With the current strike at Canadian Pacific in mind, I heard that they aren't the greatest company to work for. I was told some stories in years gone by from a former Canadian Pacific employee in Swift Current. When he took early retirement he was all too glad to get away from Canadian Pacific. A former employee of Canadian National who worked Calder Yards in Edmonton wasn't impressed with Canadian Pacific.
It leaves me to wonder if things will change with Hunter Harrison taking charge in a short while or if the stories I heard were just urban legends.
You can't really go by what people say. Name any company and you'll quickly find unhappy employees. Sometimes they have legitimate concerns but more often than not they've made up their minds to be unhappy. I'm sure CP and CN are reasonably good employers...sure they're not perfect, but they offer good jobs at reasonable pay. Sometimes the employer can't do better as life isn't perfect. The complainers should maybe start their own businesses and show the rest of us how its done. Somehow they never do though..
What you have to say is all too true. Too many complain about things but when it comes time to offer solutions they make for the door and never seen again.
Doc, Ulrich pretty much covered it. My Dad was never a big union supporter, and as far as the company was concerned he had many complaints about how specific things may have been done, but he declined every offer he ever received to go to another job. Right up to his last day of work he said he never wanted to have another job than be a railroader. He never thought much of CN either.
Bruce
So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.
"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere" CP Rail Public Timetable
"O. S. Irricana"
. . . __ . ______
How you view your employing company is strongly influenced by your immediate supervisor(s). They are the ones that determine if the office or shop floor is a place you want to be. Where there is mutual respect it works out well for everybody, the staff, the boss and ultimately the company. I found CPR to be a good employer, but I was also fortunate in having mostly good co-workers and supervisors over the years.
I did feel the atmosphere evolved downwards over the years. In the 1970s the railway was generally run by railroaders who had spent time out on the front lines, sometimes rising from the lowest ranks by their ability. They were gradually replaced by new blood fresh out of university, who knew management theory but didn't have the vital additional understanding of the rail environment and culture. The best soon adapted but some of the others soured the relationship.
John
cx500 You Nailed it to a T. Best Company I drove for was my Last one. Why my Dispatcher her Husband was an OTR Driver for another Company and she always her him Complain about him not getting enough Miles. See normally we are paid so much per mile Driven. Well lets just say her Drivers rarely SAT STILL. She was the kind of person that would keep on the Load Planners to get us moving keep Saftey off our backs by staying between him and us and also bust the Shops balls when needed to get stuff fixed.
She also treated us with RESPECT could have been that she got a bounus for all the miles her Drivers ran I do not know but she was always willing to keep us happy with MILES. Still will never forget her face when I said I can make it in from Salianas in 44 hours solo and the Night guy was like Impossible. She got an Office Pool going that I would make it and threw 50 in it for ME at 5 to 1 I would make it. She had 100 in it for HERSELF. That tell you the Trust she had for me the Poor VP of the Company was screaming as he lost BIG TIME. I think he lost close to 4 Grand that load on Wagers.
See if you have a Good set of Coworkers you can put up with ANYTHING I had a bunch of Idiots at One Company to the point I was like I do not care if I stayed or left.
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