Training Grant Beginning to Pay Off
 Joe Childress is the first graduate of a federal-state-industry program that is training displaced workers to become long-haul truckers. (TT File Photo) |
Childress had no fear of hard work, but he and his wife decided going to another factory job — with its low pay and uncertainties about being laid off — wasn’t the answer.
Meanwhile, the trucking industry — which needs about 80,000 new drivers each year — would love to put hard-working people like Childress behind the wheel of a big rig. And that’s where he will end up after participating in a program that teams the U.S. Department of Labor with state trucking associations, the Professional Truck Driver Institute and American Trucking Associations.
Childress became the first graduate of a program, launched in November, to train displaced workers to become long-haul truckers. The industry hopes the retraining project will soon become the source of a steady stream of drivers (11-2, p. 1).
Childress got into the course after work slowed down at the paperback book factory where he worked in his hometown of Martin, Tenn. He went to a job training and placement center, and attended a presentation by M.S. Carriers.
The Memphis-based truck company’s driver training academy is one of two schools participating in the program in Tennessee. A school run by U.S. Xpress Enterprises of Chattanooga is also part of the effort.
In Pennsylvania, six private, noncarrier schoolsare involved in a similar program.
The Department of Labor required the schools to be approved by PTDI, an industry-financed organization that evaluates and certifies driver training schools to ensure they’re producing quality drivers.
After talking with M.S. Carriers representatives, Childress applied.
For the full story, see the March 29 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
