How easy is it to get fired?

[trek23]

Hello,

I was recently hired as union pacific train crew. I have been reading up on railroading and besides from all the "ohh youll never be home, random hours, being jerked around, the weather blah blah blah" that is fine with me, I don't want to hear anything about that so just save your typing.... what I am worried about is the firing.

The whole entire time you are employed is union pacific really trying to fire you? I am having a hard time understanding this. How can a corporation try to fire you even if your not doing anything wrong? They cant try to fire all of their employees can they?

Also does ONE single mistake = instant firing?

I would like some info on this and I am not looking for a speech about "oh the railroad doesn't have time for any of your mistakes will you be able to handle it"

I just want some hard facts about firing and if is it there goal to get you outta there, or is that just some internet junk that is made up from people who are used to slacking off on the job.

thanks

[trek23]

Thank you sir ! It does, I am going to work hard to learn all the safety rules first since that is the most important and hope to get through the probation period. Do you know if it is easy to get fired after the probation period is over from what you have read ? Thanks

[GOLDEN-ARM]

the railroads are unique, in that they invest tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars to train you, qualify you, and get you working, then you spend the rest of your career trying not to get fired. some places are "safer" than others, but the big railroads now have "quotas", of field efficiency tests run in any given week, and despite what they might tell you, i personally know of quotas being directed, for minimum numbers of failures when testing. (up managers must spend 85% of their time outside of the office, in the field) small infractions result in written discipline, or retraining, time off, etc. larger ones result in investigations, held off pending, and even termination. get yourself job insurance, and pay the premiums. when i was on the houston service unit, managers had a directive that every employee needed to be shown in the files, as having been contacted, for a rules violation counseling. unfortunately, the railroads believe (rightly so, i guess) that nobody's perfect, and if you haven't witnessed someone breaking a rule, you haven't watched them long enough. work safely!!

[Dewoc19]

Yes they hire you and then spend the rest of your career trying to fire you, you will always be fighting for your job. Get hurt at work and then are gonna be on your assistance 10 fold then, there is stuff in my discipline record I never even did, they make shit up and add stuff to make it look like they are doing their job and you arent.

As far as red signals go, where I work your first offense is automatic 1 year on the street if they can't get you fired for good

[Gadfly]

Yes they hire you and then spend the rest of your career trying to fire you, you will always be fighting for your job. Get hurt at work and then are gonna be on your assistance 10 fold then, there is stuff in my discipline record I never even did, they make * up and add stuff to make it look like they are doing their job and you arent.

As far as red signals go, where I work your first offense is automatic 1 year on the street if they can't get you fired for good

Ever heard of a "bush baby"? These were the people who hide in the bushes (usually a Trainmaster) to catch you at the least infraction. I got run off one time and they held me off for 60 days, the maximum allowed before a hearing. I proved thru witnesses and the still-existing fault, that the minor incident was caused by defective equipment! Equipment the supervisor had KNOWN about, but failed to correct for several years!!!! Result? I was returned to service and PAID for the 60 days off-which chapped the railroad's a** BIGTIME! OH! Almost forgot! The supervisor got transferred (demoted) to a minor section manager in the shops! LMAO! It doesn't always work out for these "Alpha Hotel" bosses, either!

GF

[Freddy]

How Easy?
F*ck up and find out.

[trek23]

lol its not that bad as I finding out. Thanks for the info though

[IHBoilermaker]

I have found in my 13 years in this business that if you are a good employee, come to work and come to work on time, work safe, and keep your mouth shut, you shouldn't have too many problems. Keyword there is shouldn't. Every railroad is different, every terminal is different. You don't have to be a suck ass either. Just keep your record clean and don't sweat stuff. Do a little research and get yourself some can insurance, or job income protection insurance. I have been a BRCF member for my whole career and have never had to use it but its there in case I need it. Hopefully if I ever do need they will pay out but that's another story.

[slchub]

Only career I know of where one has job insurance.

