You think it's bad now. Wait til 1 man crews, no car 4s, no humps and the recession hits. We haven't seen anything yet and the UP brass knows it. They know what's coming and we don't. They're laughing at us and trolling us on the UP website.
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Don't worry, 1 man, is coming this contract, and no man, the next.
The railroads have their dream team in place, from FRA chief, Ron Batory, to labor secretary Eugene Scalia, to the Trump neocon judges stacked appellate courts, to the anti union, anti labor, trump, himself, train crews are completely screwed, and just because one is still working as a conductor now, absolutely does not equate to job security.
Trains lengths will continue to balloon, and Batory has said they can go over 20k feet and block public crossings indefinitely without recourse, so as more and more trains are consolidated, and then split up in the terminals, fewer and fewer crews will be needed.
It's already happening now, as average length is jumping to over 12k feet, and the CSX guys can tell you, that's still a baby, so all the high hopes of business picking up, and more crews needed, is a fairy tale, as the only thing that will happen is train lengths will jump another several thousand feet.
Anyone working in train crew that doesn't have 15-20 years, are the walking dead, but just don't know it yet.
I know 3 guys from the CSX who went from working as engineers to the street, with 17-23 years seniority when they gutted their workforce, so you haven't seen anything yet.