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Speaking with railroader friends changed my mind on train unions. To an outsider, they sound terribly unreasonable, but speaking with people in the trenches ha

Speaking with railroader friends changed my mind on train unions. To an outsider, they sound terribly unreasonable, but speaking with people in the trenches has made me a believer in these unions, for whatever that is worth.

whatisthiseven 4y ago
Could you give examples of any kind? At the end you say "for whatever that is worth", but its worthiness is low given there are no specifics and I don't know you.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- alkaloid 4y ago
  Sure, a couple different ones. The first involved an engineer friend who literally "went off the rails" with one of these big trains. The union went to bat for him for six months or a year or something to try and protect his job. Ultimately they determined that he was at fault, but without the union he would have had no representation or recourse against the train company at all. A number of others involve injury: the unions make it difficult to terminate employees who are injured on the job; we don't really hear about how dangerous train work is. The article mentions that the conductor is "two" or "three miles" down the track at the end of train. That is a big deal, because the engineer doesn't necessarily have immediate feedback on when to stop. I've seen with my own eyes guys on the ground trying to guide one of these super-long trains into the yard to connect to other cars and that is some scary stuff. Finally, furloughs. I've had friends who were furloughed from their jobs at the train companies for years and had to go get a job at a grocery store stocking shelves. The train industry seems so have some regulation games going on at the governmental level and the union level. I'm not sure these guys would ever get their jobs back, with seniority, without union bargaining and playing interference with government.
rejectfinite 4y ago
> To an outsider, they sound terribly unreasonable ? To someone in the EU, it sounds bizarre that they would NOT have a union.
- pessimizer 4y ago
  Americans are taught to find them terribly unreasonable by default. This teaching used to be done with bullets and clubs.
  - rexpop 4y ago
    How's this lesson been taught since then?
- keybored 4y ago
  This is an American board so we’re supposed to gasp in disbelief and/or be intrigued when someone says that a particular kind of union is not inherently evil.
- cogman10 4y ago
  Us Americans have been brainwashed against unions. We have TV shows portraying "the lazy union worker". We have an entire political party dedicated to talking about how unions raise costs, are corrupt, and have burdensome dues. Any shop in the US that starts talk about unions will hire union busting PR firms and shove anti-union propaganda and fear mongering down employee's throats. Americans hate unions because big business here has been effective at demonizing them.
alliao 4y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZpUD9KgYc4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZpUD9KgYc4 I still can't get over how little view count this video got

whatisthiseven 4y ago

Could you give examples of any kind? At the end you say "for whatever that is worth", but its worthiness is low given there are no specifics and I don't know you.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
alkaloid 4y ago
Sure, a couple different ones. The first involved an engineer friend who literally "went off the rails" with one of these big trains. The union went to bat for him for six months or a year or something to try and protect his job. Ultimately they determined that he was at fault, but without the union he would have had no representation or recourse against the train company at all. A number of others involve injury: the unions make it difficult to terminate employees who are injured on the job; we don't really hear about how dangerous train work is. The article mentions that the conductor is "two" or "three miles" down the track at the end of train. That is a big deal, because the engineer doesn't necessarily have immediate feedback on when to stop. I've seen with my own eyes guys on the ground trying to guide one of these super-long trains into the yard to connect to other cars and that is some scary stuff. Finally, furloughs. I've had friends who were furloughed from their jobs at the train companies for years and had to go get a job at a grocery store stocking shelves. The train industry seems so have some regulation games going on at the governmental level and the union level. I'm not sure these guys would ever get their jobs back, with seniority, without union bargaining and playing interference with government.

rejectfinite 4y ago

> To an outsider, they sound terribly unreasonable ? To someone in the EU, it sounds bizarre that they would NOT have a union.

pessimizer 4y ago
Americans are taught to find them terribly unreasonable by default. This teaching used to be done with bullets and clubs.
- rexpop 4y ago
  How's this lesson been taught since then?
keybored 4y ago
This is an American board so we’re supposed to gasp in disbelief and/or be intrigued when someone says that a particular kind of union is not inherently evil.
cogman10 4y ago
Us Americans have been brainwashed against unions. We have TV shows portraying "the lazy union worker". We have an entire political party dedicated to talking about how unions raise costs, are corrupt, and have burdensome dues. Any shop in the US that starts talk about unions will hire union busting PR firms and shove anti-union propaganda and fear mongering down employee's throats. Americans hate unions because big business here has been effective at demonizing them.

alliao 4y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZpUD9KgYc4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZpUD9KgYc4 I still can't get over how little view count this video got