Mike’s Law
As a follow up to last edition’s piece on Mike’s Law, we wanted to share a post that was added to the TruckDriver.com Forums General Discussion Board on January 20th.
EVERYONE: Please listen to the following XM Radio program today, thank you and God Bless!
TRUCKERS: We will continue the MATTER-OF-LIFE-AND-DEATH discussion about the "Michael's Law Amendment" to 18 U.S. Code 926A and truckers' right to carry firearms for personal protection interstate on Wednesday, January 20th, 2016 at 2PM Eastern time on Road Dog Trucking News with Mark Willis. We at SBTC are leading the gun control/gun rights debate within the trucking industry and taking our case to America's voters. Mark your calendars to tune into Road Dog Trucking on Sirius/XM Channel 146. We will be discussing the Jerry Matson incident.
My name is Christy Matson and my Dad, Lloyd Jerry Matson, Sr. , age 72, is a long haul truck driver. He had a delivery for the Oakland Oracle Coliseum for the next morning on December 15th, 2015, but the guard would not let him park overnight on the property, but told him to park at a nearby secluded area. My Dad was sleeping in his Semi when a man "rocked the cab" of his truck to see if an alarm would go off before breaking out the driver's side window. My Dad then woke and jumped up and the man shot him in the stomach with a .45 caliber gun. After several hours of surgery that night to repair the damage, my Dad has had two other surgeries due to complications. We live in Indiana, this happened in California. My Mom has been out there with him since. Please help no matter how small to ease the financial pressure this is causing my parents as rehabilitation will be needed once he is released and we still have to get them back home. My Dad means the WORLD to me and I love both my parents very much. I am very thankful that he is alive! Thank you for your prayers and God Bless each and everyone of you!
A Go Fund Me page has been set up to assist Christy and his family with his dad’s medical expenses, if you are unable to donate at this time, please click on one of the share buttons on the page and pass it on.
Truckload Carriers Association and CarriersEdge Announce
2016 Best Fleets to Drive For
The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) and CarriersEdge are pleased to announce the 2016 Best Fleets to Drive For. In the 8th annual survey and contest, these 20 for-hire trucking companies from across North America are being recognized for providing outstanding workplace experiences for their employees and professional truck drivers:
Top 20 Best Fleets to Drive For:
Bay and Bay Transportation - Eagan, Minnesota
Bison Transport - Winnipeg, Manitoba
Boyle Transportation - Billerica, Massachusetts
Central Oregon Truck Company, Inc. - Redmond, Oregon
Challenger Motor Freight Inc. - Cambridge, Ontario
Erb Group - New Hamburg, Ontario
Fremont Contract Carriers, Inc. - Fremont, Nebraska
FTC Transportation, Inc. - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Grand Island Express, Inc. - Grand Island, Nebraska
Halvor Lines, Inc. - Superior, Wisconsin
Interstate Distributor Co. - Tacoma, Washington
Kriska Holdings Ltd. - Prescott, Ontario
Landstar System, Inc. - Jacksonville, Florida
Melton Truck Lines, Inc. - Tulsa, Oklahoma
Motor Carrier Service, LLC - Northwood, Ohio
Nussbaum Transportation - Hudson, Illinois
Paramount Freight Systems, LLC - Ft Myers, Florida
Prime Inc. - Springfield, Missouri
TLD Logistics Services, Inc. - Knoxville, Tennessee
TransPro Freight Systems, Ltd. - Milton, Ontario
In addition, five companies have been identified as “Fleets to Watch” (honorable mentions) for demonstrating innovation in their driver programs:
Boyd Bros. Transportation Inc. - Clayton, Alabama
Brenny Specialized, Inc. - St. Cloud, Minnesota
Crete Carrier Corporation - Lincoln, Nebraska
Maverick Transportation, LLC - North Little Rock, Arkansas
Trimac Transportation - Calgary, Alberta
To be considered for the Best Fleets program, a company operating 10 trucks or more had to be nominated by at least one of its company drivers or owner operators. CarriersEdge then interviewed human resources representatives and executives of the nominated fleets about their corporate direction, policies, and programs. Nominated fleets were evaluated against a scoring matrix covering a variety of categories, such as total compensation package (base pay, bonuses, vacation, sick days, etc.), health benefits, pension plans, professional development opportunities, career path/advancement opportunities, and more.
A selection of each fleet’s drivers was also surveyed, with their feedback compared to management’s and incorporated into the final score. The responses were then tallied, resulting in the selection of this year’s winners and honorable mentions. Two companies, Landstar System, Inc., and Grand Island Express, Inc., reached the milestone of five consecutive years on the Best Fleets list.
Jane Jazrawy, chief executive officer of CarriersEdge, said, “For 2016, we’ve noticed a trend toward the theme of ‘flexibility’ in job structure and routing, as well as team communication. From within the Top 20 winner pool, it seems that many companies are creating different types of jobs so drivers have more options that suit their lifestyles. We’re seeing more and more communication going out on Facebook, meetings via web or conference call, and similar things that just generally make life more convenient for professional drivers. Fleets are also moving more of their business into mobile apps or websites, and, in many cases, are providing devices directly to their drivers.”
She also pointed out another trend: that the majority of Best Fleets winners are participating in new entrant training. Most companies are hiring drivers fresh out of school now, or starting their own schools directly.
John Lyboldt, TCA’s president, said, “It is very helpful for the rest of the trucking industry to study the trends that come to light with the Best Fleets contest and survey, as these ideas can help everyone to improve their workplace environments. Anything we can do collectively to attract qualified employees – and keep them – is a positive thing.”
Phase two of the contest will be to divide the highest scoring fleets into small and large fleet categories, from which two overall winners will be selected. These awards will be sponsored by EpicVue of Salt Lake City, Utah, and Bose Ride of Framingham, Massachusetts.
The overall winners’ names will be announced during TCA’s Annual Convention, March 6-9, 2016, at the Wynn Las Vegas Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. On March 1 and 3, clues about the winners’ identities will be posted with the hashtag #BestFleets2016 to TCA’s Twitter account (www.truckload.org/Twitter) and Facebook page (www.truckload.org/Facebook).
For more details about Best Fleets to Drive For, visit www.BestFleetsToDriveFor.com.
ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello discusses December's 1% increase in the ATA Truck Tonnage Index and the 1.1% increase over all of 2015. (Video)
|
