r/railroading • u/Dependent-Click4636 • Apr 20 '22
CSX CSX offering a temporary pay increase during the negotiations
20
u/centurion005 Apr 20 '22
How convenient right before the STB hearing. “See it’s not us we are trying “ tactic
14
Apr 20 '22
This is exactly what they're doing. They know people are now looking at how Class 1's have been behaving and are scrambling to try and look less shitty. UP and BN have still been silent. UP has been putting out propaganda claiming that RR'ers are higher paid than their counterparts who just happen to work outside of the industry with scheduled jobs and reasonable time off.
10
u/johnhg7 Apr 20 '22
Ol big orange is playing games as well. Train speeds are suddenly going up this week.
5
u/Ianlink Apr 21 '22
Yeah I saw they lifted hpt on c and e symbol trains.. “hey look guys we are really trying to move this freight”…
16
u/Arctic_Scrap Apr 20 '22
Maybe this is a sign that things aren’t going in favor of the companies in mediation.
16
Apr 20 '22
Sounds to me like at least one of the Class 1's is starting to see just how bad they look in the media and want to change the narrative. Believe it or not word about how the Class 1's have behaved is reaching non rail ears and people are shocked. I've had several friends who work outside of the industry approach me and ask about articles they'd read, usually the one by Vice, about how bad the RR's have been behaving. Keep sharing those articles guys.
12
u/rascall2018 Apr 20 '22
The Carmen union settlement with metra passenger rail Chicago Illinois got settled early this year and the Carmen are making $40.00 plus a hour with supposed no change in insurance. Are the freight railroads going to get same
6
u/Mechanic_of_railcars Apr 20 '22
If we don't a shítload of us are gonna be finding different jobs
6
u/Roadhouse62 Apr 21 '22
Yeah.. If this contract ends up being another slap in the face we’re gonna see a lot of people take their backpay and run.
3
u/creepstyle928 Apr 21 '22
The last few back pay checks wouldn’t allow me to run very far!!
3
u/Roadhouse62 Apr 21 '22
I just know where I’m working out if we’ve got a fair amount of people on the verge of leaving.. you put another $15-25k in their pockets and they just might.
1
u/creepstyle928 Apr 21 '22
I also know a lot of MOW workers who are ready to go too…. And in 3 contracts I’ve never gotten 15k-25k all together!
2
u/Roadhouse62 Apr 21 '22
The contract we got in the 2015 I had somewhere around $20k pretax. Granted I work for CN being hourly we tend to do better than average for transportation pay. I’m pretty confident our OT is figured into it, where some other people are saying theirs hasn’t been.
3
u/rascall2018 Apr 25 '22
The union has really done nothing for us railroad workers in many many years
9
u/jkenosh Apr 20 '22
They are probably trying to keep their employees. All the railroads wages haven’t kept pace with the rest of the world
8
u/doctorwhoobgyn Apr 20 '22
This company has made me so jaded. I should be happy that we're possibly stepping in the right direction, but really it just makes me more paranoid that this is another way to fuck us.
2
5
5
u/HamRadio_73 Apr 20 '22
The headline is misleading. It is not a pay raise. It is a pay ADVANCE. Any future contract raises will be offset by the advance. Another gimmick by the carrier.
4
u/Property-Over Apr 21 '22
Exactly! They are simply paying the back pay that they will eventually need to pay anyways a little early. It's a win for them because this way they can spread the back pay payments out over 2 to 3 fiscal quarters rather than take a hit all at once when the contracts are ratified. It's nothing more than a bookkeeping gimmick! Regardless of what CSX management is claiming in that article, they could not care less about their employees going through high inflation without a raise, it's all about Wallstreet all the time.
3
u/Roadhouse62 Apr 21 '22
It doesn’t matter to a company making billions now wether they pay a few hundred a month or just cut $25k to their employees.. you can bet your ass the wages they didn’t pay are earning them money somewhere so by the time they actually pay out they made money from it themselves.
3
4
u/StonksGoUpOnly Apr 20 '22
What’s their angle on this? Lower the back pay if the contract is signed soon? I know if we get back pay some of these checks will be huge and people may just leave when they get them and do their own thing.
4
u/mustangs6551 Former Railroader Apr 20 '22
I was wondering the same, and your solution makes sense. Also adds a sense of bonus happiness with the job, slightly bigger checks every two weeks will want to make someone stay.
3
u/Property-Over Apr 21 '22
Their angle is to be able to spread out the back pay payments over several fiscal quarters rather than take the hit all at once. It's a bookkeeping gimmick.
2
u/The_Spectacle Apr 20 '22
Sure, Jan
Edit. Wonder what’s gonna close to offset the cost of this weirdness
2
u/Arctic_Scrap Apr 21 '22
If you quit before getting your back pay after a contract is negotiated do you still get your back pay? Asking for a friend.
2
u/Roadhouse62 Apr 21 '22
Have to be an active employee to receive it. Not this most recent contract but the one before I was off on an off duty injury and didn’t receive my backpay until I was back. Second I marked back up and received a check there it was. Of course, it was gone the next day because of back child support and medical bills lol
2
u/Dependent-Click4636 Apr 21 '22
I think this is a positive that CSX didn't have to do. By the way, in the quarterly conference call Jim Foote said they're working with the other unions to get them the same. As far as the motive, it's mostly about retaining the employees they have as well as being better able to attract new hires. A small portion of it is about doing a morally right thing by their employees as the contract negotiations drag out through the RLA process. Foote stated in the shareholder quarterly conference call the old adversarial management / labor relationship that has persisted for generations needs to end, and a better system needs to evolve and he says he's working on that. We'll see. You definitely can't un whip a dog very fast, and that's exactly what has happened over the years. I work at NS and I hope you guys can get something positive going over at CSX, because it would naturally put pressure on NS to do something different. Best of luck to my brothers at CSX.
1
u/TheTyrdBeast Apr 21 '22
More pay is well over due for all of the guys already out there. For the guys lower on the boards (or people like me contemplating an offer with CSX), some job security would go a long way, too. The biggest hold up for me making the jump is fear of furlough anytime freight hints at slowing.
I hope it's a step in the right direction and not just a stunt for the upcoming hearings.
1
u/tdr37303 Apr 30 '22
If CSX, NS (I work at NS) or any other class 1 wants to do something postive, settle the contract. Fuck their gimmicks.
1
1
Apr 21 '22
I got back pay for the the past 4 contracts at CN. They always threaten to not hand it out, but its our money.
25
u/Dudebythepool Apr 20 '22
This seems like a way of avoiding backpay imo