I don't have a problem with outward-facing dash cams, or recording radio conversations with the dispatcher. I do have a problem of recording what is going on between crew members at 3 am trying to keep each other awake by talking about whatever, as long as the signals get called, and the upcoming train messages are fulfilled. I could never imagine the airline concept of a "sterile cockpit" ever working on a freight train. I didn't have a problem with banning cell phone use on the train. Too many conductors I worked with thought lining up their next booty call was a regular part of their job. I think the railroads that banned taking pictures at all while on-duty went a little too far. I never let it interfere with doing the job, and hopefully someday some of my imagery will be valued like that of some of the greats of the past

I'd had enough 30 years ago, and in my particular situation, most of our workers and bosses mostly got along, most of the time. BN used to promote from the ranks, so up to the division level, we were on the same side. In those days we'd have a strike every few years, and our bosses got to do their jobs and ours at the same time for a few days. When it was settled by PEB, everybody was glad it was over, and it only took another week to rerail all the wrecked equipment, fix it all, and repair the tracks again. Then we just had to sort out the damaged and delayed shipments, and things got back to normal. Lower level exempt employees usually got shit on worse than scheduled employees did, too. This system seems to me like it was way better than what the more recent employees have told me goes on today !!! They always tell me that I did good by getting a vasectomy, so I wasn't stuck driving trains until I dropped dead.

Brother Jayrod, I feel free to tell it like it was nowdays because all the guilty parties have either retired or croaked, or both. Back in the goodle days we had ways to communicate so that the corporate gestapo types didn't hear us. Sometimes the crew caller or roundhouse foreman would call me from their personal phone before we went on duty, or if it was during their shift, they could walk across the parking lot and use a pay phone at Denny's.

We still had to be careful. One time a conductor lost it and starting threatening an engineer friend of mine. He didn't have to say a word, just discreetly reached over to his handset and keyed the mike, and the whole division heard it. And there was a time or two that somebody's button got stuck, and their big mouth earned them one of those NTSB investigations.

My first day on the job, I was taught never to stand directly facing the person you were talking to. We stood so we could watch over the other person's shoulder for foremen sneaking up on us, and he could watch for somebody coming up behind me. When I travel to foreign countries, the railroaders usually figure out I'm also one of them because of this habit, and because of my following all the safety rules when I'm near the track or equipment. It's opened a lot of (enginehouse) doors for me....

In 21st Century railroading the most dangerous tool to many is the 'mute button'. With a lot of 'management' taking place on Conference Calls, from the Division Level up to the Board Room. Someone who has forgot the position of the Mute Button on their phone can find themselves in terminal trouble.

Recall several top level managers that tripped over their mute buttons.

Well, the PEB recommendation has come out.

And not a single one of the pros I know is happy about it, or will vote for it.

So... dark times ahead.

There is a post on R/Railroading from a thermite welder who says he is currently paid $31.38/hr while Target (the store) employees are being paid $28/hr.

I thought he was kidding about Target's wages but he was not -- here's an article from February 28th:
Target adopting minimum wages as high as $24 an hour

No wonder the RR industry has an employee shortage!

Especially as working for Target is local with fixed (human) hours, you're not on call all the time and aren't likely to be laid off several times a year.
Nope, you cannot blame anyone for taking the Target job instead!
For most of my life, I've said that the day would come when employers would no longer be able to call all the shots. I had no clue what situation would cause it, but I knew it would happen someday. And here we are.
Where I work (I handle bodily injury claims for a auto insurance carrier), we can't get nearly the number of quality folks to hire, and you have to do this for at least a year or two to be useful, especially if you're handling the claims that deal with attorneys and lawsuits.

The PEB recommendation (https://www.docdroid.net/t9jodav/peb-recommendation-pdf) ought to be read by all to get a good look at just how the Class Is view their employees. Here's a direct quote that's been making the rounds:

"The Carriers maintain that capital investment and risk are the reasons for their profits, not any contributions by labor. The Carriers further argue that there is no correlation historically between high profits and higher compensation, either in the freight rail industry or more generally. To the contrary, one of the Carriers' experts maintained that the most profitable companies are not those whose compensation is the highest. The Carriers assert that since employees have been fairly and adequately paid for their efforts and do not share in the downside risks if the operations are less profitable, then they have no claim to share in the upside either." (Page 32)

This is, to be frank, the biggest load of bullshit I have ever read. How many of you here have ever received a raise or a bonus due to your employer earning more and wanting to reward the labor for their efforts? This is not an uncommon thing. These railroads are displaying pure, unbridled greed and contempt for the people who actually make the wheels turn. No risk for train crews in economic downturn is another big example of how out of touch these C-Suite executives are. Do they think that these crews are just fine when a terminal loses a major customer and the bottom ten or so people on the seniority roster get furloughed? How about when a yard gets shut down and the employees have to either resign or uproot their families to chase their seniority wherever the number will take them? And some of y'all wonder why millennials tend to lean towards socialism...

