Here is an article on the strike from the CBC:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2009/11/28/cn-rail-strike.html
Does this effect CN in the US or is it just CN in Canada? I couldn't tell from the linked article.
SSW9389Does this effect CN in the US or is it just CN in Canada? I couldn't tell from the linked article.
Not directly, but indirectly the loss of traffic will have some effect on traffic on CN properties in the US. The Engineers on CN's DW&P subsidiary were threatening to strike over a different issue on Wednesday, I haven't read anything more on Friday or today about that one.
It Is just the Canadian engineers. They are represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, Not the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers as in the US.
Bruce
So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.
"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere" CP Rail Public Timetable
"O. S. Irricana"
. . . __ . ______
Update on the CN Strike:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/11/28/cn-strike.html
Trains rolling as per normal over here... CN is keeping things running by using qualified management and supervisory staff. Apart from that, the locomotive engineers are exercising their legal right to strike in lieu of reaching a satisfactory outcome through earlier negotiations.
Qualified management, on CN that is considered an oxymoron. Ex-Starbucks managers who have never switched a day in their lives and with only 2 weeks training on running an engine are some how as qualified as a hogger with 30 years experience?
Glad to hear thats not just BNSF I hope it all works out for the engineers and they get a good deal.
AgentKid It Is just the Canadian engineers. They are represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, Not the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers as in the US. Bruce
another guy that thinks they know what they are talking about. Question is who is the brotherhood of locomotive engineers?
enr2099 Qualified management, on CN that is considered an oxymoron. Ex-Starbucks managers who have never switched a day in their lives and with only 2 weeks training on running an engine are some how as qualified as a hogger with 30 years experience?
There may be a grain of truth to what you say...but only a grain..I watched a parade of CN trains roll down the single track in Milton today...and no news of any major incidents on the news this evening. One shouldn't underrate a locomotive engineer with 30 years experience...very true...just as one shouldn't underrate CN managers' capabilities. Maybe some of them CAN run trains competently...from what I saw today...that seems to be the case. CN engineers and others have every legal right to strike..withholding one's services is part and parcel of the bargaining process...but the downside is that others can step in to do the work, and if that's done effectively this time 'round it will no doubt embolden management the next time a strike is called. Strikes only work if the folks who are withholding their services can effectively disrupt operations...strikes don't have much value where others can step in to do the work to minimize disruption. That's true of my line of work as it is of yours...
Well look at it this a way. The union is going to have a real problem if those "not as qualified" folks keep the railroad running in a safe, efficient manner. You may be one of the many who have no love of Hunter, but he ain't no fool. He doesn't bet the company if he isn't confident he's going to win.
Of course, he could be wrong. I could be wrong too.
I "worked" a couple stikes. I filled in for clerks, not train crews. If you want to dis me for that go right ahead. I was convinced the unions were wrong.
When I drove through the picket line for the first time my though was "Can't grown people settle things in a better way than this?"
I fully agree that workers have a right to form unions and decide to withold their services. I also believe that the company has the right to resist. I just hope no one gets hurt financially or physically in the process.
they better be qualified to hold a license. But experience is the issue here. Sure they can play tains one day. What about 2? A week? Of course if the managers are playing Casey Jones, who is doing their jobs? If the RR runs flawless, then to me it shows the managers are the waste, not the employees. Our local managers can be gone for a week and the terminal runs flawless. But a bunhc of engineers mark off? Then trains get annulled, or combined and customers do not get serviced. Serive failure.
It's too early to start gloating about how well managers are running the trains. Honestly, if one overshoots a switch and runs through it, who is going to write them up? Or if they blow a speed limit. Are they going to pull their own tapes? Yeah right.
PS. it's hard to judge anything from seeing a train, unless you know which cars it has, how late its running, what crew is manning it, etc. "we're right on time, but this is yesterday's train" comes to mind.
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
Food for thought: Remember the most sucessful management operation. The FEC taking 15 Crew members JAX - MIA down to two crew members
I agree that if this strike continues the possibility of major problems begins when the managers become fatigued and the bitter Canadin winter sets in. Some will last some will not. And can CN import other managers from the states?
most generally the train crews moved into managment until recent and now managers are hired off the street. which is why we always say they have know idea what is going on, sure you can run a text book train but this is the real world and the books dont cover the real world. I never read the article or clicked the link but is the conductors working or are they honoring the strike.
wabash1Question is who is the brotherhood of locomotive engineers?
It's a trick question folks, read the main heading on this link:
http://www.ble.org/
"A Rose by any other name..."
TCRC = "Teamsters". BLE = "Teamsters". Same bird. Didn't you know that? You have two choices:
1. Go to the (unspecified) landfill in New Jersey. Dig up Jimmy Hoffa. Knock off his 'cement shoes', hose him off, and have him prolong the strike in Canada, ad infinitum.
2. Go to California. Dig up Ronald Reagan. Dust him off and have him fire all the union strikers, like he did with our Air Traffic Controllers.
Your choice. Any snow in Calgary? Hot & dusty, down here.
Hays
Unlike the air traffic controllers, who were governed by civil service law, in the private sector it is an illegal labor practice to fire striking union members. Hiring that lowest form of life known as a scab is permitted, though.
