I'm not so attached to my job that I fear being fired. Prior to driving a truck I had a number of different jobs. When the work dried up, I moved on.
We're truck drivers. Almost anyone here could pick up the phone and have another job if the need arises. My job at FedEx was completely different from my job at Day & Ross, but it's not impossible to adjust to new conditions.
And frankly, I don't hear a lot of non-union drivers complaining that they got fired because the terminal manager hated them. They're all growing and can ill afford to lose hard to replace drivers because an easily replaced manager or supervisor gets his undies in a wad if he's having a bad day.
They might wish they could replace us, but right now the carriers need us a LOT more than we need them.
Whether anyone is attached to their job or not is irrelevant... What really does matter is if you have gained some seniority, have a decent start time and run, and are working everyday. I have noticed a big difference in attitude having worked nonunion and union. On the union side, it feels like we are given more leeway to do our jobs with a lot shorter leash. We don't have an inbound supervisor at our terminal. We the drivers do the routing and break freight. We are not being hounded all of the time, therefore, there are less opportunities for dumb arguments and worrying about trying to get a stubborn manager or supervisor to understand what you are trying to say.
Even though there is supposedly a driver shortage and one could get fired or laid off and go somewhere else, why would anyone want to have to worry about that constantly. I worry about being laid off from time to time, but that hasn't deterred me from wanting to leave a good union job for anything else. I do not worry about being fired for something stupid or getting into a pissing match with a sup because it just won't happen at a Teamster LTL barn. Now, does that mean I take advantage of this and go around acting like I am invincible? Absolutely not. Union or not, you should be acting responsibly and doing your job to the best of your ability everyday.
I have read in some other nonunion company threads about what drivers dislike. Among that stuff is not knowing what run you will have from day to day, wondering if they will get 8 hours a day, dealing with a jerk off sup, favoritism, lack of uniform work rules and adherence to those rules, just to name a few. Under our union contract, those issues are all individually addressed and there is a grievance procedure in place should any of these be violated. Nonunions don't have this. You have to just deal with, no recourse on your part. I'm not sure why a lot of nonunion drivers are against Teamsters representation but I would love to entertain the argument. In my opinion there is more to gain than lose. Who out there would not want to come to work everyday and know what they are doing or have a choice in runs, what they are driving, know that they are guaranteed 8 hours, know that seniority means something and is respected, and know that violations of the contract can lead to grievances and potential monetary payment by the company for every stupid rule management breaks in the contract?
Some guys have posted that senior guys take days off so that junior guys can work. We do that too. They are called company convenience days. Any driver can take one if management offers one, and it goes by seniority. You take the day with no loss of vacation, sick or other PTO days used. If it is busy enough, a lower driver on the seniority list will be called in. If a driver wants to use a sick day, we just tell them the day before so they can plan ahead. There is no bull crap argument, no retaliation, no written warning letter waiting for us the next day, no punishment of being taken off your run or given a ty tractor to drive.
Our jobs are what we make of them. I personally would rather be better compensated, respected, and know that I have a grievance process in place should I ever need to go down that road. I also like having a business agent that I can call whenever I need to if I have questions or just want to shoot the crap. We have a very good business agent at our Local who was once a driver and he has not forgotten his roots.