Last time we talked about the difference in attitudes between managers and the working folks. Attitudes reflect expectations, and as we are most comfortable if we know what is expected, let’s take a look at expectations in writing: Our agreements. As we talked about last time, our work is defined by agreements; contracts in the legal sense. Therefore, the first place to look for improvement in these situations is how our agreements are working.  Is it realistic to expect employees to know their agreements?  Yes, but how many of you know your agreements well enough to defend them against an ignorant company officer? 

The fact is, many company officers these days are not from the ranks, don’t  understand and could care less about our agreements.  The carriers encourage this, so is it realistic to expect these folks to understand our agreements?  Maybe, if you put it to them in a realistic manner, they might understand.   The other day I spoke with an MTO who told me up front, “We only violate the agreements when we’re in a bind and have to get the trains going.” (On the UP this is all the time) Wrong!  I wanted to tell him the story of the bank that held his mortgage.  How they were in a bind and needed some extra cash for new investments and upped his payment by $500.  Asked him how he would feel about that sort of thing. “Hell, No!” he says,  “They can’t do that, we have a contract!” 

Guess what, pal?  A labor agreement is a contract, too.  And as representatives of the corporation that signed that agreement, those officers are bound legally to honor it.  But there’s a problem. They can get away without honoring it.   The Railway Labor Act, written to preserve national security over 65 years ago, is still the basis of grievances for America’s railroad labor folks.  Problem is, the grievance system has become so corrupted by the carrier’s  maneuvers and the unions having been put in ever weaker positions that the RLA doesn’t work any more, except for the stalling tactics employed by the carriers. 

Today you’re more likely to see any and every claim denied without consideration, at least twice.  Then we appeal these claims to the General Committee and they bundle up mine, yours and every one else’s and take them to a neutral who really wants to keep his cushy job.  And not wanting to be fired by either the union or the carrier, he tries to please everyone.  By the way, this takes the better part of a year.   It’s like a loan to the carrier.  Maybe half get paid, which means that no matter the merit of your claim, if the “neutral” blows yours off, you lose. Your work for nothing.  Feel better now? 

The fact is, the carriers have negotiated agreements for the last twenty or so years which they had no intention of honoring or abiding by.  If you think otherwise, look at the  ’85, ‘91 ’96 national agreements, most of the hub agreements since the merger and the merger agreement itself.  Also,  ask any union officer who handles claims. And then look at what really happens. 
There is a way to change this:  Every agreement railroad employee in America needs to write, call, e-mail or otherwise contact their union’s national leadership and DEMAND that claims be handled in a much more expeditious manner.  Failing that, we should throw the bums out and get new leadership, by any means.  Failing that, we should be prepared to campaign for the abolition of the Railway Labor Act, which would put these liars out of business.  Sound pretty radical?   How’d you like your union to be able to do what the Teamsters did to Overnite?  How’d you like to shut ‘em down?   How’d you like to level the playing field?  If our organizations’ hands weren’t tied, if we had some teeth, you can bet the carriers would be a lot more willing to honor our agreements.   And once they start showing some respect for our agreements and labor organizations, they may even begin to show some respect for their employees.  Unrealistic? Who knows?

Report from the Northwest

HEY SARGE, UPDATE FROM THE PORTLAND SERVICE UNIT.... THIS IS HOW THE EWE PEE RUNS UP THE HILL OUT OF EUGENE... 09/12/00--3 BIG ROAD UNITS, 6 CARS... THE DISPATCHER HEADS THEM INTO THE SIDING AT OAKRIDGE, 47 MILES WEST OF EUGENE. THEY HAVE BEEN ON-DUTY FOR 2 HOURS. DISPATCHER TELLS THEM TO WAIT FOR HELPER... CREW INFORMS DISPATCHER THAT THEY HAVE 3 UNITS AND ONLY 6 CARS, NO HELPER NEEDED.. HE TELLS CREW 2 WAIT PATIENTLY, THEY WAIT 6 HOURS.. THE LIGHT FINALLY COMES ON... CREW  IS INSTRUCTED TO TIE DOWN TRAIN AND DEADHEAD TO K-FALLS... UPON ARRIVAL K-FALLS CREW IS INSTRUCTED TO CALL DISPATCHER AND THE TRAINMASTER TO FIGURE OUT WHO'S AT FAULT...I WILL KEEP U POSTED... (You STILL can’t spell stupid without UP)    BFD  (ever notice how somebody always has to be at fault?)

