National Railroads Strike in September?

The good news is a couple of railroads have settled.

The not good news is the trucking industry told Congress they cannot take up the slack if a strike stops the railroads.

Trucking industry calls on Congress to settle rail labor dispute
Trains Newswire | September 10, 2022

Brief, fair use quote

WASHINGTON — The trucking industry doesn’t want a railroad work stoppage any more than railroads do.

In a letter sent to Congressional leaders on Friday, the American Trucking Associations warned that trucks would be unable to replace rail service in the event of a strike or lockout.

eolesen wrote: ↑Sun Sep 11, 2022 3:40 pmThe reason that airline crews get nicer hotels to stay at is because the unions have chosen to make that a contractual issue at the expense of other things like pay or benefits.

Railroad unions had a 50+ year start on airline unions, so if the working conditions are so bad, you'll have to ask the BLET why have they chosen other issues as their negotiating priority.

They asked for what was important to the negotiators. Perhaps there is a gap between the union negotiators and the people they allegedly represent. Perhaps they should be staying in the same caliber of hotel that is reported in this thread while they were negotiating over the past few years.

There are some hotel chains that have gone downhill over the years. Go back 30 years and Red Roof Inn was a decent place to stay. Now (to put it politely) it isn't. Perhaps the railroads should reopen the railroad YMCAs that existed at terminals.

eolesen wrote: ↑Sun Sep 11, 2022 3:40 pmYeah, that average 110K doesn't sound so bad to sit inside as an engineer. Sure you have to stay sober and be available to work all hours. But you've got the conductor and yard crews to do the bulk of the outdoor work...

I have been sober all of my life so I suppose I am qualified to be an engineer.

justalurker66 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 11, 2022 1:39 pm FYI: I tend to tune out the emotion laden embellished and exaggerated sob stories that remind me of grandpa walking three miles to school uphill both ways through either three foot snow drifts or 180 degree temperatures. Once one leaves facts for fiction it is hard to get back. Courts and regulators have the same policy ... filter out the sob stories and try to find the facts. They don't make rulings based on emotionally scarred ramblings - and shouldn't make rulings based on such embellishments.

I am sure that I will be told that all of the emotional rants are 100% true with no embellishments. To which I ask "why do you stay"? Are you not qualified for a job that has better hours and a better home life? Or would taking such a job cut your pay and benefits down to a level you would not accept? Or do you have a temperament that better fits working alone or with one other person than working in larger groups? When you share a engine cab with a coworker do they wish it was a one man operation? Do you?

If you would like a list of the cities for the hotels I can give them to you. When it comes to lodging on the railroad cooperate sends a list if 3 maybe 4 hotels they are willing to pay for. It is then up to the unions to go look at them. When you try and sell something are you going to show it clean and neat smelling like roses or like a dumpster fire? Like I've said, stayed in some nice places. Again I can give cites.

First before I came to the railroad I had plenty of dead end jobs and this is by far the best. My back ground is actually culinary, went to school did a internship in Reno blah blah blah. You are not making this kind of money cooking unless you are exceptionally lucky. Not making it now with out an education.

Second when I hired out the railroad was actually a fun place to work. A old timer told me when I hired out "these are your good old days" back then I did not get what he was talking about. I get it now.

Lastly I have five years to go, if I leave now I stand to loose a sizeable chunk of my railroad retirement as I do not have the needed thirty years of service. My wife would become ineligible for her portion of such and as she found the job listing I am forever indebted to her.

A T&E crew is just like a family sometimes you both get along sometimes you have to put up with that crazy uncle most times its somewhere in between.
This I will tell you Ms. Sanborne and the Class 1s pleas for one man crews is complete and utter BS. It is a safety hazard on so many levels.

I will leave you all with this:
I am not a freight engineer I have no dog in this fight. I am subject to the same rules and regulations as they are and because we are visitors sometimes held to a much higher standard than their own crews. However what happens here will effect my contract. I work with and have friends who have worked for CSX CP NS there complaints are all the same as listed.

I am scheduled to take Amtrak from Boston to New York this Friday with a return on Sunday. what are the odds a strike will affect me and how?

See the Force Majeure article in Amtrak.
3/4, 5/6, 7/8, and the San Antonio to LA segment of the Texas Eagle are cancelled as of tomorrow.

https://ble-t.org/news/smart-td-blet-jo ... l-embargo/

The railroads are using shippers, consumers, and the supply chain of our nation as pawns in an effort to get our Unions to cave into their contract demands knowing that our members would never accept them. Our Unions will not cave into these scare tactics, and Congress must not cave into what can only be described as corporate terrorism.

To be fair, the unions are also using shippers, consumers, and the supply chain of our nation as pawns in an effort to get the companies to cave into their contract demands...

If the companies are using "corporate terrorism" to embargo things like perishables, hazmats, time sensitive freight and passenger movements, what do you call it when the unions are threatening to not provide their services for things like perishables, hazmats, time sensitive freight and passenger movements?...

If it weren't for double standards, some of these union spokescritters wouldn't have any.

MARC Train warning of line shutdowns ahead of Friday. 2 of 3 lines are on CSX track, so they’re warning folks to be prepared.

Something I've often wondered about but never asked: is the wage scale negotiated at the national level the same for a given craft nationwide; i.e., the same in a major metropolitan area with a high cost of living as in a small town with a huge class yard and engine terminal and not much else, thus a much lower cost of living? If so, is there any uniform opinion in the unions for something like a "cost-of-living" differential -- particularly when both areas are on the same railroad?

eolesen wrote: ↑Mon Sep 12, 2022 6:55 pm https://ble-t.org/news/smart-td-blet-jo ... l-embargo/

The railroads are using shippers, consumers, and the supply chain of our nation as pawns in an effort to get our Unions to cave into their contract demands knowing that our members would never accept them. Our Unions will not cave into these scare tactics, and Congress must not cave into what can only be described as corporate terrorism.

