Getting the courts to deny workers right to strike is simply a sleazy manipulation by the RR companies. It essentially makes the workers powerless.
Here we go... https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/21/sma...-as-rails-move-closer-to-national-strike.html Two of the largest rail unions diverged on labor deal votes Monday, with SMART-TD rejecting the deal and BLET voting for ratification. But BLET, the engineers’ union, said it will honor the picket line with other unions that voted against the deal. BRS, the signalmen’s union, can strike as soon as Dec. 5 but has the option to move its strike date to Dec. 9, to align with other unions including SMART-TD.
They clearly have no desire to. They simply want to cut crews to one, if that many. They'd rather pay politicians and lawyers than responsible and conscientious crews. What's a few deaths here and there?
Yup, be careful what you wish for. The gubmint already has its fingers in too much of our daily lives as it is.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/28/politics/joe-biden-rail-strike-congress/index.html Meanwhile, working conditions are still not addressed. Apparently that is what "pro labor" means to government.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7v...8jDi7C-95P2HwlKr0XGaAj9FmrO1zG5gQFVKqZqlZ9StU Labor historians alarmed by government anti-strike actions.
Couple of my friends who are with BNSF are angry! Lot's of them are waiting till they're back pay from 2021 is givin' to them-then they are out!! You'll have 20 year olds running these trains soon, by themselves, thru your community's!
Same here. Those who have not already "pulled the pin". I can't wait for the one man "crew". Someone with nowhere near enough experience to properly cope with a situation, will have a monumental pileup, then when it is far too late, the burro-crats will start talking about doing something, and after a few years of hot air, maybe they will act, in some insufficient way.
There was already an exodus of 15- to 20-year seniority people when this whole PSR thing/attendance "policies" started. The ones that leave next will be those that thought they could stick it out, but can't. Glad I'm gone from that crap.
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-rev...r-gentler-attendance-policies-for-rail-labor/ Interesting to see if the other class 1s will follow suit.
It will be interesting to see how the unions interpret this, or if as presented in that article. Propaganda? Or reality? Also, wondering if BNSF will be the last to get aboard, being a major instigator of this whole mess.
"You will get a stern talking-to, then get back to work!" Yeah, like that's gonna make people change...
Somewhat off topic, but Trains Magazine writer Bill Stephens wrote a story about a recent presentation to Wall Street by NS's CEO Alan Shaw that made very clear that NS has quit "the Cult of the Operating Ratio" and excessive cost cutting that has rewarded short term thinking, yet ruined service. NS will now retain trainmen in soft economic times. Shaw said “A company can’t expect to provide sustainable growth if it provides its customers with a lousy service product every three years.” Wall Street, rarely known for long term thinking, is likely dubious, so NS will need to execute on its promises. Stephens added that UP too has endorsed the same change in its operating plans. Some may call these senior officers out as scoundrels bearing false promises, but this is a sea change worthy of note. Many years ago at a meeting with my employer and NS, I spoke with Alan Shaw. I found him to be well versed in railroading and an extraordinarily smart man. He'll have a lot to oversee with this change. Maybe with this, the ghost of E. Hunter Harrison will finally be put to rest.
The proof will be in getting such policy through the 'shark invested' waters of 'activist investors' scheming to take control of the carriers and 'liberate' the cash it takes to keep Class 1 carriers operating in good times and bad.
We are decades past when the 'era of the bean counter' should have ended. Well, it should never have begun.... We have seen penny wise and pound foolish now for way beyond the limits. Railroads, (who are not alone in this, in the business world), have literally been cutting off both legs, and wondering why cannot run faster. Time to start operating like businesses again, and not just be money pumps for raiding investors.
The financial belief that there is 'free money' from making cuts to the operation is as old as the Perpetual Motion Machine.