Greed,laziness and the union

[Barbecueboy]

Rail workers union bosses……..that is all.

[dirtMAN007]

Nuff said !

[Barbecueboy]

Pretty much sums it up all the way around…….the rail unions are notoriously some of the worst offenders of “ union strong arming “ to protect their cash cow.

And they wonder why?

[Barbecueboy]

Lobbying for more paid time off seems to be the issue this time???

More paid time off? Really? How about lobby for less corruption within your own ranks?

[Barbecueboy]

Certain airlines and their workers and pilots aren’t making quite enough money again……..looming strike.

And they wonder why.

[fastford]

kid should be happy , this allows him to spend more of his proud union retirement money supporting the unions of today by having to pay more for every thing , weeeeeeeeee.......

[dirtMAN007]

kid should be happy , this allows him to spend more of his proud union retirement money supporting the unions of today by having to pay more for every thing , weeeeeeeeee.......

Wait for it …………….

[Barbecueboy]

Rail workers union threatening to shut the country down by striking……the want to work less and get paid more money.

Does that surprise anyone?

[dirtMAN007]

Crickets …………………!

[ZERO25]

kid should be happy , this allows him to spend more of his proud union retirement money supporting the unions of today by having to pay more for every thing , weeeeeeeeee.......

Who turns down a 24% raise?........SMH

Spot on FF!

[Morgs153]

This thing with rail is a big issue with those who work for "haves" and those who work for the "have nots". The haves are the major class 1 carriers like BNSF, UP, CP/KCS (pending merger) CN, NS, CSX. The have nots to some degree are your class 2 and shortline operators.

There was a great story here in Wisconsin that started in the 80s. Soo Line purchased what was left of the old Milwaukee Road in 85. Then Soo Line had to start shedding excess lines. They tried to run those excess lines for a while as a subsidiary called Lake States but that didn't last so in 87 they sold off most of that to a new company called Wisconsin Central.

WC was non-union and they became very successful. They would encourage their train crews to look for businesses that had unused sidings and send their marketing department to potential customers and they built business back that Soo Line had neglected. Rail service had improved greatly under WC for Wisconsin and the Upper Penninsula and they had a very coveted line in their system, the most direct route from Duluth/Superior to Chicago. They made money carrying Canadian traffic over their system, mostly from CN.

As the 90s moved along WC stock did great. They were a model for a highly successful non union railroad. I knew people who worked for Soo Line and WC. The people I knew who worked for WC were very happy, the people I knew who worked for Soo had to move to other places to keep their jobs and use their seniority. Ulimately because of the success of WC the unions came in to court WC employees. The management made it clear, if you want a union we are for sale. We will sell to CN if you want to work for union railroad. They took a vote and the numbers were something like, 27% wanted one union, 24% wanted a different union, 49% wanted no union. Because of the "plurality of vote - 27 + 24 = 51" they went union. Wisconsin Central was then sold to CN shortly after.

After CN got WC they let the branch line customer traffic die on the vine. They got their coveted mainline and some of the more profitable lines but most of northern Wis and the UP suffered. Recently CN sold off most of these lines to Watco, a shortline operator but they can only interchange with CN as part of the deal (captive customer with no competition). Watco is now operating on tracks that had deferred maintenance and they are trying to make a go at it. Watco is even handling switching at some of the larger customers on the system.

The guys I know who work for CN are paid well, very very well. It is not uncommon for an engineer to make way north of $150k/year with all the OT. These guys hate CN (ruthless pr!cks is something I often hear). They tell me they have almost no time off. As soon as they are off for about 8 hours their phone is ringing for another call in for OT. They have only a small amount of refusals they can use and if they reach that limit, they are let go. You are expected to say yes every time they call and you are expected to have that phone welded to your hand when you are not at work. That's the way it is. Every one of those guys I know who worked for WC before being absorbed into CN to a man tells me they miss that old company. The only thing worse than getting what you want, is getting just what you want.

That's basically how it is all over the country. The major class 1 carriers use their people, and boy do they use them. They are most concerned with getting unit trains from here to there. Unless their online traffic is a major entity, they could care less. Lines that they regard as marginal, they would rather place out of service, abandon, or sell off to a shortline operator (Watco, Genesee, RJ Corman, etc.) and let them handle the small stuff. Just the way it is.

[Barbecueboy]

Shameful, just shameful…….and they wonder why?

[Buford.Justice]

Then we have the evil "teachers unions" Poisoning our children with an agenda that isn't even about teaching the 3 "R's" and history, and everything about learning in a constructive way.

The schools are now a common place to find pedophiles and perverts teaching your children. Along with the assorted "social justice" warriors.

Thank you to all of the good teachers that are still out there, it must be tough and frustrating to bow to the teachers unions!!!

[Buford.Justice]

One thing in defense of the railworkers is that they are fighting to save working positions that really should not be eliminated. Warren Buffett is trying to cut trains down to just one engineer and also they are increasing the size of trains to pretty incredible lengths.

Buffett is the guy that is largely responsible for the war against pipelines as he makes huge profits hauling fuels on railcars.

The Keystone pipeline. Cancelled by Biden on first day. Warren Buffet owns the railroad that is now transporting all that oil. Warren Buffet donated 58 million to Biden campaign. Warren Buffet would lose billions in transport fees if the pipeline is completed. See how politics works? It is not an environmental issue, it is a money issue

[Morgs153]

Nice point to bring up Warren Buffett. BNSF is the second largest railroad in North America behind Union Pacific (UP). BNSF is not a publicly traded company. BNSF is Warren's 1:1 scale train set, he owns it all.

So yes, when the pipelines out west got closed the oil had to get somewhere, somehow, and that was in large part on BNSF. Some of the oil does make it onto other carriers and one those is CN. The largest shareholder to CN is Bill Gates. Anyone care to guess where Bill Gates makes his political donations?

So when these people try to tell you how it is all about going green and saving the planet, I'll be out walking off a bullsh!t cramp.

[Barbecueboy]

Todays unions are like yesterdays pay phones………they were needed at one time but are now woefully obsolete and unnecessary.

Unions don’t protect their workers, they profit from them.

[Barbecueboy]

And ps…..only thing really green in California are Nancy pelosis teeth and Adam schiffs chiffon nightgown.
California, home of everything fake…..

[Raceready]

^^ The BOTOX capital of the WORLD ! ! ^^

[Barbecueboy]

We want to get paid way more and work way less……….rail unions platform.

And they wonder why?

[Raceready]

Unions are like a whore ; take all you can get and ask for more ! !