Railjunkie wrote: ↑Sat Oct 16, 2021 12:41 am
First and foremost a few things about the gloom and doomsday scenarios of sick non vaccinated engineers. Most everywhere Amtrak travels has some form of PTC it will STOP your train if I does not like what your engineer is doing. PERIOD. You will stop rather abruptly. Inconvenienced if they are sick yes, die I doubt it.
Second you have non vaccinated crew running trains currently I don't recall hearing or seeing anything about any Covid related accidents or delays. Most of us have all run trains under the weather with colds the flu stomach issues I would be willing to bet a few have done it with Covid. Its work and get paid or stay home and loose a days pay. Sorry kids no sick days for T&E here.
Now that it's the weekend and I have a bit more brainpower to devote to the forums... I get what you're saying. On a plane, the risk of crashing is high. On a train, that risk is low, lower with PTC.
So what you end up with a dead engineer is... a four hour train delay, and maybe some bus subsitution. Maybe an engine swap. That's it.
Now lets go from engineer to the "cabin crew" or attendants and conductors. You got an asymptomatic crew member who somehow got a false negative. Still masking everywhere, and all the nutcases who say "no more!" tossed out. That rare case of transmission happens... and two weeks later it's fatal (or debilitating) to a passenger.
Guess who the family of that passenger is going to sue?
That's right, the carrier, even though it may be prohibited by law. There's going to be a liability claim that has to get adjudicated or arbitrated. Ether way, even to get it dismissed, it's going to cost money.
Settle for a ton of cash, or save it for free by having everyone get their shots which are already paid for by the government. Hmmm... decisions decisions...
...and guess what. We have a way "out": If an employee claims a religious exception, they should carry personal liability insurance deducted from their pay. Medical is understandable (and yes, folks want to fake it, we can verify that). Religious... well, if you practice what you preach, I can see it. But if you're against stem cells but yet you took Tylenol in the past 20 years, I have to question your faith. Thus, the liability insurance -- put your money where your mouth is.