I'm just going to put this out here: if you're involved with a shortline railroad whose employees qualify for railroad retirement, you're probably about to get flooded with applications. Make yourself attractive to them. Give the folks with experience and knowledge a reason to stick around. You're probably going to get the pick of the litter within the next few months, likely right after the back pay is rewarded. There's lots of talk about going to shortlines that pay a little less but provide a higher quality of life. Hell, that's the whole reason I'm working where I do now! The job I'm working ends every night with a seven mile shove back to the yard through a densely populated urban area, but I'm sticking with it because after every miserable shove with in the rain or the freezing cold winter winds, I get to go home to my own bed.

Zach brings an excellent point about how large companies treat their staff, and it's not just railroads. Large companies in general seem to have decided that they don't give a crap about their staff.

Zach also brings a point on the bonuses. My day job sees bonuses for everyone in the department every year. The owner takes half the profit, and then the other half goes to everyone else. Ours this year were so up there my take-home on the bonus after the taxes was right around $5800. Getting that was a slog, but we get those bonuses because we all earned them. You don't recruit or retain staff by treating them like garbage.

Like I said in my previous comment... the carriers want to stall this process and drag it out til, they hope, the political environment turns GOP... then they get their way.... get to basically say.. "these employees are nothing but a bunch of feather bedders and are way overpaid, and the GOP president would sign something to reward the carriers and help further destroy the union membership.
Bad part is, some of my union brothers are under the thrall of that guy and will cut off their nose to spite their face, all in the name of MAGA. Sad to say, but it's true.

I can imagine being an employee in such a case.
"Oh, you're telling us to work harder because the company needs it? NO, you just told us that we don't contribute to profits, so other than looking out for one another, you just proved to us that our contributions don't mean anything. So, accordingly, you're going to get a baseline from us. And it shouldn't make a difference to you either way."
Though it's not like this where I work now, the department I used to work for (not RR related) for a long time would pretty much give the same % of raises to everyone each year, regardless of how good or bad they were. Almost everyone got the same rating. Once that was clear, I told my boss to his face in front of the team that if the company wanted to pay me the same as someone who wasn't doing as well as I was, then, I was going to lower my output to the level at which that other person is being compensated the same way.
My boss just stood there in befuddled silence. I then said, "And I'll be happy to tell that to anyone in management that wants to hear it."
He walked out the room in a fog, because what I said, he couldn't make an argument against it.

I should have added this to my previous reply, but my employer provides a profit sharing bonus. My bonus for 2021, pro rated because I hired on in February, was $3,600 after taxes and deductions. Knowing that I'll likely be getting something in that ballpark every year is a great motivator for sticking around. Hell, it'll probably go up because a significant portion of our existing customers have been increasing carloads for 2022 AND we have at least three new customers, one who is looking at 7,500 cars per year. On top of that, I'm on a first name basis with every one of my managers and their managers, and they've created an atmosphere in the workplace in which I can tell them why I think something they ask me to do might not be a wise idea (in regards to logistics and planning; they've never asked me to do something unsafe).

It's not an equation that takes a doctorate in mathematics to figure out: fair compensation + a good workplace culture = reliable workforce that bolsters continuous income.

That paragraph drew appropriate outrage apparently: https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... ntroversy/

Wow. My initial, knee-jerk reaction: That was a stupid, short-sighted thing to put in print. We all knew it, and now “they” actually said it. Sadly, that sentiment is all too prevalent. That’s pretty much the definition of corporate greed by the upper echelon and investors. We’ll see if that statement was considered as an acceptable risk when there’s a nationwide strike. Unbelievable.

I can tell you from being in the room when the comments were made, that a certain woman Class I executive, daughter of a late, well-respected former Class I CEO, absolutely feels that way, said every accident is the fault of lazy conductors and other crew. That crew fatigue and poor training play no role. Heaven help the employees of the Class I she might eventually become CEO of.

I was an OTR driver in my past hopefully going back to that soon just waiting on the FMCSA to decide have a health condition they have to issue a waiver for. Well in 99 I was a driver for a carrier and a dispatcher said that the office generated all the profits instead of the drivers. I said oh really what would happen if the 250 drivers OUT THERE ON THE ROADS all stopped for a week to this company. The CEO was walking by he went why I said this idiot said the office was the profit center as they found the loads. CEO fired the guy on the spot. Why CEO flat out knew if we stopped moving the carrier was dead.