Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin0915
Talking with the couple who bought into that 9 mo lease/fleece with Swift, was talking about how my 8 mo are about up, and how i could sign an actual lease to purchase after those 8 months. They told me something interesting, and wanted to pass the info along.....
They signed up for that 9 month deal a few months ago. They were asked to resign a new contract with something new added to it. It is an "anti-competition clause". When i asked them what that was, they told me that if a driver quits or gets fired, they cannot work in the same industry for 2 years.
Is this a new 'standard' trucking companies are doing in general, or just swift...........
and please.....no smart arse comments about how swift sucks, or how bad their lease deals are. we've hashed that out, and wasted time with that before. So lets leave that out this time, can we?
While not being a new concept in the trucking industry, I believe it's the first time I've heard of it being applied to a driver/lease operator.
When M S Carriers bought out ITC of A, the owners had to sign a "non-competition clause. One of the guys that had a 1/3 interest in the company gave the money to his wife, She started the new company, her name was on everything as the owner, and he simply answered the phones. M S Carriers found out about it, and the guy had to repay M S Carriers a few million dollars. By answering the phones, he was working for a competing company. Even though his wife owns it.
I don't know if it can be enforced or not. Obviously, it's an attempt to make the drivers stay with Swift. But, to sign something like that would be cutting your own throat when you go to leave them. Better win the POWER-BALL JACKPOT before you quit. If the exec from ITC is a barometer of what they can or can not do, you'll need it. If they can enforce it, violation of that clause could cost you a couple of years worth of hard earned money. Say what ever else you want to about them, if they were anything even close to a good company, they would not have to resort to that kind of coercion to retain drivers. It about tells you everything you need to know in regards to what kind of company they are.