To be fair, the unions are also using shippers, consumers, and the supply chain of our nation as pawns in an effort to get the companies to cave into their contract demands...

If the companies are using "corporate terrorism" to embargo things like perishables, hazmats, time sensitive freight and passenger movements, what do you call it when the unions are threatening to not provide their services for things like perishables, hazmats, time sensitive freight and passenger movements?...

If it weren't for double standards, some of these union spokescritters wouldn't have any.

Wait are you not white collar management type??? You use "OUR"??? You fly a desk at United Airlines and have made it quite clear my freight brothers and sisters should shut the f up and cash their checks. Upon checking with some of my co workers/friends who worked or are still working freight, its a family program and I cant repeat what they told me. Yore a smart guy though you can fill in the blanks.

Amtrak will still run on the corridor between Boston and Washington. Amtrak unions have no dog in this fight. This however, will have an effect how our contracts are settled. Other than that, it was said T&E has no effect on profit . Go ahead my freight brothers and sisters show them how much damage you can do to their bottom line.

Both my grandfathers were union men I could never cross a picket line. I remember strikes in the 70s and 80s and the hand outs at the union hall. Cans of peanut butter and Gov't cheese, those were the days. Hell, I supported a picket of a local grocery store many years ago.

ExCon90 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 12, 2022 11:51 pm Something I've often wondered about but never asked: is the wage scale negotiated at the national level the same for a given craft nationwide; i.e., the same in a major metropolitan area with a high cost of living as in a small town with a huge class yard and engine terminal and not much else, thus a much lower cost of living? If so, is there any uniform opinion in the unions for something like a "cost-of-living" differential -- particularly when both areas are on the same railroad?

In a word, YES, the rate of pay is the rate of pay weather you are in New York, Mississippi or Cat man du

Railjunkie wrote: Wait are you not white collar management type??? You use "OUR"???

The only context I've used "our" in is in reference to the country.

You're obviously confused by a quote from the union as being from me.

You're an outsider too. You don't see me begrudging you your right to an opinion on what happens with a union issue that you admit you don't have a dog in the hunt on...

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

eolesen wrote: ↑Sun Sep 11, 2022 3:40 pm

BandA wrote:It surprises me that they have these powerful unions, yet they can't force the railroad to clean the toilets or fix the cab weatherstripping? And this artificial demarcation of what is in the National Agreement and everything else has to be negotiated locally.

This.

The reason that airline crews get nicer hotels to stay at is because the unions have chosen to make that a contractual issue at the expense of other things like pay or benefits.

Railroad unions had a 50+ year start on airline unions, so if the working conditions are so bad, you'll have to ask the BLET why have they chosen other issues as their negotiating priority.

Yep. I've been a manager for 22 years of my 35 year career. But I started at the airport as a grunt. I've been doused with deicing fluid, loaded bags, and dealt with lavs from both ends. I've cleaned planes. I've worked as an agent inside with ticketing and lost luggage. And no MBA.

You think your life seated in a cab sucks? Go work the ramp. They go thru hazmat recurring training just like you do so you're half qualified already... Dump lavs. Deice an airplane. Load bags in 90F Temps with 80% humidity... and you'll top out at about 80K after 15 years.

Yeah, that average 110K doesn't sound so bad to sit inside as an engineer. Sure you have to stay sober and be available to work all hours. But you've got the conductor and yard crews to do the bulk of the outdoor work...

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Now we have time to deal with you...
I would have gladly worked a ramp vs pushing a lawn spreader over 160,000 to 200,000 sqft of lawn a day of 85 to 90 degrees. Just a normal day in August.Did I forgot to mention we had to produce $1000 a day on lawns that avg. $35 per. Heat stroke for for 1000 Alex. 80k a year not even close.
You see those Round Up and Paraquat commercials on TV?? Those apply to ME, sprayed my fair share of both plus other known carcinogens like Dicamba, imidacloprid, pendimethalin 2,4-D, Sevin just to name a few. Six years or so of it. Had both a pesticide/herbicide licenses trees and shrubs along with lawn care. Deicing a plane got nothing on me.
Cleaned my share of heads, my father(RIP) owned a commercial and residential cleaning business. One never understands how much of a pig people are until they clean public bathrooms.
Worked in both the culinary (cooked and waited tables) and retail fields. Like I said in a previous post lots and lots of dead end jobs.
110K is not enough, with the constant harassment that is brought upon my brothers and sisters. We are not paid for what we do. BUT FOR HOW WE WILL REACT IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS. Would you rather have a someone off the street (hey may I take your order) or a trained professional when traveling at 40 seconds a mile?

Question for the order…how much of the alcohol for the Nations 90-10 gasoline/alcohol mix is transported by flatcar? How many days can our refineries make gasoline for shipment to the pump?

USA TODAY was saying it's going to affect everything (can't link, it's paywalled). Other news sources (CNN, Washington Post, Fox News Business, etc) confirm.

For those coming in: there's a lot of discussion in this episode of Well There's Your Problem about one aspect of the dispute: PSR, how it's implemented, really screws up traffic patterns and crew efficiency. That's about an hour in the podcast, as the episode is on battery-electric locomotives and they're getting through history. Still worthy of some context in this regard.

Two Republican Senators introduce a joint resolution to avert the strike.

Unfortunately, no regulation on crew hours.