Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Railroad strike Sept 16

What are you smoking? I definitely want some to be that optimistic! 3 days is highly unlikely let alone 30 days, Congress and the President will not allow it. I hope you prove me wrong while I'm standing on the picket line on Friday.

Not unless labor just folds and completely gives into management. The union couldn't have picked a worse time to strike, period. The companies can afford to sit it out and just do maintenance, repositioning manpower and equipment where best needed, and not be in a hurry to get anything done. But they won't give in to much of any of your demands. Heck what you all are asking is basically a completely new labor agreement and asking for what amounts to approximately a 50% pay increase, and retroactively. That won't happen, and no one will move without some serious negotiating and one or the other just giving in. I don't see that happening right off the bat, and remember it's been more than 30 years since labor has even been taken seriously.

Phii

Yes, we tye up our working ticket and walk off property. If you are working to your away from home terminal (AFHT), there are already steps in place to get you to your home terminal. I more than likely will be working to my AFHT tomorrow when/if the strike happens.

Good luck. I’m not so sure the RR can afford a shut do for very long.

Are the yard crews union too?

Thanks. I had forgotten the time line of the process there. Since I'm retired, my interest has slipped.

So Pierce was betting on a favorable PEB, but didn't get that in his opinion and the opinion of the rank & file (no surprise). The thing that gets me is how the rail union leadership (and mostly just the leadership) acts like they believe a Democrat administration will be their saviour, and barring that, a Democrat owned congress will allow a protracted strike. They entertain this fantasy (perhaps, selling the snake oil) every time, and every time, they're disappointed. And then the rank & file slap the leadership on the back and reelect the same group of leaders. I can guarantee that there are a lot of rails, including some local union leaders, who see the folly in this but they are outnumbered.

So - my expectation is that this will go just like almost every other contract negotiation of the last 40 years, and the PEB will be applied. I'm prepared to be surprised though, based on the current crop of Democrat politicians' penchant for doubling down on stupid. Ironically, I can't decide on which outcome I prefer. A protracted rail strike right now would not bode well for Democrats in the coming election, assuming we still actually have elections.

On the class 1's? Yes.

Thanks. I have some product "in transit" from San Diego to Chicago, curious as to what's gonna happen with it

All I can say is that in my 38 year career, the longest strike I can recall was something just short of 3 days. And that was with Democrats in charge. I recall others that lasted hours, and at least one that was stopped by injunction before it even began. Like I said, the Railway Labor Act was designed to limit the effects of strikes.

Again the Federal Government will not allow a railroad strike to go on long if at all. It will have nothing to do with labor folding, and labor isn't folding that's why we're looking at a strike at 00:01 EST Friday. When would be a good time to strike in your opinion?

We didn't pick this time to strike, it is just when it is happening. Contract negotiations after 2+ years failed. A PEB was held, we went back to the table and negotiations failed again. Would it be better to strike five years from now, when the next contract negotiations fail?

I also don't know where you're getting your numbers. If you want to know exactly what we asked for at the PEB, what was offered by the railroads, and what the PEB recommend then click on the link. It's 125 pages and pretty dry.

PEB 250 Recommendations

Its Phil....he gets his numbers out of his ass.

Which Class 1 is keeping engineers on at $25?

This one. The only one Phil has ever been around.

OOoooo. Thats a good'un if you can get hired on.

Best of luck to you. Ignore Gayghost as he’s an idiot.

I retired from BNSF in June after 19 years, but I am still getting the emails. I just got off a Zoom meeting with my local union and it looks like the strike will happen. Both the BLET and SMRT will officially go on strike tomorrow night (or Friday morning, however you want to look at it) at 12:01 which is the earliest they legally can. The companies came out with an offer this afternoon that was laughable from what I was just told. Also, the machinists union, which had struck a tentative agreement, voted that agreement down today. Will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow.

Biden will go to Delaware for the weekend.....

A shortline engineer possibly? Not any Class 1 railroads. The least I've been paid is $2500 a half as an engineer Jun 23-July 18 of this year. I was working the Local and had the job annulled because of lack of manpower. Normally I make $4500 a half and put in 55 hours a week.

That's $40 an hour and the lowest paying job as an engineer at my terminal. However, it had a set schedule and two days off a week. I enjoyed that for a little over a year, unti Hi-Viz screwd things up and people with more seniority wanted time off.

Do you remember the uproar when Reagan just replaced the ATC strikers that would not come to work? That move turned every union into a slush fund for the Demrats. Do you really think Biden is going to stand up against the unions? Oddly twice Biden has supported the Railroads already. Be interesting to see if Biden supports the workers or the sold out union heads and the Railroads.