CSX notified the union on July 19 that it would like to replace the mileage-based pay system with an hourly rate, William Lyons, general chairman of the union’s CSX Northern Lines General Committee of Adjustment, wrote in a letter to membership.
While CSX CEO E. Hunter Harrison was leading Canadian Pacific, CP reached an hourly agreement with engineers on its former Soo Line and Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern territories in the U.S.
Under the CP agreement, reached with the Soo union in the fall of 2015, engineers shifted to a 10-hour day and are eligible for overtime and holiday pay. They have scheduled work days, including two scheduled days off in every seven- or eight-day work cycle. And most engineers earn 20 to 30 percent more than under the mileage-based system.
In exchange, CP gained improved crew flexibility and productivity from the elimination of work rules. The engineer of a through train, for example, also may do yard and hostler work. This reduces the railroad’s costs and enables it to run with fewer engineers. It also makes it easier to recruit and retain engineers due to quality-of-life improvements.
Keith Creel, then CP’s chief operating officer, called the hourly agreement “transformational” for both sides.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen anticipated that CSX would want to move in this direction under Harrison, so its leadership studied hourly agreements at other railroads.
“We believe we are close to having an opening offer based on what was acceptable to the other railroads,” Lyons wrote. “Of course, the carrier may have an offer in mind that is nowhere near our position. We also believe the carrier will push to get an agreement in a very rapid fashion.”
The union does not have a timeline for the negotiations, Lyons wrote. He was out of the office and not available for comment.
“Keep in mind the hourly rate is, in essence, a purchase of our work rules,” Lyons wrote. “We have fought for over 150 years for many of the work protections we have today and the hourly price has to be right if we are to negotiate them away.”
CSX spokesman Rob Doolittle said the railroad does not comment on negotiations with the unions that represent its workers.
It’s all perspective, your already paid hourly if you want to break it down that way. It fluctuates, but now you know when your day ends and what your going to be doing. Hourly rate is another way of saying your agreements are gone and we will screw you all day everyday. The end.
Csx just wants to eliminate jobs and get more for less. Bottom line they don’t care about any employee or anyone else for that matter. This is all about the almighty dollar and greed. I cannot believe the unions would agree to this because it will be 25 percent less jobs and dues to collect. Makes you wonder?
So are the engineers going to sell out the yard crews for a dangling carrot just like they sold out the firemen for a couple of bucks? Way to Go BLET. We had a word for guys like you when I was in the Army, but I cant repeat it on this board.
Unions, just bear in mind that CSX is NOT offering any gifts!! There’s a polecat in the hen house, and the bottom line is going to be job abolishments an furloughed employees. The only real positive that could come out of it for the Union is to negotiate guaranteed wage, such as has been enjoyed by TCU clerks, from the C&O, B&O, SCL, etc. If you don’t already have guarantees built into your working agreements, it’s going to be hard to obtain one. You might find protection in the Washington Job Agreement, you might check that out. Just know going in, if you accept the hourly wage, you’re undoubtedly lose jobs and potentially, members. Might I suggest you all should read Chris Devries comments below.. scroll down… He paints an ugly picture of Hunter’s “plan” for “hourly wages”.
Every time I read the RR news I become more and more glad that I sold my CSX stock. Well, not glad, because I hate to see a good railroad go bad. But I also notice the stock price slipping. Mantle Ridge caused a bubble. Now they’ll have to swallow it.
Fred Frailey, any words of support for Hunter?
We’re waiting…..
Some of you guys are unreal. CSX is thinking about going to an hourly rate and right away the consensus is those bad union guys will screw the pooch and slow down. I would expect comments like that from Mcguire and Symonds. How many of you actually railroad for a living. Perfect example of why I let my subscription lapse. Tired of hearing from all the experts about how everything is always the fault of the unions. I have seen management do some screwball things the last 23yrs, but when they mess up they just get shifted to another position or territory.
Out.
There are definitely two sides to this issue. Obviouly work rules are needed to protect engineers from abusive assignments, but beating the clock so you can go fishing on the company’s dime is abuse on the obverse side of the coin.
Bear in mind that CSX has a good working knowledge how long road trips should take. Continual reports of crews spending exorbitant amount of time on these runs, when delay can’t be verified, will result in disciplinary action against the crew. Bet on it. If a certain trip should take 6 hours and crews are habitually taking 8 or more hours to complete, you can bet there will be investigations held for the extended time lost, You can only report delay so many times before it comes back on you. Think it out before signing on the bottom line.
The Union should really think twice about changing to an hourly pay rate. Here are my thoughts. First, CSX already knows how long road runs should be, so continual reports of delays to extend time on the trip are not going to work for very long.. Obviously, the first thing CSX will do will be to eliminate jobs. That’s a given. So, train crews who spend 5 hours, for example, on a road run will undoubtedly be required to perform yard work on arrival at a terminal, whether it be switching or hostling. The big question is going to be how many positions will be abolished, and how many crew members will become furloughed. The Carrier has already thought this out. Two road crews, timed right, can replace one yard crew. Yard crews may become few and far between, and positions as hostlers will probably disappear altogether. Believe that the Carrier is not offering hourly rates to be nice and give the Union better pay, etc. Yes there are some perks, but the bottom line is “jobs lost” in the process. So, Unions, do your homework at your respective terminals, how long runs normally take, when they normally go, how much time each crew will have left in their workday after the road run is ended, and can the time left over at the end of the day be used to perform yard work. They’re not offering apple pie without strings. So, think it out beforeyou agree to anything. Just my opinion, as a former crew dispatcher with CSX. I know how ruthless CSX can be.. been there, done that… not pretty.. Good luck!!
From what ive seen on other sites, this could be counterproductive. Other railroaders who have experienced this have said that at first its a shock to railroaders who are used to bringing a train in early, tying up, and going home. When they started figuring out that they would have to stay for the rest if their shift and be found something else to do, they stopped bringing the trains in early. Trains that took 6 hours to traverse the division before suddenly started taking 8-10 hours.
I can see Chris’ line of thought. I don’t know how many trainmen would want to run a mainline train for 6 or 7 hours, get to the terminal and then have to run a yard job for 4 or 5 hours.
Pay by the hour – and watch the “incident rates” rise. “Hey dispatch – we think we may have hit something at the last great crossing. We are now stopped, and walking back to investigate”.
In the meantime, all other train traffic could end up “on hold” which this incident is investigated.
Because it’s better. We have a mileage based contract in Canada and we know to stay away from Hunter’s hourly rate. Sure you sit unpaid in sidings but that’s a small trade off for how great everything else we have is.
The US CN employees and CP employees have it and they lost a lot.
Hunter’s hourly rate is a do as I tell you for 12 hours or else type of agreement. You have few protections, you work more and have less time at home.
Im sure I don’t understand this article correctly–Bill Stephens states that Engineers get paid by the mile ? Why would anybody that is ” sitting in the hole ” waiting for the # 92 Sliver Star to go roaring by , want to get paid by the mile and not by the hour ?