We Get Letters

Dear Snake,
Enjoyed your July issue, especially the part about “UP-isms”. Up-this and Up-that is all very well and good, but you guys left out the most important one of all:   UP YOURS!  This is management’s attitude toward their workers and customers, so why not make it a part of our everyday communications?  Imagine all the fun we can have by smiling, waving and yelling “UP YOURS” when dealing with fellow employees and especially managers.  This will also keep the UP name foremost in our minds since I’ll bet we’ll be saying it A LOT!  Keep up the good work, and UP YOURS!
Mean Ole Fart, LA Basin

Griever’s Corner

Got an e-mail the other day from a purveyor of SP memorabilia. You know, T-shirts, caps, pins & etc.  Says his sales have dropped off since the merger.  Are we on the way to being forgotten?   The old SP may be gone but there are still a lot of us out here who remember “The good old days.”   Remember when it was fun to come to work?  Remember when your kid went to school with your crew dispatcher’s kid?   Remember when your neighbor was an employee, too?  Remember when we took pride in doing a good job?     Remember when railroading was a good-paying job that meant something?  I don’t think it’s a good idea to live in the past. But I also don’t think it’s a good idea to be treated like trash, looked upon as a liability and cheated of our rightful, contractually agreed upon wages just so some “manager” in Omaha or wherever can satisfy his sick little mind that he is “in charge” of all these people.  The pencil pushing drones who think they run the railroad from the dullest city on earth have no idea of the kind of mess they have made of things out here in the real world.  Union Pacific stock is once again hovering around the dumpster.   Way to go, Dick.  How about another bonus, you could sure use it.  Why don’t you stop listening to the bullshit your managers send up to you?  Check it out for yourself.    In the meantime, operations are going to hell, the railroad is run pretty much by incompetents and the real professionals are being ignored.   Do they still hire real railroaders to be Superintendents? I doubt it.  Or Vice-Presidents?  Not likely.  We now live in the age of the number-cruncher.  Let’s just fix everything by jacking up the numbers and cutting a few more jobs.  I think the tide has turned, friends, and not for the better.  Work safe, follow the rules and look out for each other!
Sarge

Quote of the Month

You start with a full bag of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck.
Uncle Bob

Poetry Corner

In an effort to add a little (very little ) class and culture to our publication, we present from time to time the musings of our poet laureate,  aka the “Raggedy-Assed Switchman.”
 

  In Union Pacific I've found
  Disgruntled employees abound
      When the workers are pissed
      they cannot resist
  complicating every meltdown

  Roseville's the crown jewel of the west
  But some folks are very distressed
      If you dare to inquire
      the hump counts were higher
  Before the rebuild of the crest

MYO Torrey helps all of the crews
And no one dares ever refuse
      But reporting your hours of service
     Can make an official nervous
Cuz it verifies the contract abuse

FROM:  IKE
TO:  DAN

We think you’re doing a great job in Roseville.  Everyone here on the 12th floor, from Dick D. (recently defrosted for the Republican Convention) to our obscurantist bean counters imported from the Tabernacle,  is behind you 100%.

Your daring and innovative cost-cutting measures are sure to become part of the constantly rewritten history of  the UP. Indeed, the boldness of your plans is matched only by your sheer lack of concern for the efficient use of pricey Distributed Power locomotives, mechanical dep’t personnel, clerks, yardmasters and all of those other less-than-pliable union types who play an important role in maintaining customer satisfaction –and carloadings.

But hey, let’s get serious.  If we burn up a few dozen engines so we can abandon Bakersfield, freeze out marginal shippers (any company not generating 142 carloads per year is toast), close yards, demote or eliminate whole classes of employees, originate locals hundreds of miles from where trains should logically be made up, and force our “associates” to bounce all over the system to protect jobs—when we’re not citing them for discipline or laying them off—then more power to you. 

Dan, you’re well on the way to confirming what I’ve said all along:  UP’s number one customer is UP management. Who else should benefit from an improved bottom line but our top officers?  After all, we’ve proved that customers are not part of the profit equation.  We’re counting on you to spare no expense to save money.  By the way, there’s a big bonus in it for you---if you don’t blow it.

Speaking of bottom line matters, after a round of golf at my mostly all-white country club, the boys and I came up with a great idea.  Let’s sell some of our employees to the BNSF!  Your plans will render quite a few folks surplus, and since we more or less own them, we can use them to raise funds for new locomotives or something similar. UP EMPLOYEES, OUR NUMBER ONE ASSET.   Kind of gives that tired bit of corporate claptrap a new twist, don’t you think?

Danny boy, the pipes are playing your tune.  But like Caesar, beware the Ides of March.  If anything disturbs The Big Plan, you’ll find yourself polishing shoes and running a paper shredder in Pine Bluff.

Oh, by the way, I’ve attached your letter of resignation. Just in case.  Feel free to sign and date it when the time is right.  Remember to remove your tie before using the knife.
IKE