Our conductor's pools have a guarantee, figured by the half of a month, as are the extra boards. Our yard and locals, per an old CNW agreement have a guarantee figured by the month. The yard and local guarantee also apply to engineers. The engineer's road pools don't have a guarantee. I've been told the yard and local guarantee is small compared to the extra boards.
Because of the guarantee, the company controls the staffing of those boards. The union local chairman for the engineers is supposed to control the number of turns in the road pools. For the most part this is how it works, but the company seems to override the LC's decisions at times. There is a formula for how many turns should be in a pool.
If you want to work a lot, you work the extra board. You also work the extra board if you don't have much seniority. Our extra boards (and conductor road pools) have a montly amount. If you lay off a trip uncompensated (paid leave or vacation), one day at 1/15th or 1/16th is deducted. If a person lays off uncompensated for over 48 hours, the guarantee is lost for the half. Because the Federal Rest requirement was not a negotiated item, the company looks at being Laid Off-Federal Requirement (FR) the same as if you laid off sick. If you get more than 48 hours of FR, you lose the guarantee. Although it hasn't happened for awhile now, there have been times when one half you make over guarantee, even with FR, the next half things slow way down and you don't make guarantee. If you should happen to get the 72 hour FR requirement the first three days of the half, you have no guarantee. Even if things slow way down.
Jeff
Electroliner 1935 Before Covid, when empoyment was "normal," was there a subsistance pay for those on a pool or board that had few calls? Currently, it appears that T&E people are overworked but before layoffs was there a cost to RR's where they had to pay extra board a minimum pay while not getting called?
Before Covid, when empoyment was "normal," was there a subsistance pay for those on a pool or board that had few calls? Currently, it appears that T&E people are overworked but before layoffs was there a cost to RR's where they had to pay extra board a minimum pay while not getting called?
Sam
BNSF "xtra" boards are formatted different within the system. The BN side has separate condr, brkmn, swtchmn, engr, hostler boards, and in Chicago & Seattle areas, extra boards for staffing communter services. The former ATSF side is different w/"Combo"boards which basically are condr boards but you can be called for a condr, brkmh or switchman. There are no more brakeman extra boards, w/the last one being abolished in 2013. Swichman boards protect yd assignments, while there are engr boards for both road & yard. Boards are set at a number called for. Example a combo baord may have 20 slots but w/only 15 assigned (5 openings). Last winter the switchman xtra board @ Wellington called for a total 4 on the board but no one was on it--totally empty. Everytime a layoff occurred, w/on one on what is called "board 9", calls went to combo board 6. Many times that board had no one rested. There were a few shifts where a yard job did not work because no one was available or the job ran w/a reduced short crew. This while there were nearly 20 workers in furlogh status, crew management was making no attempt in recalling these workers who were wanting to return but the employer would not allow it.
What types of work extra boards protect may vary from railroad to railroad and even location to location on the same railroad. Often it is negotiated at the local level.
We have an engineer, conductor and switchmen's extra boards. The switchmen's board covers yard and local train vacancies. They can dog catch locals that can't make it home before their 12 hrs expires, but usually that falls to the conductor's extra board. The conductor's extra board protects road pool vacancies, dog catches road trains and can protect yard vacancies if the switchmen's board is exhausted.
The engineer's extra board protects all engineer's vacancies on road, local or yard jobs. They dog catch trains dying on HOS, and with conductor's extra boards, are supposed to make the short turn trips, such as spotting or pulling grain elevators. (Pool crews can spot/pull trains that are going/coming from the pool's away from home terminal.)
When the extra board(s) are exhausted, they are supposed to check other terminal's extra board. My home terminal's engineer and conductor extra boards have long been known as the "All Iowa" extra boards because they routinely protect vacancies at other terminals. (One reason I don't care for working the extra board.) Once that fails, they start calling pool engineers and conductors. Pool engineers have some latitude in accepting such work. Pool conductors have to accept if contacted. (Why many don't answer the phone on the first ring, but check the board to see what position they hold.) For engineers, then they can start calling set-back engineers working as conductors. These calling procedures also can vary from place to place, even on the same railroad.
Some places have self-protecting pools. They have enough pool turns so that instead of filling a vacancy with an extra board person, the next available pool person takes it. (For us if the extra board is exhausted, they can run around a vacant turn with an available pool turn. So sometimes I might be 4th out, but 1st available. The vacant turn is held until the owner marks up or the turn goes out with an extra board person.) A self protecting board means they need less on the extra board.
We call them spareboards, but yes they are still around. Assignments and pools get filled first at our weekly board change, so the spareboard tends to get cut short first during busy periods.
A lot of our conductor spareboards have call windows now, where you are only available for the 8 to 12 hour duration of the window.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
To the TEY guys here. Is there even an extra board left these days? Or have they been torched?
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