Thanks, Ed! I retired in July (and yes, I miss the place, but not the time spent there, if you know what I mean!).
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Carl:Did you retire while I was gone? I just read Jeff's post and he noted you were retired, then checked your signature.
If so, when was it??? and congradulations.
Ed
Thanks everyone for your replies. I will take all of your ideas and thoughts into consideration and talk to the wife ALOT more about it before I do anything. I would definetly like to stay (location wise) where I am. I knew railroads would move you if need be but I didn't know if you were hired out of city "A" if that is your "home" location and your chances are good to not having to move. I know someone stated on here that UP (I think) could involuntarily re-locate you to you "home" location during the first five years. This kinda made it sound like if you got hired out of a terminal that you wanted, then you wouldn't have to worry about being involuntarily moved (I know different railroad and all). Again, thanks for everyone's time and effort in explaining how all of this works.
When they say relocate, they may not mean from St Louis to Atlanta or Detroit. (They might, what do I know) When you hire out, you hire out on a seniority district. The place you hire out at, you may not be able to hold at first. I don't know how NS seniority districts are set up or if they have system seniority.
I can only use my district as an example. The district I'm on covers most of Iowa. Seniority permitting there are 8 home terminals, plus a few outlying jobs I could work. The distance between the outer most terminals is a couple of hundred miles. If you're the youngest (seniority wise) in your craft, you can be force assigned to vacancies. You have to stay until there becomes a younger person than you available.
I've been lucky. I've only been forced assigned a couple of times and then to a terminal that was within a reasonlable driving distance. I know people that have had to work the extra board away from their home for a few years, because they hired out at a place that needed relatively high seniority to hold. Generally a few of them from the class they were in and/or new RR friends rent a multi-room apartment and split the costs. If the board was full and not turning fast, they might go home.
We have some people that drive one to two hundred miles to hold a pool assignment. The reason they do this is that the pool pays enough and/or turns slow enough to make it worth while for the long drive. They watch the boards at home and when they start moving close to being first out, they start out for work. (I think half of the Clinton based long pool is from the central Iowa area, a drive of about two hundred miles one way.)
Generally speaking, they can't force you off your seniority district, (We don't have system seniority, if NS does in whole or in part, someone else will have to tell you how that works.) For us, if there is a shortage somewhere else, they advertise borrow out positions. For awhile, and there may still be a few, there were Iowa guys who had "borrowed out" to Illinois. (It was about the time Carl retired, that's why I said he got out at the right time, Iowa was invading!) Depending on agreements, borrowouts are supplied with lodging and a daily payment above what they actually make, to sweeten the pot. Many times the pot is sweet enought that borrowing out requires a few "whiskers," seniority that is.
So maybe you won't have to shuffle off to Buffalo. First you have to get an interview with someone. Then you can ask where you might end up working. After that you can decide if you (and your family) can make it work. First things first.
Good Luck,
Jeff
Alot of boomers on the CP and CN up here now.
Mechanical Department "No no that's fine shove that 20 pound set all around the yard... those shoes aren't hell and a half to change..."
The Missabe Road: Safety First
A lot depends on the local contract to boot.
On some roads at some locations, if you can not hold a job there, you can excersise your seniority at another location.
Some places, no jobs where you were hired out means being on furlough.
And them you have the "boomers" which are few and far between now days.
23 17 46 11
What Ed said about their having no use for people who are anchored to one location makes sense.
But in the two NS hiring fairs that i attended (for conductor) the guy leading the show was emphatic that if we got hired, that we would never have a "right" to be relocated elsewhere, or work in another division by our own choice.
The railroad is not going to "move" you...
The do their hiring in locations that the demographics tell them there is an abundance of qualified people.
Which is why, say, KCS ,has a hiring fair in Houston for jobs all over their system.
What they do is have hiring "fairs" and once enough qualified people are found, they will explain that there are X number of positions at terminal "A", and X number at "B", so forth and so on.
