About

About Us

In late 2003, the Teamsters Local 251 Driving School became a reality and today has become Southern New England’s premier CDL-A tractor trailer driving school located at 121 Brightridge Ave. in East Providence RI. We train students on a newer fleet of nine tractors and trailers. By enrolling in our school you will also join North America’s most recognizable labor union, the Teamsters. The Teamsters are known as the champion of freight drivers and warehouse workers, but have organized workers in virtually every occupation imaginable, both professional and non-professional, private sector and public sector. Our 1.2 million members are public defenders in Minnesota; vegetable workers in California; sanitation workers in New York; brewers in St. Louis; newspaper workers in Seattle; construction workers in Las Vegas; zoo keepers in Pennsylvania; healthcare workers in Rhode Island; bakery workers in Maine; airline pilots, secretaries and police officers. Name the occupation and chances are we represent those workers somewhere.”*

Some local companies represented by the Teamsters that utilize CDL drivers are, ABF, T-Force Freight, UPS, Frito Lay, Mondelez, Woods Heating, Petro, Centrex, Cooley, Cardi Construction, McLaughlin and Moran (Budweiser), and there are others. Employers in the transportation industry are looking for qualified drivers now. The American Trucking Association (ATA) did a driver analysis in 2019 with an expected shortage of 60,800 drivers and if the current trend holds it is very possible that this figure could rise by 160,000 by 2028. This report can be read and downloaded by clicking HERE.

Statistics show job seekers that are fortunate enough to be hired with a CDL-A earn a median wage of $48,310 or $23.22 an hour with 88% maintaining paid benefits. This is $12,189 higher than the per capita income in Rhode Island. (2) It should be noted that while these figures are based off of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and RI Labor Market Information, many of the salaries of participants that have completed our program far exceed these with hourly wages in excess of 25.00/hr and salaries in the range of $60,000 to $80,000 and in some cases higher.

For these very reasons, we strongly encourage every student to test for and obtain as many of their states CDL-A endorsements which includes tankers, doubles and triples and the Hazardous Materials (HAZMAT) endorsement. The Hazmat endorsement can be obtained upon completion of the course and receiving your CDL license. Information on this endorsement and the TSA background check can be found by going to our resources page or clicking HERE.

By attending our school, you will have a hands on approach to driving a commercial motor vehicle with instruction provided by some of the best industry professionals. Each instructor has over one million miles of safe, accident free driving. During the eight week training course you will receive top notch instruction on a commercial tractor trailer so you will be prepared to take and pass your state’s required road test. This includes the new Entry Level Driver Theory, complete walk around pre-trip vehicle inspection, testing of the air brakes and the maneuvers that you will need to perform on the day of your test. Driving a tractor trailer can be a very rewarding career. If this is something that you have thought about in the past but just haven’t been completely sure where to begin call the driving school for more information or stop by one of our bi-weekly open houses for the most honest and straight forward information before making that life changing decision. The schedule for the open house can be found on our Contact Us! page.

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