catfish wrote:
"Found that the union pay scale at Union Pacific is $63,494 to $132,433.
My message to those turds.... Let me know if you can find that kind of pay elsewhere"
Simply stated, you know little about how these guys work to actually obtain those earnings. And I'm speaking directly at you, Catfish, and the other members of the forum.
How many hours are in a week?
24x7=168.
I'll bet some of the over-the-road train and engine guys are lucky to get 25-30 hours "home" each week. Perhaps three 10-hour "rest periods", and the remainder of the week on an engine, or at the other end of the line waiting for their return trip. But NOT "at home".
When I was a young fireman, someone told me about when HE was just starting out. An old-timer said to him, to wit: "kid, you're gonna make more money here than you ever seen, but it's gonna come out of your back".
And that's the way it could be.
Those guys making "the big bucks" are the ones putting in 80-100 hours a week (or more) away from home, out on the job.
The media (and perhaps the rail unions, the bosses) have misrepresented what this labor-management struggle was about from the get go.
It wasn't that much about "paid time off" (as in, paid "sick days").
That's pretty much B.S.
Rather, it was about UNPAID time off -- which most guys on the big railroads can't get. Or not enough.
I never made money like the guys do now. Nowhere close.
But of course, I didn't have to work like they did (for much of my career).
On the contrary, I reckon that I (personally) held one of the best engineer jobs in the country (in either freight or passenger). But I got lucky in that regard.
Still, I remember the days back in freight, and what they could be like.
You EARNED the money, and in many cases it DID "come out of your back".
The source article is from "The Hill", so of course, take it with a grain of salt.
But the railroads don't have "the retention rate" these days that they once did, because of the working conditions and abuse of the rank-and-file workers.
This is going to come back to bite them later on.
But "the carriers" never learn the easy way.
That's part of "the railroad life"...