I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and parse this.
HermitNS wrote:
As far as showing up for work, proper, accurate and efficient customer service (I have been "tested" by railroad officials after spotting auto facilities and have NEVER received less than a 98% compliance...and that is usually due to mismatched deck heights...something I have no control over). I am also "the guy" who is held over (usually close to going on the law) to complete the work that "senior" workers fail to complete in their EIGHT hour (or less) shifts.
Some of this is good; and some doesn't matter. Your attendance record is in your favor - that is a BIG issue with today's railroads. Customer service less so...the customer cannot cause nearly as much grief as can the FRA. They claim service is a priority; but they don't really care one way or another if a shipper is displeased.
Who is held over to cover work, is not relevant. AS far as management is concerned, we're all just interchangeable parts. You're available; you cover.
I AM a troublemaker in that I reported sexual activity between contract workers DURING shift and on moving locomotives.
I reported a senior engineer who trains jr conductors to run the engines then allows those conductors to operate said locomotives WITHOUT the engineer being physically onboard the power.
Big problem. The bearer of bad news is often associated with the bad news. I learnt of this when I had to work with an engineer who was high and running recklessly.
I nearly lost my job for reporting his behavior and his violence on my person.
He is now fired, for issues related to his substance abuse (he never failed a whiz-quiz). But the black mark is in MY personnel record.
I report EVERY cut of cars with insuffucuent or NO handbrakes applied. (one such cut rolled out of the yard recently and narrowly missed a moving outbound train. The impending accident was averted by a conductor I trained who VIOLATED the boarding moving equipment rule so he could bust the air that was bottled by the same crew I mentioned in the above paragraph) ETC, ETC, ETC.
Tattletales are not appreciated. If you see something unsafe, correct it and report YOUR action. As for what other people are doing, leave that to management. Keep it limited to YOUR own area of responsibility.
That is counter to safety dogma, but that is the way the railroad works.
Maybe I shouldn't go back because it's an antiquated and archaic form of management that I can't deal with.
If you can't deal with it, and you have any choice at all - you shouldn't go back. Otherwise you're just postponing the inevitable.
The wreck??? Accidents can/do happen.
The official line is:
ALL ACCIDENTS ARE PREVENTABLE.
We both know that's not absolutely true...but this is the false-reality you're working with. When things go wrong, it's someone's fault. So there are higher stakes and a BIG interest in keeping things from going wrong.
I bet you can't find a report on it though. Looking for NS 7131 accident reports in the FRA files and I can't find it anywhere. Is a coverup WORSE than an accident? My mentality? I ran the flightdeck of an aircraft carrier for my squadrons on several deployments.
Coverups are commonplace, especially now that the carriers are pushing that remote-technology. They're getting GOOD at sweeping stuff under the rug...eventually, it will blow up on them and cause them grief, but for now, that's how it is.
Keep in mind:
When problems are found, the rank and file will pay. The accident/incident issues on CSX have translated into increased supervision with regards to train speed, train securement, brake issues. Always, always, sewage rolls downhill.
You will NOT make any friends or headway with threats to rat out. Nor will it get your job back. I would put those plans aside - unless you're prepared to leave the industry. Even then, you'll make powerful enemies that may hurt you later.
You make the call here.
I have.
