Railroad Conductors?

Question

I have heard stories from other guys that work with me on the railroad saying that as a conductor, you can get sent to another city for months at a time. Is this true? I will be transfering from M.O.W to the train service as a conductor trainee this month, and I am starting to have second thoughts. In the interview, they said the position is a "primary recall" position. But does that assure me of not having to leave for an extended period of time?

Answer 1

You seem to be having a lot of doubts about transferring crafts so I will break it down for you in specifics because I am a conductor on BNSF and can tell the specifics you need and not just generalities from a UP engineer.

Your primary recall will last 5 years. If you have one that means you are hiring out on a former Santa Fe property, most likely in Texas.  The primary recall ties you to that terminal for five years.  Your seniority will be on all of our lines in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee (only Memphis really), Mississippi, Alabama, Missouri, Nebraska, Illinois.  And portions of our lines in Wyoming S. Dakota. Your seniority roster will be NH99 which covers all of our system except the former Great Northern which is the pacific Northwest, Montana, Minnesota, and N. Dakota.  If you are hiring out in one of those areas that will be your seniority district rather than the rest of the country, but I am pretty sure the old Santa Fe locations are the only ones that can use the "Primary Recall" stipulation.  

Now in regards to your Primary Recall, that means that for five years the company "Can" hold you to that location.  If they have plenty of men you can exercise your seniority and go anywhere within your district, which is rather large as I explained earlier.  The main draw back to the Primary Recall is that say in 3 years you decide you want to move to Denver, Co and you go work there for a year and buy a house, if you are still under that five years they can call you back for a year if they need men and keep you there until your recall is up.  Now your Primary Recall does in no way dictate that your seniority will be sufficient to hold your home terminal.  There are seasonalities in this business and seniority is the worst at the first of the year.  There are "low seniority terminals" and "high seniority terminals" on our system.  Typically Tempe, Tx is a low seniority terminal and the last couple of years they have not had anyone "cut off" during the winter.  The level of seniority it requires to hold seniority year round usually depends on the amount of money to be made and the relative ease of the jobs at a particular terminal.  For example I work in Winslow, Az, probably the highest seniority terminal on the system right now.  This is because our runs are long 271-301miles and the jobs usually involve little work.  I have been a conductor for four years now and this year I was "cut off", meaning I did not have sufficient seniority to hold my home terminal, for a week in Jan. and I am about to be cut off again for about a week right now.  I could take my seniority and hold almost any job I wanted in Texas right now and have plenty of guys below me.  That is just the difference between terminals.  

Now what happens when you get cut off is something I feel you need clarified.  Basically because of slowing intermodal traffic (trailers or containers loaded onto trains) the traffic has slowed quite a bit out here.  Especially when compared to say Texas where there is a lot more manifest traffic (tankers, box cars, etc.) or the Powder River region (Wyoming, Colorado) where there is a ton more coal traffic.  Because the traffic has slowed out here the company has cut back on its Extra boards (the boards that cover open positions such as vacations) and the Unions have cut back on their pool turns (the regular positions that work the trains) This has resulted in about 100 less guys working in my terminal right now than back in December.

As of right now when you get cut off you have three options.  You can exercise your seniority and go to another terminal to work.  You can go on a UTU negotiated work retention list, or you can put in a stay at home letter and just hang out.  

Option 1 - Exercising seniority and going elsewhere.  This is the second most popular option right now.  So now I cannot work in Winslow right?  I look at all the terminals that my seniority dictates I can hold, basically for me ANY terminal in my NH99 district.  But Gallup, NM is closest 2hrs and I can hold that terminal, so I will probably go there for about a week and come back. Now if I had say only a years worth of seniority I may not even be able to hold Gallup and it may be several months before I could hold Winslow again. (This is the being "sent" to other terminals for months that you have heard of.)  Depending on the level of Seniority it requires to hold your home terminal year round it may be a couple of years or it could be five before you don’t have to worry about being cut off.  However if they are hiring new conductors, chances are you will only have to worry about being cut off only minimally for a month or so the first year.

Option two - Now if you do get cut off you can elect to go on the newly created work retention list.  On this list the company puts you on standby and pays you 2000 per month and keeps your benefits going.  You do nothing but when they need you and call you, you will have only two days to report back to work.  Some guys like this list and have been on them for months.  They have had these lists for two years now and they don’t show any signs of abolishing them.

