Driver Shortage?

BlueNosedBstd,

The rules they come up with are pulled out of the sky. "free will" is called being a right to work employee. If you don't have some type of contract (agreement) with your employer, you can be let go at any time. I right to work employee is just that. It means that you can be terminated with or without cause. In a nutshell, it means you can be fired if your supervisor has a bad day and takes it out on you.

Do yourself and your family a huge favor and find a Union job or one that binds the employer to a written agreement. If you don't, you will become just another number in the grand scheme of trucking.

Drive safe

 

Go union. That's about the only secure path. But one should only go union if he is a genuine hard worker. Those who wish to mooch off unions need not apply. I'm sure the moochers are the reason why getting into unions is tough today. In many union driving jobs, one must also first prove his mettle. He must pay his dues in the form of working on a dock for a year or so. I'm all for this approach, as it weeds out the loser leeches.

 

Well I guess that leaves fellas like me out. I do not work docks period. Nor do I handle freight. I drive. Thats what I trained to do back in 1991.
Get some flunkie to handle the freight. Don't ask me to do it after spending thousands of dollars for training and over 2 million miles under my belt thus far to waste my time on a dock.

I do not slip seat either. When I drive for someone the truck I am assigned belongs to me as far as I am concerned. Where I go, it goes. None of this BS parking it at a terminal for some other driver to use it or steal my stuff either.

If union shops ever figure this out and 1 start assigning trucks to drivers. and 2 Stop asking drivers to lump freight, they would have a huge pool of veterans offering their services yours truly included.

The pay is decent as is the benefits but guys with more than a million miles under their belts expect to be treated with the respect that is their due. Low man on the totem pole just aint going to cut it for guys like me.

 

BRAVO ! someone makes sense.

 

and yet, many companies require 2-3 years experence.most compinies that would dump you after 2-3 years arnt worth working for and the word gets around.

 

Unfortunately, a lot of people who would join unions if it were "easy" to do so would take advantage and try to use the union in some abusive way. Such is the way of the world. I'm sure you've heard tales of what was going on in the late 70s at GM...vast herds of auto workers could be seen in the factories just milling about doing nothing. And then there were the firemen on the steam-powered trains back before diesels. Those fireman were able to stay on the trains even after most locomotives were replaced with diesels and there was no longer a need for them. The moocher type must be kept out of a union if its long-term health is to be preserved. The far majority of these leeches will have an aversion to doing manual labor, such as dock work, so requiring new union guys to do this type of work for a while at first is a good way to keep it clean.

 

Me to. I would move to CA.

Thanks

 

Me also please

 

We all get taken care of very well. Senior drivers get a lot of the gravy runs. That doesn't bother me though, the have earned that right. I will be there one day myself. If you look at this industry, it appears that the drivers who make less than the seniors get longer runs because they are paid less per mile. At least that is what I have read from some on here. I don't agree with it but it makes good business sence if you are in management.

Drive safe

 

I have been saying this for about a year now...

"If there's a driver shortage, why is there a frieght shortage?"
"You can't have both!"

Fact: The wages are dismally low for what we do.
Fact: Time away from home takes an extreme toll on the family
Fact: The big companies don't care

The big companies don't care because (and they make sure you are aware of this as soon as you have a CDL, and sign on) they have plenty more people coming out of the schools this week to replace you.

"Driver Shortage" is a term which is used by recruiters to make it sound like a great career option to potential slavoyees. Let me ask this..

If you got a job in an office, and they forced you to be at the office except a select few weekends, how much would you expect to be paid for that position? If someone who travels by plane, for office work, makes 5 times what I make, then there is no shortage. A shortage would mean better pay, and NOBODY would be complaining about rates. There's NEVER been a shortage of drivers.