Still, most workers and their unions remain skeptical of the railroads because they say they have yet to see meaningful actions toward improving their lives on the job.
“I hope that they’re serious about putting their employees first. But the track record is less than stellar,” longtime
The early signs of progress include a
There are other negotiations about these quality-of-life issues going on at all the major railroads. Those talks started after
It's still too soon for those new talks to yield any significant changes. CSX CEO
There are some railroad jobs that have fairly regular schedules, but many do not. Train crews, in particular, are largely forced to be on call all the time. Workers and their unions say those unpredictable schedules, combined with the strict attendance rules railroads put in place after eliminating roughly one-third of all their jobs in recent years while overhauling their operations, make it hard to take time off for any reason.
Engineer
“It just got to the point where if something hadn’t changed, it just wasn’t worth staying," Dye said. "I think a lot of guys feel that way too — not just me. I know there’s a lot of guys who are still actively looking.”
Dye said being able to make definite plans with his family or knowing he can tackle a project around the house like installing the new hot water heater he just put in without being interrupted with a call to work is amazing. All too often, he said he has had to cancel plans he’s made with his 16-year-old daughter after she’d already circled something on the calendar she wanted to do with him.
“That’s huge for me not to have to break her heart,” said Dye, 40.
Another experienced engineer involved in the pilot project,
“I’ve already been through one divorce," Ray said. "I don’t think that was all of it, but the unpredictability and not being around for a lot of things didn’t help.”
That’s why the
Wallace said he remembers all too well growing up as the son of a railroader and spending many Christmas mornings without his dad there. He later had to miss several Christmases with his own kids while he was away operating a train.
“I’m trying to put pressure on UP to do this sooner rather than later,” Wallace said. And he said having more regular schedules would help railroads recruit the new workers they need to handle all the freight companies want them to deliver.
Fritz has also said publicly that he wants to work this year on providing workers with the paid sick leave railroads refused to give them in the negotiations last fall, but he said Tuesday that's a complicated question and “our employees tell us that predictable schedules is the most important thing to work on first.”
Even though track maintenance workers in the
“To date, we haven’t seen genuine concern from management about these quality-of-life decisions that our members increasingly wrestle with,” Ballew said. “Their focus continues to be honed on operations and ... the bottom line.”
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission., source