Plenty of links to this story. https://www.yahoo.com/news/rail-union-rejects-labor-deal-224410352.html
i really dislike unions i really do. Dont judge me i used to work for a union then we all voted them out no more union then we got a better work job as soon as we voted them out........
I understand. When they really aren't needed, they tend to be corrupt bloodsuckers with entirely too strong an affinity for organized crime. But when they are needed, nothing else will do. And they are definitely needed in this situation.
The same kind of greed and disregard for the people that make them rich are also hallmarks of the big class 1s that have the whole country in this situation.
That's the sad part. If they'd take better care of the workers, they'd be even richer. Happy workers are more productive. But......
They're about to find out that just as a rising tide floats all boats, an ebb tide beaches all boats.
It's hard to imagine now, but increasing wages will expedite further development of train operating software such as Wabtec's Trip Optimzer which NS and CSX (and perhaps others) use daily. Public acceptance of autonomous technologies will grow as automobiles and delivery vehicles routinely work their assignments. Add in these, plus continuing expansion of PTC and video monitoring technology, and the need for trainmen and even lineside signals will be diminished. Yards will be staffed, trans readied, sent out without crews to be received at the next terminal. Local trains will remain crewed. I'm not taking sides on the issue. Technology's momentum is undeniable, and it will take us in directions we can't imagine. Interesting video on Wabtec's Trip Optimzer here:
Autonomous trains are probably the desired end result for the Class 1s. BNSF uses Trip Optimizer, too.
This isn't exactly a secret - the railroad's initial move when first threatened with a strike was to ask for 1 person crews . . . Labor is the only part of their cost model they can keep depressing (to a point) to meet their ever higher profit growth requirements. One wonders what they will do to maintain that when automated trains become a reality.
The ultimate aim is a Money Button. Push it and money goes to the bottom line - all without employees. The railroad runs all its activities without human intervention.
I had to deal with Trip "Traumatizer" (keeping it family-friendly) on a daily basis and absolutely hated it. I quite often would turn it off and run manually because I expected to complete my trip every day. We were supposed to use it at least 90% of our trip when available. I was regularly in the 20-30% range. Never heard a word, also made it into the terminal quite regularly...
"Trip Traumatizer" -- funny! As a railfan, Trip Optimizer is maddening. To minimize trackside wait times, I run a calculation in my head figuring on track speed. All too often, the train arrives much later that I figured, running at half speed. I understand the reasoning behind the science, but for those of us who care about our work (whatever we work at), there's a want for involvement, control and outcome that these systems dismiss.
Well, it is looking more and more like a strike. https://www.yahoo.com/news/railroads-reject-sick-time-demands-154209409.html
All because of pathological corporate greed, the major railroads are going to drive a strike (and push the whole nation into a even worse, already serious supply chain crisis) as they are unwilling to provide what these workers DESERVE. The problem is that we're going into the winter season, and a strike now will seriously disrupt supplies of heating oil, natural gas, coal (for electricity), petroleum for gasoline and diesel fuel, food, and everything else we need to live, and depend upon during the winter. If you though inflation was bad now, wait until this strike hits...
Both Management and the unions know that if everyone votes no, Congress can and may well intervene and force railroaders back to work. When the final strike vote happens in the unions, I suspect Congress will pass something in a matter of days. It will take weeks to months to unwind that damage, but the strike itself won't be long lived. Should all that come to pass i expect a lot of railroad labor will just walk. And Railroads will get semi-automated long haul trains with single person crews (which they seem to be after anyway).
Forcing the railroaders to go back to work is one thing, but the government needs to also force the railroads to stop being so tightfisted, and provide what these workers deserve--schedules, just compensation, time off, ability to take said time off, and remove the draconian attendance policies. That said, government intervention in this matter is a dangerous precedent...