In The News

Company to reevaluate restroom policy

After OOIDA Member Erwin Page was asked to leave a food packaging facility after inquiring about the company’s “no restroom policy” for drivers, he admits that he wasn’t sure whether he ever would be allowed back there.

However, a few days after the incident , Page received a call inviting him back to the St. Joseph, MO, facility to meet with representatives from Ring Container Technologies, including David Hollis, vice president of purchasing and transportation.

Page said the meeting, which was Oct. 8, “went well.”

“It was an awesome meeting,” Page told Land Line . “I really felt like everyone was sincere and wanted to know how they could fix the problem.”

Page said his answer to the problem was simple: Drivers just need access to bathrooms at their facilities.

Page said that Hollis told him at the meeting that drivers will now have access to bathroom facilities at all of their sites.

“He (David Hollis) said to give them 30 days to get the word out to all of their locations, but that they were going to allow us inside if we ask to use the bathroom,” Page said.

Page of Owen, WI, arrived around 4 a.m. on Sept. 16 at Ring’s facility and backed into the dock and went to bed for a few hours. Around 8:30 a.m., he went inside and asked to use the bathroom. While he eventually was allowed to use the bathroom, he was then asked to leave without his load.

Another driver, James Holt of Red Wing, MN, also attended Friday’s meeting. He, too, had questioned Ring’s policy that formerly didn’t allow drivers to use the bathroom facilities inside.

“The meeting was good and everybody seemed sincere,” Holt told Land Line . “I think this is going to be a step in the right direction for everybody.”

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