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AYR Motors long haul drivers

AYR Motors long haul drivers

Old Jul 13th 2010, 1:39 pm
  #46  
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Default Re: AYR Motors long haul drivers

Originally Posted by cargomatic
Sorry its not worked out for you. Ralph did say he was ready to take you off training rate after one or two more trips, so if you could stick it out those few more days, things would start to come good, but like i said, I know how hard it is without your family. been there, done that. Wish you could have told me sooner. I would have seen what I could have done to help.
The thing is you sit by the phone for days on end, all the other drivers in the house are spitting feathers because of the same situation.

I did speak to Ralph and like i have said it was an situation i couldn't win. i have the Boss saying do it like this and the Wife loosing confidence in the company.

I would like to think if a situation where i could carry on, but if i have waiting time of a week by the phone calling every 2 hours, is there work for me only to be told ring later....
So nearly 5 weeks with out Money only a short trip. doing short trips that only pays on mileage.

I am on a moan but it is Valid..
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Old Jul 13th 2010, 3:15 pm
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Default Re: AYR Motors long haul drivers

Originally Posted by hughes3005
The thing is you sit by the phone for days on end, all the other drivers in the house are spitting feathers because of the same situation.

I did speak to Ralph and like i have said it was an situation i couldn't win. i have the Boss saying do it like this and the Wife loosing confidence in the company.

I would like to think if a situation where i could carry on, but if i have waiting time of a week by the phone calling every 2 hours, is there work for me only to be told ring later....
So nearly 5 weeks with out Money only a short trip. doing short trips that only pays on mileage.

I am on a moan but it is Valid..
understandable. well what ever you decide to do Good luck and I hope it works out for you. Take care
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Old Jul 13th 2010, 4:42 pm
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Default Re: AYR Motors long haul drivers

14c a mile?????????..........training for 3 months????????..........ringing dispatch every three hours??????.........not being issued a decent truck of your own????????....................................... ........
I am absolutely astonished. I can't believe what i am reading.
Mr Cargomatic, what part of the "Canadian way" does a single part of that relate to?
I do not know anyone who would work for 14c a mile if they were being put up in a penthouse suite at the hilton and trained by Pamela Anderson.
I find it incredible that you would even dare to admit that training is dragged out for 3 months never mind actually trying to defend it.
A courtesy call once a day back to base is all i have ever known a company require from a driver. Your company has serious driver/dispatch issues if you need to constantly harass drivers as to their whereabouts.
Lastly, no long haul driver should have to slip seat. Even huge companies like Bison can issue a longhaul driver a dedicated truck.
If every thing is as you say your company is totally abusing immigrant drivers and the system as well as tarnishing the whole image of Canada.
I suggest that the reason that you need immigrants in the first place is because no self respecting Canadian would consider working under the regime that you have described. Neither should any immigrant for that matter.
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Old Jul 13th 2010, 5:09 pm
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Default Re: AYR Motors long haul drivers

Originally Posted by wire
A courtesy call once a day back to base is all i have ever known a company require from a driver. Your company has serious driver/dispatch issues if you need to constantly harass drivers as to their whereabouts.
You are right in many cases, but immigrants only make up 20% of the work force. So this way of working must be acceptable to many Canadians too.

you miss understand the calling though. once you are in a truck, you never have to call. Satellite takes care of all comms. the calling is to find out where your truck is and when its going to arrive back at the yard for you to get into it. you cant predict what the driver in it is going to do. he may stop for a while. so the calling is to keep you up dated on an eta back. a pain i now, but I would rather do that and turn up the second the truck is out of the shop and ready to go than turn up and sit around waiting for it.
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Old Jul 13th 2010, 6:11 pm
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Default Re: AYR Motors long haul drivers

Only 20%?
I was under the impression that Ayr was a sizeable firm.. If there are 200 trucks then 40 immigrants... BFS was at a similar percentage I expect, and all of them had their own vehicles. I am, I think, the only immigrant at the firm I work for so the percentage here would be 1% and I have my own truck. When I had my accident last year my truck was kept in the yard.