AgentKid wabash1Question is who is the brotherhood of locomotive engineers? It's a trick question folks, read the main heading on this link: http://www.ble.org/ "A Rose by any other name..." Bruce
What I think Wabash is getting at is the name is now Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. It's the BLET now, even though the website address still uses BLE.
In our neck of the woods, the UTU holds the trainmen's contract, the BLET the engineer's. However there are trainmen who belong to the BLET and engineers who belong to the UTU (UTU-E).
Jeff
BNSFwatcherTCRC = "Teamsters". BLE = "Teamsters". Same bird. Didn't you know that? You have two choices: 1. Go to the (unspecified) landfill in New Jersey. Dig up Jimmy Hoffa. Knock off his 'cement shoes', hose him off, and have him prolong the strike in Canada, ad infinitum. 2. Go to California. Dig up Ronald Reagan. Dust him off and have him fire all the union strikers, like he did with our Air Traffic Controllers. Your choice. Any snow in Calgary? Hot & dusty, down here. Hays
Rule of law only matters to you so long as you win?
Over on another thread, you're advocating abolishing the Davis-Bacon Act and using convict labor.
I deal with enough union-management baiting in the real job. Take it someplace else, please.
RWM
More on the CN strike:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2009/11/28/ns-cn-rail-strike.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/business/global/29canadian.html?_r=1&ref=business
agent kid [edited]* you got it wrong 2 times Jeff got it right. but why confuse you with the facts when your mind is made up.
[edited]*
[by selector]
Union and CN at standstill:http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/11/29/ignatieff-cn-rail-strike.html
In Vancouver, all the Industrial and yard jobs are being run with Beltpacks but CN doesn't have enough working beltpack controllers to supply all the jobs. Road trains are not being ordered, and those that are, are being run at 170-200 cars, these so called engineers are ripping the trains apart like crazy. The North Line(ex-BCRail) is completely shut down because they don't have any managers qualified to run on 2.2% grades.
Yeah, things are operating real smoothly.
blue streak 1 Food for thought: Remember the most sucessful management operation. The FEC taking 15 Crew members JAX - MIA down to two crew members I agree that if this strike continues the possibility of major problems begins when the managers become fatigued and the bitter Canadin winter sets in. Some will last some will not. And can CN import other managers from the states?
Also remember the mid-1980's clerks' strike against the N&W. CEO Robert Claytor and a cadre of other management ran most - though not all - trains for something like 47 days, if I recall correctly, before it was settled.
Sometimes these confrontations and living the other guys' life / 'walking the mile in his shoes' lead to a greater appreciation of the job and the trials and tribulations of the daily grind - or not. Not that anyone involved would ever admit it publicly, though.
blue streak 1 has a good point, though. I suppose that the fall 'wheat rush' and pre-holiday shipping peak are both mostly over by now, and power plant coal traffic is not that significant for CN. Are there any other 'crunches' that might happen there in the near term. other than winter ? FEC happened in a warm, sunny climate, with no significant grades, and the passenger operations were 'suspended' for the duration.
And how long-term 'sustainable' will the CN management operation prove to be ? What happens if certain key customers - like auto plants or refineries - run out of inventory/ stockpiled raw materials and start yelling about that ? Or, if they don't ? If there are train operating goofs - how long can the operations be 'shoe-stringed' around damaged turnouts, out-of-commission power, line and siding blockages due to pull-aparts or 'outlawed' crew times, etc. ? After somewhere between 2 weeks and a month ought to tell whether the CN management operation can really continue on this basis, or if it just a temporary 'stop-gap' to cover/ 'protect' the critical 'life-line' industries and functions, etc. A lot will also depend on how many and much of the other unions honor the picket lines.
- Paul North.
CN does have competitors..most notably CP..who are all slow due to the economy. Thus, they should be able to pickup some of the business from CN in the event of a prolonged strike.
I don't think CN hires its managers off the street or from Starbucks..CN is a large bluechip company, and most of these are very particular about who they hire and their qualifications.. I know a couple of managers at CN...they are bright accomplished people with impressive credentials and experience. Personally I very much doubt that a strike is the best thing for the union...certainly not for the railroad..things are far too competitive today...shippers can and will make alternative arrangments and you can be sure that most aren't stupid and have already put plan B into action.
Mr. Ulrich -
Are you at liberty to say whether your trucking business has increased since the onset of the strike ?
If so - has it ? By how much ?
Can you trace or correlate such increase to the strike with any confidence - or might it be due to something else ?
Thanks in advance, either way.
Paul_D_North_Jr Mr. Ulrich - Are you at liberty to say whether your trucking business has increased since the onset of the strike ? If so - has it ? By how much ? Can you trace or correlate such increase to the strike with any confidence - or might it be due to something else ? Thanks in advance, either way. - Paul North.
no Paul..freight is busy overall and I wouldn't say I have any freight that can be attributed to the strike. Maybe some other carriers are...but so far the CN strike hasn't benefitted me in any way.
Ulrich I don't think CN hires its managers off the street or from Starbucks.
I don't think CN hires its managers off the street or from Starbucks.
Well sir, you thought wrong. There are a few promoted out of the ranks, but many of the new mangers are from London Drugs, Starbucks and McDonalds.
Then again, what do I know? I only work for CN, I only work with these managers day in-day out. Why should you believe anything I say?
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.