.

Maybe you should be equal or better at three months. Whew! That was a tough one.

Instead of going to court, why not either pay your trainees better or here’s an idea - Treat them better! Maybe they wouldn’t be so eager to jump ship on a bad day. Bad days happen in trucking. It’s part of trucking. It’s how the company handles them that makes or breaks a drivers day. If I get a ‘difficult’ trip, my dispatcher understands and says he’ll make it up to me next time. I also realize that somethings are just a part of trucking. After three months you may not realize that yet.

I switched companies after three months of driving. I was at a puppy mill and wasn’t given the miles I was promised, too many layovers waiting for a load and just generally p.o.’d. I asked for a new fleet manager and tried to work things out within the company first. Everything was denied so I jumped ship for more money, more miles, faster trucks, coast to coast instead of east coast. I know the feeling.

But CRST shouldn’t be using the courts to solve their turnover problem. “Mommy! JB’s picking on me and taking all my toys!” If you treated you’re toys better, you wouldn’t lose them!