Keep your nose clean, stay out of the managers office (the less they know of you and your face/name, the better) and comply with the rules as best as you can. If in doubt, STOP the move, have a job briefing and continue on. I know of nobody who has been fired for slowing down and taking the safe course. Assumptions will get you in trouble.

It's not that the railroad is looking to fire you (getting fired vs. terminated are two separate terms on the railroad vs. the outside world) but they have a duty to ensure that the millions of dollars of property they entrust to you and the potential for serious injury/death are mitigated by compliance to federal and company rules.

[train2]

During your probation period ride every shove. No matter how short or easy it appears. Unless there is a utility to watch the shove which releases you of the responsibility. Others often walk switches before starting a shove into a track during this time. Bounce most moves off the engineer before making them just to make sure you are not missing something. Most were conductors and often on the same runs before becoming an engineer. And even if not they have been there a longer time.

A new conductor at my place ran thru a switch on her first day marked up and she is still working. She got a little time off, but is back. Another new conductor, this time a male, did the same but he incurred a lot more dollar damage and I have been told he was fired. Pretty sure he had a conductor trainee with him and they both may be gone as a result.

And this is most important never do anything but pay extra attention when running on approach signals or restricting signals. Do not go to the bathroom or doze off, get up and step over to the control stand and talk to the engineer, you can talk about anything just make sure they are awake and attentive.

[Gadfly]

And also depends on your location, the supervisors' temperament, and on YOU, too. I worked for almost 20 years before I EVER had a disciplinary time-off, then a bunch of a-holes transferred from Bellevue, OH, off the NW with an ax to grind. I had even worked in the yards with no problems. These "yankee" clown had an attitude, and would give ya time off for the least mistake; things my other bosses never paid any attention to.

I remember one time, while working in the shops, we used to ship track material to the gangs and Track Supervisors. Speaking of which, we also had some of those "suck-ups" someone referred to. This one younger guy was a favorite of the boss and he couldn't seem to do anything wrong. He was probably the worst and least conscientious employee on the RoW. Yet he could stand around, talk on the phone, discuss golf and let the receiving of materials pile up. He was also a soccer referee who would get off early almost every week to go referee games--a clear conflict of interest according to company rules because he was PAID for this referee job. "Attention to duty is required. Employees must devote their attention to their assignments for whatever tour is assigned...........etc"

One day he got off early. I was busy with pulling orders for track gangs. The boss who was so friendly to this slacker let him off. I, of course, knew nothing of this. The procedure was for us to place our finished orders (pick lists) on this boy's desk for "wanding" (showing the order complete and entering data into the computer). It was not unusual to go to the receiving desk and find this guy away: after all, he spent much of his time holding up other employees gabbing. The boss apparently FORGOT he let this boy off. I put my finished orders on the desk and went on to other tasks, such as unloading trucks, taking parts to the backshop, oblivious to the fact that the orders were not going to be "keyed". It was, in fact, this bosses' job to take them to the office and get another clerk to key them in.

Next morning at the morning safety meeting, Mr. ********** said (looking directly at ME), "Ahem, there were some pick lists that didn't get keyed yesterday and I don't know how many times I've said that won't be tolerated!" BLAH! BLAH! BLAH! I'm thinking, 'well, I know I turned mine IN'!

AS soon as the meeting was over, the boss beckoned for me to follow him to his office where, no doubt, he was going to fire me! But a phone rang, and he went to answer it. I IMMEDIATELY raced to the receiving desk where..................I found the 'missing' pick lists: right where I put them the day before. I called my Foreman over where I showed her that this was a crock of sh** on the part of the Manager! She checked the computer printout, and, sure 'nuff! Every order matched. The Manager came out, saw us at the desk, and marched over to resume taking me out of service. But the Foreman showed him the list, explained what happened. He must have realized his own mistake, but instead of apologizing to ME for berating me in public, he snatched the picks out of the lady's hands, and with a "HAR_UMPH", he stomped off! This is one of the sum-bitches for which the railroad is famous for, and You will prob'ly run into 'em sooner or later!