Option Three- With a stay at home letter you are basically telling the company that you do not want to go on the retention list and you do not wish to exercise your seniority elsewhere.  With this option they pay you nothing and you collect unemployment.  If they need you back, you will have 2wks to report back.  Very few people do this now that they have the retention list.  The only reason would be if you were going out of the country.  

So as far as being "sent" to another terminal away from your home terminal, that does not really happen.  You can get cut off and you can CHOOSE to go to another terminal to work if you can hold there.  You could also go on that work retention list and just stay at home with your family.  Like I said earlier if they are highering conductors at your terminal you have a good chance of being able to work year round without any worries.  In Winlsow they have not hired conductors in 2yrs.   You can just ask some of the TY&E employees where you are highering out if guys get cut off in the winter there.  They were offering guys $30,000 to move to Tempe, Tx and Tusla, Ok, they needed men so bad.  So in terminals like that chances are very good you would not get cut off.

I hope that helps some.  Sorry if I made any of it sound too trivial for you, I realize that M.O.W has a seniority system as well so you are probably somewhat familiar with the concept.  Feel free to email me if you want me to look on the Seniority roster and tell you if your terminal is a low or high seniority terminal.  Also the TY&E guys at that terminal will be a great wealth of info for you.  Be careful however, some of the "old heads" (rails that have been rail roading since the dawn of time) are very salted and things were possibly extremely different when they hired out, they may tell you things like "you will get cut of for 10 years before you can hold year round" because it was like that back in 1971.  But chances are they are just fear mongering and it may or (most likely) may not be like that anymore.  Some guys just like to complain to hear themselves talk.  

In the end I will take an 11-hour train ride in the middle of the night ANY day over welding a pull a apart or switch all day.  There are tons of former M.O.W guys I work with now as conductors and engineers, but I have never heard of a M.O.W worker who was a former conductor.

Again feel free to email me if you want to know about a specific terminal.

Answer 2

I have heard that there are some companies, that if they want to send train persons to another terminal to augment the work force at that terminal, and they refuse to go. The company treat that as resigning and let you go!!!

Answer 3

There are slight variations from property to property, but, if hiring on with an outfit where the trainmen have system seniority, then, sadly, if not having enough seniority to work on your home seniority district, you can be sent to another district to augment the number of trainmen there.

Until having enough seniority to work your home board, you are subject.

But, these days, railroads don't usually hire until there is an acute need for more men, so I wouldn't think you'd be in jeopardy after a year or two.  It just depends on the manpower needs.  They can fluctuate.

On the other hand, if one wishes to "follow the work" that is seasonal, if not making enough money where you're at, you can work wherever your seniority permits.  It is called the "boomer trail."  I've know lots of guys that would work in the north in the summer, then work in the south during winter.  Better recommended for a single person.

Seniority is the name of the game.  Keep in mind, in times past, if you couldn't work from your terminal, you were furloughed --  hard to raise a family or even support yourself on no income, until "recalled."

Also to be considered is how you'll stack up when new seniority is established.  If all are transferring into train service from another craft, such as yourself, the company hire date may well be the determining factor.  Depending on the size of the class, you may start out with 10 or 15 or more behind you if you're the oldest going in.  This is insulation, to some degree.

Engineers are not off the hook in this regard.  They can be augmented to an "adjoining" seniority district.  Not fun either, but it's better than being 1,000 miles away.

My brother spent the last six years of his career working as a Train Dispatcher in Omaha when his job got transferred there from Denver.  His family stayed behind in Denver.  A very tuff go, but necessary.

Railroading in train or engine service is hard on the family life even in the best of circumstances.  So, if you have a few bucks in the bank already and are enjoying a healthy married life, there isn't really anything to hold you back.

Have no second thoughts.  Never pass up an opportunity to get your name on a seniority roster.  The first couple of years may be tuff, but, after ya pays yur dues, ya gets da good bucks.

And this forever has been, when in train service...

By the way, never pay any attention to anyone with "stories" on the railroad, especially from a co-applicant.  They'll try to scare you off for their own betterment, and there's lots of BS out there on a daily basis anyway.  Haven't you ever heard the term "switch shanty lawyer?"  It speaks for itself.  Best not to become one.

Good luck, stay safe and keep the wheels on the steel !