http://lou.myheartvoice.com/?p=611 My Railroad Life Fri, 07 May 2010 03:18:04 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 http://lou.myheartvoice.com/?p=611&cpage=1#comment-572 B Hebisen Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:38:39 +0000 http://lou.myheartvoice.com/?p=611#comment-572 Its been real tough for all of us railroaders. I worked for the BNSF for the past two years and am currently furloughed. The best answers that I can give my friends is not to wait around for the railroad to help you out. As a furloughed employee you are not a concern for them. Thery are only concerned with paying stock dividends to shareholders and in increasing their profit margins. The railroads could easily keep all of their furloughed employees working, but they have no motivation to do so. Our unions also are a part of the problem they can offer nothing to a furloughed employee but the garantee of a job when work does return. I have given many of my friends the advice from the beginning to continue with life. Find a job return to college keep on living because this furlough is going to last for some time. Even when we get recalled it will be only for peak months and then back to the furlough. This is how the railroads operate. I have studied the data for the BNSF and am convinced that through retirement of oldheads and recall of employees that I will not be recalled for fulltime duties until sometime after the spring of 2011. All of the railroads were geared up for 2006-2007 levels of operation. They are currently at levels of traffic that are 20 percent lower than those levels. What this means is that they can run a streamlined business on mostly clear track without delays and with as few employees as possible. We will work again if we want to, but in the meantime we should carry on with our lives, for even when we are recalled it will be like being a new hire all over, with the possiblity of furlough aroud the holidays of 2011 and 2012. I base this on the data I have analized from railfax and the average number of furloughed employees in 2009. Its been real tough for all of us railroaders. I worked for the BNSF for the past two years and am currently furloughed. The best answers that I can give my friends is not to wait around for the railroad to help you out. As a furloughed employee you are not a concern for them. Thery are only concerned with paying stock dividends to shareholders and in increasing their profit margins. The railroads could easily keep all of their furloughed employees working, but they have no motivation to do so. Our unions also are a part of the problem they can offer nothing to a furloughed employee but the garantee of a job when work does return. I have given many of my friends the advice from the beginning to continue with life. Find a job return to college keep on living because this furlough is going to last for some time. Even when we get recalled it will be only for peak months and then back to the furlough. This is how the railroads operate.
I have studied the data for the BNSF and am convinced that through retirement of oldheads and recall of employees that I will not be recalled for fulltime duties until sometime after the spring of 2011. All of the railroads were geared up for 2006-2007 levels of operation. They are currently at levels of traffic that are 20 percent lower than those levels. What this means is that they can run a streamlined business on mostly clear track without delays and with as few employees as possible. We will work again if we want to, but in the meantime we should carry on with our lives, for even when we are recalled it will be like being a new hire all over, with the possiblity of furlough aroud the holidays of 2011 and 2012. I base this on the data I have analized from railfax and the average number of furloughed employees in 2009.

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