Sorry, but Wire is right. Slip seating is not the Canadian way, it is the company way and is unfair. You are very blasee about the calling, too. While I do not know all the truth, it sounds pretty bad to me. They are calling to let you know when your truck will be back, but your truck should be there anyway. And if they ecpect you to sit by the phone then they are not being reasonable at all. If they control you to the extent that you are having to sit inside all day then it is too much. Surely, they can actually get the ETA correct by calling the person bringing the truck back, not playing a guessing game with the driver waiting at home.

And 14cpm is ridculous, regardless of the free accommodation. Face it, what could a driver on 14cpm actually afford for himself? Maybe the mall would have a cardboard box going cheap. When we land here, CIC accept that we are professional drivers. The companies hire us as professional drivers. They hire us on the basis that we are law abiding, trained and capable. That is why we came here, why the firms hire us, and why the government allows us to be here. I am also on the understanding that, legally, the firms are not allowed to treat immigrants any differently to Canadian nationals. I doubt that many of the Canadians with 20 or so years on the road would ever accept a training rate of a third of the rate for 3 months. I wouldn't, not on your nellie, and I am an immigrant, not Canadian.

All that aside, if you accepted the job knowing it was going to be like that then there is no real comeback. The HRSDC rules on income are rated over the year so providing you annual income exceeds their bounds you are paid enough. But at 14 cpm for a quarter of the year, you would have to work like a fool. I know 570 miles is easy enough, but they are not easy if you are driving your armchair waiting for a call for some truck to get back, especially if the truck then needs to be loaded with your gear, fuelled up, etc.
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Old Jul 13th 2010, 10:25 pm
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Default Re: AYR Motors long haul drivers

I have only one thing to say on this thread:

Wire/BTD, RESPECT.
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Old Jul 13th 2010, 11:37 pm
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Default Re: AYR Motors long haul drivers

14cpm absolutely terrible,hell living in a company house you still need to eat,why cant the company phone the house???when you are needed.only 1 in 5 are immigrants ? i must have been very lucky.. any time i spoke to a ayr driver he wasnt canadian..
plenty of work ..mmmm winnipeg to the trailor yard in ontario 2nights a wk. thats shit. how can you stay afloat with that millage
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Old Jul 14th 2010, 2:58 am
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Default Re: AYR Motors long haul drivers

The company does sound like the pits.Just had a look on their website,paid training for 12 weeks(no amount mentioned),but the alarm bells rang at the next paragraph which said that after the training was completed successfully the driver would then be offered a permanent position.Thought I'd heard all the horror stories about the shite employers,but they are seriously taking the mick.
Could be wrong (not for the first time),but I thought companies had to offer at least 12 months employment for immigrants,a one year contract wasn't enough.How can they get away with offering a temporary contract for 12 weeks,visas/twp wouldn't be issued ?
As for the 14c/mile,speechless !!!!!!!
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Old Jul 14th 2010, 3:37 pm
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Default Re: AYR Motors long haul drivers

14c a mile is effectively $8.40 an hour at 60 mph , So that's about the minimum wage , Coincidence ? Then again if you hit any traffic or a major city your down to ..... peanuts !

As for the training :

Just a way of keeping you on the lower rate for longer, simple as that.

I had ten days with my trainer the day after I passed my test and that was hauling fuel with Super B's in the mountains ! A bit more demanding and involving than working for Ayr Motors

I hope any recruiter make this patently obvious in the first conversation they have with any potential employee

Last edited by kb33; Jul 14th 2010 at 4:09 pm.
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Old Jul 14th 2010, 6:16 pm
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Default Re: AYR Motors long haul drivers

That's just it though... If I remember correctly, a driver was refused a TWP at Halifax because he didn't have a licence so they said he was not qualified. If Ayr say they take 12 weeks to train a driver with 20 years experience then I suspect they must have some seriously challenging work. Obviously, my 2 years on the Winter Roads with the lakes, etc, is not a patch on the challenge presented by Ayrs work. Same can be said of deckwork, etc.. Same is true of your job with the B trains, KB..

I don't know. While I see the point about the firm not wanting the OP to have 3 weeks off, I also see why the OP is offended by it. I wonder if the firm use the 14cpm time to gather a bit of investment in a driver so they can afford to sue him when he quits, or so the driver can't afford to fight a case when he gets sued.