Terminal "A" may be in one of the Dakotas, "B" might be in Atlanta....and where you end up is all based on your seniority.
Basically, they will have a given number of vacancies system wide and will hire up to fill them.
Once they have enough warm bodies hired, they will draw you work number, or seniority number.
Based on the union contract, and your seniority, you will bid on the vacancy you want, and if you are the high or senior bidder, you go there and work.
Say you are hired, trained and then marked up as a active employee, you may find your seniority will only allow you to work at some forsaken post in the wilds for a few years, before you can hold a job closer to your preferred location.
So what the question is that they are asking is...
"If we hire you and spend all this money and time training you, and the only place on our railroad you can work is frozen 10 months out of the year, will you be willing to move there and work?
Because if you don't, you cant work for us and we wasted all our time and money training you"
You may/most likely will end up on a extra board or in pool service as opposed to a regular scheduled job with assigned days off, which means your on call 24/7.
Pool service may have you away from your home terminal for a week at a time, so...
If you marked on your application that you are not willing to relocate, they have no use for you, because the jobs, and who hold what position, is not completely up to the railroad, but is based on seniority.
Does the NS website say anything about what they're hiring, and where? I know that when I was looking at the employment section of the UP site, you could go into it by either the type of job (TE&Y, for example) or the location. That was a few years back...and I am glad that both my "recruitment phase" and my own need for a job are behind me.
If you are still intending to seek at Conductors position for NS, be mindful that the bulk of their operations are in areas other than St.Louis and Missouri and as a consequence their manpower needs may be in areas that are more to the core of their network which heaviest East of the Appalachian Mountains. I don't know NS procedures, however their competitor CSX will periodically put out advertisement to existing T&E personnel for voluntary temporary or permanent transfer to locations on the system that are experiencing manpower shortages.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Some pretty good advice from Dining Car and Ulrich. The Transportation industry is wide spread and the opportunities abound. It is just a case of analyzing the mode of transport you wish to be iin and be prepared to move into that area.
St Louis is a manufacturing area and consequently lots of rail activity (read employees based in the area) same for KC both in Kansas and Missouri. Chicago is on a couple of hours(more or less) by car. The plan might be to find the job you fancy. Work in it for a while and if necessary, move (yourself) tpo be nearer to the job. In the Kansas City area the Johnson County JUCO has a program of training for railroad employees,. It is also sponsored by IIRC both the BNSF and UPRR.
If your current job looks like you are going to be let go. You might wait for the blow to fall, in the meantime check out from State of Missouri what they will provide if laid off or if the company quits you might be eligible for a retraining program?
Good Luck!
You might want to base your decision on a worst case scenario...assume they're going to move you around and that you'll be away from St. Louis indefinitely. That way..if you're hired you're at least prepared for that eventuality, and if you are indeed moved to your home base you will be pleasantly surprised verses badly disappointment. But if you're in transportation be prepared to move around...its the nature of the business.
Perhaps you reside in a location where they do not need conductors, or at least not nearby. Then they would want you to live where the work is (initially). Then as advised next above you probably not be requested (required) to move again.
I've never worked for a railroad, but did seriously consider doing so at one point so investigated how it works a bit. I don't think "rank and file" employees (engineers, conductors, yard men, bridge operators, etc.) get involuntarily transfered very often (if ever). If you move up into management however, it's pretty common to have to move every so many years as different positions open up.
I posted a while back about a conductor's position on NS and why I was not considered. After the consensus it was thought that it was because I checked the unwilling to relocate. Well, my other job leads have fallen through and my current job is looking a little "iffy" so I am considering applying with the railroad again. My question now is; if I check the "willing to relocate" box, what are the chances of actually getting relocated? I know no one can say for sure, but does nearly every new-hire get relocated, just a few, or what? I would be applying for a position out of St. Louis which is where I would like to stay. If I would have to move for a year or so I would be willing to do that (wife and kids would have to stay behind though, wife has too good of a job to leave) if I had the chance to get back "home". Thanks for you advice and help!!!!!
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