UnPac: HELP WANTED.

[jeffhergert]

A few years ago, we had rest days on the UP, at least on the former CNW lines, for the extra boards. We worked 11 days on, then 3 days off. If you desired you could be put on a DEW list. That was "desires emergency work." If the extra board was used up, they would call people on the dew list. This was a trial agreement between the unions and the company. It preserved our guarantee. It also provided for automatic 8hrs undesturbed rest for all pools and extra boards. You could only request 10hrs UR if you worked over 8hrs. If you died on the hours, automatic 10UR.
The carrier cancelled the agreement. Said they paid too much guarantee. At my home terminal, for the 11 days we worked on our rest. We still made over guarantee (my best half pay period up to then was working with rest days) usually more. There were some terminals that you could work all 11 days and not make guarantee because of the nature of the jobs (basic day yard jobs vs mainline high miliage jobs).
I liked the rest days and most of my co-workers did too. You knew had an idea when you were going to be off. The days off varied, sometime over a weekend, sometimes not.
Right now we can lay off when we want. Except they don't want you laying off on weekends. Lay off too much on weekends and they will bring you up for investigation of absenteeism. We had a conductor sign for level 2 discipline for pattern lay offs on weekends. Over a 90 day period he had a 95% availability (available for work 95 % of those 90 days). His layoffs were too close to weekends or holidays. The UP counts Friday and Monday as part of the weekend. They used to count Thursday, but have backed off that.
Jeff (marked up and available today, Sunday 5/16)

[Anonymous]

As long as there are people out there willing to work the shifts that currently exist, then there will not be a need to RRs to change their ways.

At present many Railroaders who are unhappy about the working schedule at the bigger railroads end up at shortlines where they may end up making the same if not maybe a little less money, but have more favourable working schedules.

As far as I'm concerned working on the railroad is a physically demanding occupation, and the running trades emplyoees are well aware of this before they are hired on, that's part of the job and you're welcome to go and work somewhere else.

Like I said before, as long as there are people out there willing to work the hours, there won't be a need for the RRs to change them around.

[wabash1]

we have a 10 hours off at home railroad cant call for 10 hours after that they can but at home we get anywhere from 14-18 hours off til called. at away from home terminal its 8 hrs of rest called in 6 1/2 jrs to be on duty in 8hrs. the feds are trying to implement a after 7days working 2 days off rule that us workers are saying no to. bottom line is some railroaders dont want to work while others get greedy. the greedy ones are dependant on by the carrier and then when the greedy ones want off its almost impossible. and at that point is when the name calling starts. I would love more time off at home between runs and want to take off when i want not the goverments way. but its like this anyone who makes 80k or more a year puts in lots of hours its the nature of the beast. I would love to see manditory rest periods givin for weekends so people could have a meaningful life while slaving for the railroad. but there is no possible way to do it fairly.

[cabforward]

**the trains newswire recently posted a story about up's desperation to put more crews on more runs to clear up congestion in its western operations, esp. in cal..

worse, many shippers that have a critical reliance on up's system convened at a cal. hotel to hear up's exec's excuses for not meeting expectations in car availability, scheduling, etc..

i have no experience in r.r.-ing, so i am totally ignorant when i ask, "why are r.rs. reluctant to consider 'employee-friendly' policies in extra-board scheduling?"

would it cost more to implement an easier schedule for crew members to live with? probably, but it would cost even more than that for up to lose its standing among customers, stockholders, industrial analysts.. and when status has fallen,it's nearly impossible to bring it back..

any class 1 r.r. could attract all the candidates it needs by establishing a new extra-board system.. it will be costly.. so what? it beats bankruptcy..

a company that wants the best has to attract the best by proving it cares for its employees.. r.rs. have to prove their concern for crew members' welfare by setting up an extra-board system that attracts qualified candidates for enginer, conductor, switchman, etc.. r.rs. have to retain the best employees by supporting a better system for calling-out crew members on short notice and sending them home with an expectation of a reasonable period of recovery before being called out again..

too much work in too little time stresses the strongest worker.. advertisements for r.r. crew members posted on state job service websites emphasize the need for crew members to get as much rest as possible while waiting for another call-out (whatever the term is, i don't know).. people have needs other than sleep; they have families and great responsibilities dealing with their families and other aspects of living..

i say every crew member working a full shift, or the maximum allowed by law, should have 12 hours between calls, absolutely.. i figure 90 min. (or whatever it is where you work), before being called plus 30 min. to return home after work.. this is 2 hours for preparing to go to work and return home.. that leaves 10 hours for sleep, house chores, etc..

this is certainly better than the current 8 hour minus a 90 min. notice to go to work and 30 min to return home.. this leaves only 6 hours for sleep and other things..

of course a 12-hour break will be more expensive than an 8-hour break.. but look at the benefits.. greater numbers of qualified candidates will apply for r.r. positions; better relations between crews and r.r. mgmt.; crews will accept their job conditions more easily (frequency of call-ups & trips away from home); less stressed-out workers reporting for work.. less stress on crew members means people having better attitudes at work and at home.. less-stressed workers mean workers remaining on-the-job longer; it means less turnover due to resignations and terminations; it means fewer workers calling in "sick" due to stress or issues on-the-job..

it may be that in most sections of the u.s., r.r. crews are not as dissatisfied as i suggest.. o.k., but what about r.rs. that are not as generous with their crew members? why is up so hard-up to get people to work for them and stay with them? maybe it's nothing to do with the "extra=board".. maybe it's something else entirely.. but, changing the aggressive nature of the extra-board system has to be a strong bet to change new hires' attitudes about working for the r.r. and mending fences with veterans who endured the severity of a system that has surely lived long past its need to exist..

r.rs. that use the extra-board practices i describe should exercise some foresight and vision.. how can a company advance in the marketpace of capitalism with such a system that allows so little time for recovery and personal affairs?

there is a sign that was written as a joke, "the beatings will continue until morale improves".. in r.r.-ing, it's more truth than humor..

some will say, "okay, if you cant take the heat, get out of the kitchen.." good point.. and what of those 100 people who are qualified as cooks, but only 2-3 remain? are you so ready to say you're better off that those 98 quit, because they couldn't take the heat? what about spending a couple hundred bucks to ventilate the heat to the rooftop and put in a fan to draw the heat away from the cooking area? are new ideas to be discarded merely because they haven't been tried before?

is a 12-hour shift unthinkable because you didn't have it or because your r.r. never used it? loco cabs now have amenities never considered 20 years ago: air conditioning, microwave ovens, iceboxes, toilets, cab structures engineered for less noise and vibration to impact the cab crew..

now, i'm suggesting a 12-hour break for all crews, period: a federal law, a union rule, what ever works and is easiest to implement.. this is no less important of an improvement for r.rs. than the westinghouse brake or m.u. control or the beginning of the r.r. pension from the 40s..

BOTTOM LINE: will the r.rs. support such an idea? no.. why? because if the unions supported it, it would have happened by now.. the unions haven't and the r.rs. won't.. and they have lobbyists to make d*** sure no such a crazy idea ever gets beyond the talking stage..

but, i could be wrong!