If it were 4 weeks then I wouldn't think it would be a big deal for anyone, but those starting now will be into september before they start earning any money, then it will be November before they can pay any flights for family so they will be welcoming their families at the start of winter without any hope of having enough money to get started properly... No wonder people quit, is it?
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Old Jul 14th 2010, 7:03 pm
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Default Re: AYR Motors long haul drivers

Originally Posted by Big Truck
I have only one thing to say on this thread:

Wire/BTD, RESPECT.
It seems that we are all starting to see eye to eye on the fact that the only companies offering driver immigration oportunities nowadays are not worth considering as employers, never mind trusting them with you and your family's future.
I personally feel that this is a real shame especially as just a couple of years ago Canada offered a real chance of a fantastic new life for drivers who were prepared to work hard and embrace the challenge.
Sadly, from what I am now reading the only advice I could give a prospective Immigrant truck driver considering companies like these would be bring plenty of money with you but leave your self respect at home.
I hope that maybe in the future things get more like they once were but to be honest it doesn't look like happening any time soon.
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Old Jul 14th 2010, 7:38 pm
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Default Re: AYR Motors long haul drivers

Originally Posted by kb33
14c a mile is effectively $8.40 an hour at 60 mph , So that's about the minimum wage , Coincidence ? Then again if you hit any traffic or a major city your down to ..... peanuts !

As for the training :

Just a way of keeping you on the lower rate for longer, simple as that.

I had ten days with my trainer the day after I passed my test and that was hauling fuel with Super B's in the mountains ! A bit more demanding and involving than working for Ayr Motors

I hope any recruiter make this patently obvious in the first conversation they have with any potential employee

I went to see Ayr Motors when in Canada. They were nice enough. They applied for & got me an LMO. However as I was settling in at Bulk & had asked numerous drivers their experiences of Ayr Motors I declined the offer of employment with them.
Truth to tell Cargomatic has done well there, but others I've talked to tell some horror stories. Plus the pay, even when you are accepted by them as capable is not the best. The website says 0.34 Canada & 0.38 US, I was offered 0.02 Less only changing on PR.
Bulk pay 0.36 all over after 3 months, plus $150 for New York deliveries AND $15 drop which I like. When you clock up alot of miles in Canada that 0.04 makes a difference. Like the Calgary I've just done for example.
Bulk have had a pasting on this forum recently, which in my humble opinion is undeserved. They give you your own dedicated truck as soon as you pass your test, at Ayr that can be 6 long months away & even then someone else gets in it when you have time off.
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Old Jul 14th 2010, 8:45 pm
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Default Re: AYR Motors long haul drivers

Bulk seem to be looking after you, Alan, and I am glad to see it. Maybe some of the troubles people have is not being prepared, or being too unnerved, to fight their corner and make their position clear, i.e. spare me the bullshit and gimme the miles.. But there is something wrong with this picture...

Hell, if BT is in full agreement with us then something must be wrong!!!
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Old Jul 14th 2010, 9:06 pm
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Default Re: AYR Motors long haul drivers

Originally Posted by bobthedog
Bulk seem to be looking after you, Alan, and I am glad to see it. Maybe some of the troubles people have is not being prepared, or being too unnerved, to fight their corner and make their position clear, i.e. spare me the bullshit and gimme the miles.. But there is something wrong with this picture...

Hell, if BT is in full agreement with us then something must be wrong!!!
"being too unnerved, to fight their corner and make their position clear, i.e. spare me the bullshit and gimme the miles."

LOL, Bob, that is exactly the attitude that gets many people starved out of miles!
BUT.
Why should they have to fight for miles anyway?
If they are willing, able and available to work, they should be given dispatches without massive, unpaid downtime, which is not requested.
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Old Jul 14th 2010, 11:32 pm
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Default Re: AYR Motors long haul drivers

Originally Posted by bobthedog
Bulk seem to be looking after you, Alan, and I am glad to see it. Maybe some of the troubles people have is not being prepared, or being too unnerved, to fight their corner and make their position clear, i.e. spare me the bullshit and gimme the miles.. But there is something wrong with this picture...

Hell, if BT is in full agreement with us then something must be wrong!!!
C'mon BTD/Wire,
we have agreed in the past on the odd thing or two!!!!

I have posted about Bulk before in that I spoke at length to the boss Jack Kelly in Belfast one time and found him to be honest in his discussion with me eye to eye but I will reserve judgement until there is an long awaited update here:
http://www.the-fentons-in-canada.blogspot.com/
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