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Progress Rail is Hiring!!

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  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Central Iowa
  • 6,901 posts
Posted by jeffhergert on Saturday, August 14, 2021 9:37 PM

Ulrich

 

 
Flintlock76

 

 
ronrunner
before you had to know Tony Soparno as your uncle to get a job for the railroad!!

 

There used to be a local joke here in the Richmond VA area concerning the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad, the RF&P.

Jobs there were so coveted people said RF&P stood for "Relatives, Friends, & Parents," since you couldn't get hired there unless you knew someone on the payroll!

 

 

 

It was that way here too..maybe it still is. On the application it asks "do you have a relative with the railroad?" If you checked off the NO boxed it was all over.

 

While some railroads, especially the smaller roads, were like that some railroads wouldn't hire immediate relatives within the same seniority district for the same craft.

We had a few sets of father/son were initially they hired out on the CNW.  The sons had to hire out on a different seniority district.  When UP took over some of the seniority districts were consolidated, either in part or whole.  This placed fathers and sons on the same district.

UP doesn't have that prohibition.  (If it did, it's possibly unenforceable due to changes in employment laws.)  We've had sons and brothers all hire out on UP on the same district.  We even had a mother get her son hired on.  (He's no longer working with us, though.  It seems they took a dim view of a switching accident that tore off the front steps and deck of a GP15 that he caused.)  Now, they're just lucky to have anyone hire out with them.

Jeff 

  • Member since
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  • From: Dallas, TX
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Posted by CMStPnP on Saturday, August 14, 2021 7:20 PM

BaltACD
Couple that with the Company Pension that I get from being non-contract for 20 years and I am CLEARING more in retirement that I was when I was working. 

Good work!  A lot of people never meet that threshold.    There are quite a few folks well over 70 still working for my employer.   I will not be one of them and I feel bad for them.    I can retire now if I wanted to (age 57) but I want to work a little longer and push up savings more.   You never know what the future will bring and it is going to be nice to be prepared for anything.

  • Member since
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  • From: US
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Posted by BaltACD on Thursday, August 12, 2021 9:28 PM

Fortunately i only lost a little over 1 year under SSA while I was CCSI.  The rest of my 51.5 years were under RRB, having maxed out my RRB contributions over the last 5 years that I worked I have ended up with comfortable stipend from RRB, there is no longer any double dipping with SSA - that was eliminated 20 or 30 years ago and besides it required 10 years of SSA contributions to become vested..  Couple that with the Company Pension that I get from being non-contract for 20 years and I am CLEARING more in retirement that I was when I was working.  All of the above discounts the minimum required distributions from my 401K.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

  • Member since
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  • From: Guelph, Ontario
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Posted by Ulrich on Thursday, August 12, 2021 6:31 PM

Flintlock76

 

 
ronrunner
before you had to know Tony Soparno as your uncle to get a job for the railroad!!

 

There used to be a local joke here in the Richmond VA area concerning the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad, the RF&P.

Jobs there were so coveted people said RF&P stood for "Relatives, Friends, & Parents," since you couldn't get hired there unless you knew someone on the payroll!

 

It was that way here too..maybe it still is. On the application it asks "do you have a relative with the railroad?" If you checked off the NO boxed it was all over.

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Denver / La Junta
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Posted by mudchicken on Thursday, August 12, 2021 4:43 PM

...and he thinks he's going to get to play on the shiny toys LaughLaughLaugh

 

....and if you think Balt is blowing smoke, look at the RRB coverage pages sometime. (How's the dual check thing doing Balt? ... SSA pretty small?)

Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
  • Member since
    December 2004
  • 707 posts
Posted by tdmidget on Thursday, August 12, 2021 4:13 PM

I'd be amazed if any job at a supplier made you eligible for railroad retirement. When Progress took over EMD and opened the indiana plant they advertised job openings. Wheel lathe operator, $13.60/hr. Today you can make more than that at McDonalds. Plus, this may come as a shock, but at 49 you are becoming less hirable every day.

  • Member since
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  • From: US
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Posted by BaltACD on Thursday, August 12, 2021 4:07 PM

ronrunner

https://www.progressrail.com/en/Company/Careers.html

So at 49 can I finally get to work at my dream job of working for a railroad! yes I have worked in sales as a indy contractor but will these guys get me on the Railroad Retirement Board? They are so desperate thety taking out ads on I Heart radio before you had to know Tony Soparno as your uncle to get a job for the railroad!!Stick out tongue https://www.progressrail.com/

Progress Rail, I suspect, is like the Class 1's - ANY job that is not directly incident to operating trains and/or directly accounting for and/or supporting the operations of trains and/or right of way will be shown in job categories that are covered by SSA.

When I got transferred into CSX's Chessie Computer Services Inc. I was taken out of Railroad Retirement and placed in SSA.  When I went on to Dispatching I was placed back in RRB coverage.  Departments on CSX such as Real Estate, Payroll and about 1/2 dozen other corporate support departments are covered by SSA not RRB.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 9,728 posts
Posted by Flintlock76 on Thursday, August 12, 2021 3:50 PM

ronrunner
before you had to know Tony Soparno as your uncle to get a job for the railroad!!

There used to be a local joke here in the Richmond VA area concerning the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad, the RF&P.

Jobs there were so coveted people said RF&P stood for "Relatives, Friends, & Parents," since you couldn't get hired there unless you knew someone on the payroll!

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 9,728 posts
Posted by Flintlock76 on Thursday, August 12, 2021 3:46 PM

Best of luck to you!   Thumbs Up

  • Member since
    June 2021
  • 142 posts
Posted by ronrunner on Thursday, August 12, 2021 3:11 PM

BTW Trains Mag Ad sales folks please give these guys a call!! They should advertise where people who love railroading would be intrested!!

  • Member since
    June 2021
  • 142 posts
Progress Rail is Hiring!!
Posted by ronrunner on Thursday, August 12, 2021 3:06 PM

https://www.progressrail.com/en/Company/Careers.html

So at 49 can I finally get to work at my dream job of working for a railroad! yes I have worked in sales as a indy contractor but will these guys get me on the Railroad Retirement Board? They are so desperate thety taking out ads on I Heart radio before you had to know Tony Soparno as your uncle to get a job for the railroad!!Stick out tongue https://www.progressrail.com/

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