The problem IMHO is that too many of the railroaders that are complaining about losing money is that they've been making the big bucks for quite a while due to shortage of people. When you bring home big checks, somehow the standard of living tends to increase to consume those same checks. Then, of course there are those with the alimony and child support payments as a result from not being home.
Years ago the agreements allowed one to be off when you wanted/needed to be off. The BLET and UTU have allowed the carriers to put in place their "attendance policies" to prevent anyone from laying off. These policies are actually a change in the basic working agreements with the operating crafts, but the unions did nothing. This allowed the mile hogs to keep working and forced the rest of us to keep working too.
I wish there had been longer mandatory rest periods in force before I retired last year. The 8 and 10 hours rest periods now are too often just not enough.
Today's Wall Street Journal reports that rail management has found a new compatriot in their effort to stave of FRA regulations to limit the Hours of Service. Their ally is the BLE. It seems many of the their members don't like the idea of trading time off for money. Any thoughts from those out there subject to the Hours of Service?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117366271428199795.html?moc=DTR
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