What would change?

absolutely nothing. We have enough out of work people who are desperate and will work for next to nothing.

 

To my way of thinking, trucking is somewhere between skilled and unskilled. But anytime you can pull a kid off the street and "train" him/her for 4 weeks and make "truckers" out of them, you have to question the level of "skill" that would be required to assume the title "truck driver". Having said that, there are two types of truck drivers ... very experienced truck drivers and wannabe truck drivers, with only a handful in the first category. So, to answer your question ... "Nothing would change"

 

If it was considered 'skilled labor' we would be able to demand more $$$. Not to mention, respect.

All other 'professions' are considered 'skilled' labor.
As far as I know, you have to be skilled in something to be considered a professional in that occupation.

Yet, while truck drivers are deemed 'professional drivers', we are the only occupation that has none of the benefits of the 'professional' class of workers - yet we do fully share in the responsibility of that worker class.


The problem is this, as I see it...

We need to have a dual distinction - that of being both professional and un-skilled - in order to keep the economy running.

If we were 'skilled' labor, we could make more money. A lot more.
But that would hurt the economy because it would increase the price of everything we haul - which is everything anyone uses.

If we were not considered 'professionals', we could not be held responsible for all the things we can not control that are due to someone else's shortcomings.
It would be a 'no-fault' situation at best.
But, someone has to get the blame - just so the insurance companies can know who to pay, or not.
So it falls to the person that last had posession of the goods - the driver.
Or the one that is the 'professional', and should have seen it coming - the driver.
Or the one that should have planned the trip better - the driver.

We all know that, as a 'professional' driver, we should have anticipated that 4-wheelie cutting in front of us in rush hour traffic and then slamming on the brakes. Because we can see every vehicle from every direction from every angle at all times, and we know what they will do 3 steps in advance.

We all know that, as a 'professional' driver, we know that every load is secure - even the pre-loaded and sealed ones.

And that we can get to a scale before running into a weigh station, even if we have to go tens of miles in the opposite direction to do so - and thus getting a service failure because we, as professional drivers, failed to check our maps and adjust our time accordingly (before accepting the load that we were not given enough time to plan for) and were late by 2 minutes to our delivery.


We are the backbone of civilized society, so I guess it falls on our shoulders to also be the fall guy (or gal, as the case may be).


Don't you just love it?
The lifestyle, the job, the responsibility, the respect.

 

To do it ....................you gotta love it...........................well said Moosetek13....well said.

 

Truckers are no more the backbone of America then the guy who shovels crap at a dairy or drives the the combine in the fields or harvests the lettuce. What makes a job a "profession" is training and education and trucking requires very little or none of either. If you think an LPN or civil engineer is going to be happy that any moron can go to school for 4 weeks and earn as much as they can, you're sorely mistaken. Hell, a carpenters helper has people relying on and in debt to him for many decades once he's finished a construction job, so maybe they should start at $80k/yr in the midwest. I think the idea of this thread and some responses are misguided and some are misdirecting their energy. If you want to be thought of as "professional", go get a degree or learn a skill that is truly in demand and in limited supply, sit through a dozen interviews, buy the right clothes, attend the right conferences, kiss the right butts, make the right sacrifices, and live in the right places and you too can lay claim to the title "professional something or other".

 

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/skilled-labor-vs-unskilled-labor-46154.html

Yeah, even a trained monkey can be taught to drive a truck. Trip planning and all is being taken away from the truck and given to driver/fleet managers who think they can plan your day better for you than you can. To a point, they can when planning fuel stops and such for a large company. Imagine if 500 trucks just stop where they feel like to get fuel and it's always 5-8 cents per gallon more expensive. At 125 gallons per day per truck, that's $3100 PER day they can save a company. An easy $1.1 million annually to justify his salary.


We are put into the same category as a ditch digger for a reason. It takes minimal training for a person to get out and do this job. If you look at the definitions above, the difference is the length of training. Unskilled, most anyone can do it with minimal training. Skilled, takes at least 12-24 months training. Professional has state or federal level certifications for public safety reasons. And I am not talking a CDL either. CPA, Bar association, Medical board types.

Owner/operators are NOT a part of that category. It's a different breed where it's primarily business owner first, driver secondary. And being a business owner is pretty much a skilled job.

If you want to feel like it's unskilled work, then let people treat you like that. If you want to be treated like you are skilled, then act it. But good luck changing the DOL classification.

 

Notice, I didn't say that we were either skilled labor or professionals.

I did say that we are considered both by groups that benefit by calling us that.

We have all the responsibility of being skilled and professional, but none of the gravy.



And comparing training time is not really fair.
Yes, we only get ~4 weeks in CDL school, but the actual training period extends far beyond that time frame.

 

WE, as an insdustry, are considered anything BUT professional. Professional infers a specific certification process to complete are job that carries major risks and liabilities to our clients/customers. IE, Doctors, Lawyers, CPA, Engineers.

I know of several "professional" certifications, Project Management, Six Sigma Black Belt, Networking certifications, and even THOSE do not qualify to be classified as "professional" jobs.

At best, truckers will be seen as "semi-skilled". Most semi-skilled jobs have an on-the-job learning curve. Land survey Techs, process engineering tech, manufacturing engineering tech, carpenters, brick layers just to name a few. I was a process Engineer "Tech" for 3 years. The only difference between me and an engineer? I had 5 semesters of accounting, he had 5 semesters of science/math. Otherwise, ALL our classes matched. BOTH had a 4 year degree too.

Being a trucker driver is anything but skilled. It's another blue collar job that most people COULD do if the just used a little common sense. The "job skills" you need are a good depth perception and spatial recognition. Learning to operate the equipment is no harder than trying to operate a stamping press, injection molding machine or running a pay loader. They all have different skill sets, but they aren't rocket science.

 

Even though truck driving is considered "general labor", you still need to be licensed (CDL) to do it.

What other "general labor" jobs require a special license?