CHICAGO — You could be whistling “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” all the way to bank if you hire out with a Class I railroad that’s having a hard time finding new employees. As the job market tightens and rail traff...
http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2018/07/06-western-canadian-railroads-paying-serious-money-for-train-crews-and-mechanics
Brian Schmidt, Editor, Classic Trains magazine
Old news. I guess they only read their forums when they want to censure someone.
cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/269852.aspx
Jeff
Hmmmm....
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Are limited transfers being offered from other divisions that have less of a shortage and could fill those shortages with just a few new hires ?
blue streak 1 Are limited transfers being offered from other divisions that have less of a shortage and could fill those shortages with just a few new hires ?
It's my understanding that BNSF on the former BN side has system seniority for trainmen. But that you can take furlough in your "home" district instead of exercising seniority in or being forced to another working district. Someone with BNSF experience needs to chime in on how that works.
UP sometimes offer temporary transfers. If you don't return to your home district within 6 months (our contract provision) you establish a permanent seniority date on the one you temporarily work, but lose your seniority at home. People can sometimes transfer permanently (or trade seniority) within some areas, but not others. Generally, the divide is by the former railroads UP has assimilated.
Besides, most areas are short and don't have many people to spare right now. Yet the furloughs (I've heard sometime in September) are coming, and they still have openings for trainmen positions listed.
Jeff it is not ever very simple. Too bad that there is not a system seniority system with ability to move to other locations with vacancies.
blue streak 1 Jeff it is not ever very simple. Too bad that there is not a system seniority system with ability to move to other locations with vacancies.
blue streak 1Jeff it is not ever very simple. Too bad that there is not a system seniority system with ability to move to other locations with vacancies.
The creation of System Seniority sometimes has unexpected consequences to those that pushed for its creation. Every rule has consequences - some are expected and some are a revalation that those involved had never anticipated.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
For a time CN was offering a $10,000 incentive to hire on for those who were already CROR-qualified, but they didn't publicize it much and it may have been dropped by now.
They are still offering incentives, including a lump sum relocation payment of up to $20,000 and additional lump sums of 7%, 10%, and 20% of your earnings in your first, second, and third years working in the new location. All of this is over and above your regular earnings.
But this is only available for certain locations, you have to be from Vancouver, Kamloops, Winnipeg, or Sioux Lookout (it's in northern Ontario), and relocate to Melville, North Battleford, Smithers, Chetwynd (both northern BC), McLennan, or High Level (both northern Alberta).
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
BaltACD blue streak 1 Jeff it is not ever very simple. Too bad that there is not a system seniority system with ability to move to other locations with vacancies. The creation of System Seniority sometimes has unexpected consequences to those that pushed for its creation. Every rule has consequences - some are expected and some are a revalation that those involved had never anticipated.
CN is now one seniority district across western Canada, west of Thunder Bay and Armstrong, ON that is. There used to be multiple seniority districts, roughly along Provincial boundaries, and the merging happened decades ago.
I have no idea how the original merger of Grand Trunk and Canadian Northern was handled.
More recently when another railway is acquired the employees from that system are all given a CN seniority date of the day the merger takes place, in the order of their own seniority, but they retain preferential bidding rights on their former company's lines. This has been the case when Northern Alberta, BC Rail, and Kelowna Pacific were taken over.
It has been nearly 40 years since the NAR was taken over, but there are still a few ex-NAR employees working. In Edmonton the two terminals were merged, with a separate "NAR pool" for their runs north and one protected full-crew yard assignment, which is now the only yard job left in Edmonton with an Engineer, all the others are beltpak.
In the case of BC Rail the terminals have not been merged yet in Prince George and Vancouver, and transferring between the CN and BCR sides works just like transferring between any other two terminals.
SD70Dude BaltACD blue streak 1 Jeff it is not ever very simple. Too bad that there is not a system seniority system with ability to move to other locations with vacancies. The creation of System Seniority sometimes has unexpected consequences to those that pushed for its creation. Every rule has consequences - some are expected and some are a revalation that those involved had never anticipated. CN is now one seniority district across western Canada, west of Thunder Bay and Armstrong, ON that is. There used to be multiple seniority districts, roughly along Provincial boundaries, and the merging happened decades ago. I have no idea how the original merger of Grand Trunk and Canadian Northern was handled. More recently when another railway is acquired the employees from that system are all given a CN seniority date of the day the merger takes place, in the order of their own seniority, but they retain preferential bidding rights on their former company's lines. This has been the case when Northern Alberta, BC Rail, and Kelowna Pacific were taken over. It has been nearly 40 years since the NAR was taken over, but there are still a few ex-NAR employees working. In Edmonton the two terminals were merged, with a separate "NAR pool" for their runs north and one protected full-crew yard assignment, which is now the only yard job left in Edmonton with an Engineer, all the others are beltpak. In the case of BC Rail the terminals have not been merged yet in Prince George and Vancouver, and transferring between the CN and BCR sides works just like transferring between any other two terminals.
There are as many variations on how seniority rosters get combined as there are people who have ideas on what is a equitable solution to the problems. Very rarely are two alike.
BaltACD SD70Dude BaltACD blue streak 1 Jeff it is not ever very simple. Too bad that there is not a system seniority system with ability to move to other locations with vacancies. The creation of System Seniority sometimes has unexpected consequences to those that pushed for its creation. Every rule has consequences - some are expected and some are a revalation that those involved had never anticipated. CN is now one seniority district across western Canada, west of Thunder Bay and Armstrong, ON that is. There used to be multiple seniority districts, roughly along Provincial boundaries, and the merging happened decades ago. I have no idea how the original merger of Grand Trunk and Canadian Northern was handled. More recently when another railway is acquired the employees from that system are all given a CN seniority date of the day the merger takes place, in the order of their own seniority, but they retain preferential bidding rights on their former company's lines. This has been the case when Northern Alberta, BC Rail, and Kelowna Pacific were taken over. It has been nearly 40 years since the NAR was taken over, but there are still a few ex-NAR employees working. In Edmonton the two terminals were merged, with a separate "NAR pool" for their runs north and one protected full-crew yard assignment, which is now the only yard job left in Edmonton with an Engineer, all the others are beltpak. In the case of BC Rail the terminals have not been merged yet in Prince George and Vancouver, and transferring between the CN and BCR sides works just like transferring between any other two terminals. There are as many variations on how seniority rosters get combined as there are people who have ideas on what is a equitable solution to the problems. Very rarely are two alike.
And no matter what is done someone will always feel they got burned and complain!
Can't satisfy everyone. It is easy to understand why so many things never change.
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