How Truckers Against Trafficking is Making a Difference

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Truckers Against Trafficking

What is Truckers Against Trafficking?

Founded in 2009, Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) has quickly become a powerful force in the fight against human trafficking. Collaborating with trucking industry associations, motor carriers, government transportation agencies, law enforcement agencies such as the FBI, and even truck stops and travel plazas, TAT has trained over 730,351 drivers and personnel to identify and report instances of human trafficking. Their efforts have resulted in over 2,250 calls to the national trafficking hotline by truck drivers alone, leading to the identification of 612 human trafficking cases and the rescue of 1,133 victims.

Truckers Against Trafficking knows that trucking and busing professionals play a critical role in the fight against human trafficking. As the guardians of our nation’s highways, you possess a unique vantage point to root out traffickers who exploit our transportation infrastructure for their own selfish purposes. By partnering with TAT, you become an invaluable asset in the fight against this atrocity.

Truckers Against Trafficking has spread its wings and taught members of state trucking associations to be vigilant in identifying and reporting cases of human trafficking. Today, all 50 state associations have received training—up from just eight a few years ago. This powerful network of truckers, bus lines, and major airlines provides a watchful eye, ensuring that human traffickers have nowhere to hide. In addition, some bus lines and airlines now offer travel vouchers to survivors of human trafficking to ensure their safe return home. This growing network of eyes and ears makes our roads safer for everyone.

Truckers Against Trafficking has formed partnerships with numerous companies in the transportation industry to raise awareness about the signs of human trafficking. Bridgestone, for example, is a proud partner of TAT and has integrated anti-trafficking training into regular driver safety meetings. The salesforce has also been educated on what to look out for when on the road. By working together, these companies and TAT are making a tangible difference in the fight against this heinous crime.

There is a Hotline For Reporting Human Trafficking

Before the establishment of Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT), truckers only reported sporadic tips about human trafficking. However, with TAT’s efforts, there has been a significant increase in calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline at (888) 373-7888, with the option to also text 233733. In 2017, TAT reported that nearly half of the cases generated by truckers’ calls involved minors. TAT’s collaboration with the trucking industry and law enforcement agencies has made a tangible difference in the fight against human trafficking.

Available Resources for Education/Training about Human Trafficking

Truckers Against Trafficking offers free training materials such as a training DVD, wallet cards, and window decals to educate and train individuals and organizations on how to identify and report human trafficking. Show the training DVD to your staff and provide them with wallet cards to spread awareness. You can also give the wallet cards and training DVD to carriers when they come to your office. Once you have trained your staff, you can register as an officially trained organization/department with Truckers Against Trafficking and become an invaluable asset in the fight against human trafficking. Contact truckers@gmail.com to receive your free training materials today. 

Other Ways to Help

Stay vigilant for any suspicious activity and report any potential instances of trafficking. Keep an eye out for young girls or boys loitering around truck stops or entering and exiting trucks. Be attentive to the conversation on the CB radio, and be on the lookout for code words such as “lot lizard” or “Commercial Company,” or any cryptic descriptions of a child, rates, or sex acts. It’s crucial to report any indicators of trafficking, no matter how seemingly insignificant they may appear, to the tip lines. Educate yourself about the issue by ordering Renting Lacy: A Story of America’s Prostituted Children, a gripping account that exposes the dark underworld of the trafficking industry through the stories of those who live there. Available in paperback, e-book, and audio book formats, so you can listen on the road.

Of course, there’s still more work to do. Companies in every industry can join the fight. Police departments don’t have the resources or manpower to end human trafficking on their own. And they shouldn’t have to. We all use our nation’s roadways. Whether we’re individuals, small businesses or large corporations, we have a responsibility to educate ourselves about this national epidemic—and do our part to help end it!

Sources:

“How Truckers Can Stop Human Trafficking”, American Trucker, Nov.1, 2017.

“More States Signing on to Enlist Truckers Against Human Trafficking”, Trucking Truth, June 24, 2019.

Trucking Truth with April Smith from Lansing Building Products

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Lansing building productsApril Smith is the Recruiting Manager with Drive My Way client, Lansing Building Products. During her 7 plus years with Lansing, April and her team have helped the company grow their fleet while increasing retention rates. We were able to speak with April and fellow Lansing recruiter, Kelsie Rudd about the biggest changes they’ve seen during their time recruiting, how Lansing uses driver feedback to inform their decisions, and how they’re able to screen for drivers who will be a cultural fit for Lansing.

How are you able to properly screen candidates so that you only hire drivers who will fit Lansing’s culture?

We ask some specific questions during the interview process to see how the driver will align with our culture. For example, we ask, “What does respect, service, and excellence mean to you?” This question comes directly from our mission statement.

We also have noticed that drivers sometimes tend to get boxed in by recruiters as simply drivers, and we assume that’s all they’ll want to do for the rest of their career.

During the interview process, we always talk to the drivers about where they see themselves down the road and what their long-term career goals are. We ask these kinds of questions because Lansing offers a number of opportunities for advancement, and we love to bring drivers in who will take advantage of them.

What are some of the things that Lansing does to promote driver retention?

There are a couple different things we do to promote retention. One is the safety program that we’ve implemented. If a driver doesn’t get in an accident for an entire year, their name goes into an end of the year raffle, with the winner getting a free YETI cooler.

Aside from that, we participate yearly in the Great Place to Work survey. Once we collect the data from the survey, we don’t just sit on it. It gives us some really great insights into how our drivers feel about working for us and what we could be doing better for them.

We’ve actually started a few different programs directly because of the data we’ve gotten from the Great Place to Work survey. One is our CDL Reimbursement Program. Through this program, we financially assist any current Lansing employee who wants to either get their CDL A or upgrade their CDL B to an A. It’s just one of the ways we want to show our drivers that we’re committed to their professional growth.

What’s been the biggest change in the driver recruiting space since your first started?

I think what’s changed the most has been the technology we use. There’s much more automation involved in the hiring process now than ever before. It all starts with our Applicant Tracking System (ATS), then from there, we figure out who the partners are that will work within that ATS to help us fill our hiring needs.

That’s how Drive My Way became one of our most valuable partners. We were able to easily integrate their platform with our ATS of choice, Lever. Because of this, we were able to get more quality applicants for our jobs faster.

April and Kelsie finished with these thoughts,

As a recruiting team, it’s important to not only fill the jobs, but to make sure we’re communicating with all the other teams and individuals involved in the hiring process as well. Having a high level of communication with candidates, hiring managers, and our vendors every step of the way has increased our ability to be more productive and to have the right people on our teams.

Lansing Building Products Partners with Drive My Way for Success

Lansing Building Products partnered with Drive My Way to hire CDL A and B straight truck drivers for a number of locations nationwide. See the results below.

View the Case Study