Cant help you with Republic, but I can tell you through experience, that "yes" a lot of times it is the mgmt. of a company that makes it bearable or unbearable to work for. I hope you find a company you like. I'm presently pursuing WM down here in south TX.
The BEST TO YOU
If they are like Republic here in Baltimore they will drive you nuts with safety orientations and meetings and videos. They preach safety till it comes to maintaining their trucks, than all of a sudden it's not as big an issue. I was told that they are much better to work for if you are at a smaller facility without a big shop. They keep the nicer trucks at the small places where they don't have mechanics. Where their large maintanence shops are is where they will keep and run their old tired trucks.