Re: PSR
Posted by Chessie Dispatcher
on 11/8/2019, 10:13 am, in reply to "
PSR"
Interesting article. The culture on the railroad was much different when I started in 1970. I did notice subtle changes throughout the years, and it became more pronounced after we "went CSX" in 1987. I never had to worry too much about forced overtime as an operator or dispatcher since we fell under the hours of service, and they had to be able to document an "emergency" to work us over 9 hours. I know that the train crews often had to work 12 hour days and could be called back out on rest and worked under much more physical and dangerous conditions than I ever had to. Now, with two-person crews and 15,000 feet trains it has to be even worse! When I worked for BNSF in Ft Worth in field support (remote clerk, basically), they could force you to stay and work a second shift. Of course, we did our share of complaining back in the 70's and 80's, but I never really dreaded going to work. Not sure I could say the same if not retired and had to "show up" in today's environment! Besides not really wanting to move at the time, one of the main reasons I nixed Jacksonville was the way they had it set up (free-for-all bidding with no recognition to place people on territory they were familiar with and qualified on, and territories too vast for one person to really handle effectively. Work someone to the breaking point and then, MAYBE, add another position.
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