Effective today (Monday, March 2), Salt Lake City-based C.R. England (ranked 17th on Commercial Carrier Journal’s Top 250 list) will offer a new bonus program for all company and independent contractor trainers in the dedicated and over the road (OTR) divisions, as well as pay increases for solo company drivers in their Western Regional fleet. This is the third announced compensation increase for C.R. England drivers since November 2014 and the second in the last 40 days.
Beginning today, each apprentice who is successfully trained and upgraded by a trainer will become a driver in the trainer’s network. Once the successful apprentice is placed on a truck after upgrade and begins running miles, the trainer will make one cent per mile for every mile the apprentice drives. For apprentices who move into local, intermodal driving positions, or work in a salary or mileage band application, the trainer will be paid a flat rate as long as the driver is active 14 days out of 30 days each month.
“Our trainers are critical to the success of C.R. England’s new drivers,” said Brandon Harrison, chief operating officer. “This bonus will provide Trainers an opportunity to earn extra income through the successful training of their apprentices. Their preparation and dedication plays an integral part of developing our future drivers into the safest, most capable drivers on the road.”
This bonus represents an additional increase to the upgrade bonus for trainers announced last year. In November 2014, C.R. England doubled the value of the phase one upgrade bonus for all trainers. When an apprentice successfully upgrades on the first try, the trainer receives a $200 bonus.
Additionally, Harrison also announced a pay increase for Western Regional company solos that will go into effect this week as well. All Western Regional company solo drivers will receive an average pay increase of 14.1 percent. Western Regional represents a large percentage of C. R. England’s Regional fleets across the nation.
“This pay raise will vary depending on driver tenure, but on average the per driver pay increase equates to $0.04 more per mile,” Harrison said.
Founded in 1920, C.R. England, Inc. has some 6,772 drivers and is one of North America’s largest transportation companies.
