Trucks line up to have containers loaded from a stack at the Norfolk International Terminal Wednesday Dec 1, 2021, in Norfolk, Va. Walmart workers who once unloaded trucks now have a chance to drive them. The nation’s largest retailer has launched a training program for employees who work in its distribution or fulfillment centers. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
By Anne D'Innocenzio
Walmart workers who once unloaded trucks now have a chance to drive them.
The nation's largest retailer has launched a training program that gives employees who work in its distribution or fulfillment centers a chance to become certified Walmart truck drivers through a 12-week program taught by the company's established drivers.
Walmart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, also said it is raising pay for its 12,000 truck drivers. The starting range for new drivers will now between $95,000 and $110,000, according to Walmart spokeswoman Anne Hatfield. The retailer said that $87,500 had been the average that new truck drivers could make in their first year.
The moves announced Thursday come as the pandemic has made trucker shortages more severe as demand to move freight reaches historic highs. The American Trucking Associations, a large industry trade group, estimates that the nation is short about 80,000 drivers.
Walmart said about 20 workers in Dallas and Dover, Delaware, have earned their commercial driver’s licenses. About 400 to 800 workers in the company's supply-chain network are expected to complete the truck-driving program this year, Hatfield said.
Almost four dozen Venezuelan workers who had temporary protected status have been put on leave by Disney after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to strip them of legal protections.
The Republican-controlled Federal Trade Commission is abandoning a Biden-era effort to block Microsoft’s purchase of “Call of Duty” video game maker Activision Blizzard.
The Justice Department has reached a deal with Boeing that will allow the company to avoid criminal prosecution for allegedly misleading U.S. regulators about the 737 Max jetliner before two of the planes crashed and killed 346 people.
After a bumpy ride, the ride-hailing app is back in the good graces of investors. Plus: OpenAI, Google, Apple, Target, Moody's, Paramount, and Golden Dome.
Smoke that filled the cabin of a Delta flight as it took off from the Atlanta airport in February was so thick the led flight attendant had trouble seeing past the first row of passengers and the pilots donned oxygen masks as a precaution.
Arjan Stephens, President of Nature's Path, discusses the company's origin, how it has evolved today and the interesting product that came from his wedding!
