Lou’s Point

This morning I checked the boards. A few hours later the big shock: 71 furlough in Roseville, 54 in Oakland, 24 in Ozol and 12 in San Luis Obispo – not talking about the other stations along the Lines. Within a few hours 11 more furlough in Roseville. That is unbelievable. The Statistics show more Car Loads (the best month since December 2008) – everything is going up, so the furloughs. What’s going on there ?

Oh MAN, I am so mad right now. I want to put my Steel Toe Shoes (still the original once I’d by in Roseville while in the New Hire Class – just don’t have enough time to wear them off) into somebody’s Telly Device – not to get a Brown Nose – the other kind of kicking.

Nice to hear that the German Railroad is offering ~400 new Training positions this year for New Hires with guarantee to work after a 3 year Training period. They know how many people are leaving this year for retirement so they can calculate. Not one of the biggest Railroad in the World  can do such thing ? Something is fishy here behind the curtain. I am still too trustworthy to see the big picture I guess.

The new Hours of Service implemented this year did not help at all; at last for us furlough employees. Guys on the Extra Board are still working like crazy with a 14 hour rest between shifts – 6-7 days a week (if the week had 10 days they had/would work 9 days I am sure).

Can’t they spread the work between all of us ? Every time someone on the Extra Board lays off they should call one from the furlough board. How about that ? Everybody works 40 hours a week and if over get somebody from the furlough board or expand the boards so every body has work.

Just a few thoughts from me – nothing will change in the near future I guess/fear. It’s not the Carriers fault, it’s the System behind that lags. Let’s hope the economy will go up again and everybody is happy.