by Desertdweller
Happy New Year!
On the Milwaukee Road, if a worker did work normally performed by another craft union, or even if he did the work assigned by job bulletin to another employee in the same craft, he ran the risk of being "timeslipped". Allegedly, the extra pay awarded to the offended employee would come out of the paycheck of the offender, although I personally knew of no instances where this happened.
One day, while I was working as a yard clerk in LaCrosse, WI, a local freight came up short a brakeman when the crew was called. The conductor asked me if I would consider joining his crew.
While I was thinking this over, the local clerks' union rep (the "griever") got wind of this, and quickly informed me that if I worked as a brakeman that day, it would be the last day I would be able to work as a clerk. I decided it would be better to remain a clerk, but in hindsight it was a bad decision. There was a large seniority roster for the trainmen, I would have been at the mercy of the extra board. But I would have acquired a skill that could have kept me employed in an industry that was trimming clerks' jobs wholesale. And, eventually, I wound up in train service anyway.
Railfans trying to do railroaders' work is something that has always been discouraged. Not so much for stealing time as for safety and liability reasons. And of course, nowadays would be considered "over the top" for security reasons. Railroads spend a lot of effort and money on training new hires, for the reason not anybody can come on the property and work without proper preparation. A conductor or engineer who would allow that would be putting the company in a serious liability position.
Railfans who wish to do railroad work need to bite the bullet and hire on. I've found they often make good, motivated employees.
Les
On the Milwaukee Road, if a worker did work normally performed by another craft union, or even if he did the work assigned by job bulletin to another employee in the same craft, he ran the risk of being "timeslipped". Allegedly, the extra pay awarded to the offended employee would come out of the paycheck of the offender, although I personally knew of no instances where this happened.
One day, while I was working as a yard clerk in LaCrosse, WI, a local freight came up short a brakeman when the crew was called. The conductor asked me if I would consider joining his crew.
While I was thinking this over, the local clerks' union rep (the "griever") got wind of this, and quickly informed me that if I worked as a brakeman that day, it would be the last day I would be able to work as a clerk. I decided it would be better to remain a clerk, but in hindsight it was a bad decision. There was a large seniority roster for the trainmen, I would have been at the mercy of the extra board. But I would have acquired a skill that could have kept me employed in an industry that was trimming clerks' jobs wholesale. And, eventually, I wound up in train service anyway.
Railfans trying to do railroaders' work is something that has always been discouraged. Not so much for stealing time as for safety and liability reasons. And of course, nowadays would be considered "over the top" for security reasons. Railroads spend a lot of effort and money on training new hires, for the reason not anybody can come on the property and work without proper preparation. A conductor or engineer who would allow that would be putting the company in a serious liability position.
Railfans who wish to do railroad work need to bite the bullet and hire on. I've found they often make good, motivated employees.
Les