Railroaders' Nostalgia > Marked up and stabbed in the back!

I remember the day I was marked up. New to the board, a fresh new name etc. Later that same day and believe me it wasn't much later, the phone rang and the Crew Disp
said very matter of factually " You've been cut off! Boy that was a quick education. Crybabies on the board didn't want an additional man so they gave the local chairman a call
and told him "there's a new man on the board" cut him off so we can get called earlier!" (there were only 5 or 6 guys to start with, but thats seniority railroading).

The same thing happened to me.  After passing my engineer exam in the afternoon; the Southern road foreman marked me up on the road engineer's extra board, and I went out on the Southern Crescent that night.  When I got back in I couldn't get off the engine before a group of engineers meeting me told me I was cut off the road board and never should have been added. A nice welcome to my new job on my new railroad.  No matter.  I made my trip, and I placed myself on the yard engineer extra board.  I never let it bother me because I figured I would be there when they were all gone, and I would be No. 1 on the seniority roster.

We never pulled such face to face shenanigans.....but if somebody is on a job he should not be on...bump him. Yes seniority....eventually he'll be on the right job...the one nobody else wants. 

Funny thing: there's nothing in any contract I've ever seen that guarantees an extra board nine starts a week. Now, some people may have wanted that. But if the board (or pool, for that matter) was making it's mileage, too bad. The contract is there for a reason, and it's not to starve the junior man so the senior one can work nine days a week.

 

RetiredHogger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Funny thing: there's nothing in any contract I've
> ever seen that guarantees an extra board nine
> starts a week. Now, some people may have wanted
> that. But if the board (or pool, for that matter)
> was making it's mileage, too bad. The contract is
> there for a reason, and it's not to starve the
> junior man so the senior one can work nine days a
> week.
>
>  
Agree 100% but in my experience you can’t even shame the mile hogs face to face in the yard office.

They that have no shame.

Regards.

Posted from iPhone

I remember a trainman in Savannah who told the vice local chairman they needed to cut the trainman's extra board because he was going to have to claim some guarantee.(He was a prior rights SAL trainman and haad a merger guarantee). The worst cussing I ever heard the Vice chairman ever do was to this POS . It was 1975 or so. The Vice LC informed him there was about 125 men cut off with no job or guarantee and he wasn't going to cut another one off. If he didn't like it he could go somewhere else where he had seniority. I always respected the vice chairman after that.

Sam

Still happens to this day although in my terminal, the local controls the number of pool turns and the company controls the number of extra board positions. You never know what's going to happen from one day to the next.

If you're on the extra board, how do you get paid? Per actual run? A flat fee no matter what? Some combination? Thanks

Speaking of local chairmen:    I'm my management career that spanned 20 years at the Class 1's I tried to keep a good reputation with the local chairmen.   While wearing the hat as an investigating officer,   the LC would often work out a deal for those folks under an investigation who were worth saving or take the opposite approach at encourage throwing the book at the charged employee.  When wearing the hat as a hearing officer,  I tried to be as fair and impartial as I could...even though we all knew it was a horse and pony show.   Early on in my career I was short a guy or two on a pool board (couldn't run a train until crew was rested which was hours away) and then request an additional person be placed on the board,  however the LC schooled me on how much money folks on that particular board worked and that adding one guy on it would cost them.   Crew management , the associated agreements,   and managing those pools at a Class 1 is no easy task.  Crew management can't win:  they hear it from the agreement employees when called earlier than predicted and then get an earful from management who wants to cut the boards to the bone. 

Burt Norton

BurtNorton Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Speaking of local chairmen:    I'm my management
> career that spanned 20 years at the Class 1's I
> tried to keep a good reputation with the local
> chairmen.   While wearing the hat as an
> investigating officer,   the LC would often work
> out a deal for those folks under an investigation
> who were worth saving or take the opposite
> approach at encourage throwing the book at the
> charged employee.  When wearing the hat as a
> hearing officer,  I tried to be as fair and
> impartial as I could...even though we all knew it
> was a horse and pony show.   Early on in my
> career I was short a guy or two on a pool board
> (couldn't run a train until crew was rested which
> was hours away) and then request an additional
> person be placed on the board,  however the LC
> schooled me on how much money folks on that
> particular board worked and that adding one guy on
> it would cost them.   Crew management , the
> associated agreements,   and managing those
> pools at a Class 1 is no easy task.  Crew
> management can't win:  they hear it from the
> agreement employees when called earlier than
> predicted and then get an earful from management
> who wants to cut the boards to the bone. 
>
> Burt Norton

Well, you must know ain't nothing changed....either too many jobs or too few.....lately way too few, since there weren't anyone to put on them...now we have some and are glad to though we know a shake out is going to come, and we'll be lucky to keep half of what we hired. And while we were shorthanded you could almost comit murder and get 3 days overhead at worst...because they needed you keep working.