Eastern Railroad Discussion > CSX new availability standards for T&E

C S X T R A N S P O R T A T I O N
SYSTEM BULLETINS/NOTICES
JULY 30, 2010

BULLETINS & NOTICES SYSTEM NOTICE 108

TO: ALL CSX EMPLOYEES
LOCATION: CSX TRANSPORTATION
EFFECTIVE: IMMEDIATELY
SUBJECT: NEW AVAILABILITY STANDARDS

THE NEW AVAILABILITY STANDARDS SUPERCEDE AND REPLACE ALL EXISTING
ATTENDANCE MEASUREMENTS AS WELL AS SYSTEM REISSUE NOTICE 100,ITEM 3, DATED
JULY 1, 2010.

MINIMUM AVAILABILITY
EMPLOYEES WHO ARE UNAVAILABLE FOR ANY NON-COMPENSATED REASON (OTHER THAN REST DAYS AND TIME OFF MANDATED BY THE HOURS OF
SERVICE ACT, AS AMENDED BY THE RAIL SAFETY IMPROVEMENT ACT) ON 2
OR MORE DAYS IN A ROLLING 4-WEEK PERIOD WILL BE SUBJECT TO REVIEW.

NOTE: AVAILABLE TIME INCLUDES ALL COMPENSATED TIME OFF(INCLUDING
VACATION, PERSONAL LEAVE, AND PERSONAL BUSINESS), AS WELL AS TIME
MARKED-OFF FOR FMLA LEAVE OR FOR ANY OTHER MARK-OFFS PROVIDED BY LAW

EXISTING ATTENDANCE DISCIPLINE PROGRESSION PROCESS WILL NOT CHANGE.

* FIRST 2 ATTENDANCE FAILURES HANDLED WITH WARNING LETTERS.
* FIRST INVESTIGATION - 2 DAYS OVERHEAD FOR 6 MONTHS.
* SECOND INVESTIGATION - 5 DAYS ACTUAL SUSPENSION.
* THIRD INVESTIGATION - DISCIPLINE ASSESSED - UP TO DISMISSAL.

EMPLOYEE'S RECORD WILL CONTINUE TO BE REVIEWED FOR A PERIOD OF
THREE YEARS FROM THE CURRENT INCIDENT.

aren't they being nice...

How many vacation, personal leave, and personal business days are allowed? I realize this could be a complex question depending on the bargaining agreements in place, seniority, location, etc. I'm wondering about ballpark figures here.

Their hurting for manpower, bigtime

I'm not totally up to speed on the lingo; I assume they are talking about what my employer calls unexcused absences, such as plain not showing up for work, rufusing a called assignment, not answering a crew call, or not calling in sick in advance of your asssigned work time?

wheel_slip Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I understand plans are in the works for a t&e
> walkout at 3:00 Thursday and no return until
> attendance is actively resolved by contract
> provisions. No matter what the union or the
> company says, it gets negotiated, or the trains do
> not run.

Good luck with that.............

Is this a result of the new federal rules of mandatory rest time and days off?

I'm not a railroader, but the tone of the notice is very aggressive and "in your face". It doesn't have a good, collegial feel to it.

It doesn't have the tone of "business is way up, and, although we're hiring and training, we need everybody to help move our shipper's goods". It has the "get out of bed, you lazy goof offs, because we're buying a bigger whip" tone

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Is this a result of the new federal rules of
> mandatory rest time and days off?
>
> I'm not a railroader, but the tone of the notice
> is very aggressive and "in your face". It doesn't
> have a good, collegial feel to it.
>
> It doesn't have the tone of "business is way up,
> and, although we're hiring and training, we need
> everybody to help move our shipper's goods". It
> has the "get out of bed, you lazy goof offs,
> because we're buying a bigger whip" tone

The railroad industry historically has had paramilitary labor-management relations. This doesn't strike me as anything different.

basic situation--CSX is severely understaffed in T&E now. That isn't to say that in December they won't furlough people, but they typically don't think that far in advance. This is another way for them to get all of the people in T&E working all of the time--and with the new Federal RSA (Rail Safety Act) laws, everyone is now safer and more rested,of course!
The RSA laws have cut down on the availability of some employees--the ones who would work without days off for weeks on end--specifically. Mostly though, it's a case of not hiring fast enough, then in wintertime furloughing more than they probably should have, and then the Company acting all surprised when those furloughed people found other jobs and didn't come back to good old CSX in springtime, and we've been dealing with this ever since!
The company has been closing loopholes in attendance policies for a while now. I remember when you could just mark off personal business if you had personal business--no questions, no faxing in a note from your pastor or relative or secret girlfriend saying you were indeed with them all day--not partying it up on your unassigned day off.
If you think this is draconian, check out CSX's policy on bereavement leave. YOu now have to fax in a death certificate, obituary and that persons relationship to you in order to be approved to go to someone's funeral!

Days off for railroaders are based on years of service. you get 2 weeks vacation and 4 personal days at the start, gradually building to 3 weeks and 9 days 10 years, 4 weeks and 12 pl days at 17 years and the 5 and 6 weeks and gobs and gobs of p/l days when you get over the 25 and 30 year humps.
You can't just call in and ask for the day off, they are bid for on a first come-first served system, engineers get 21 days in advance, conductors 7. SO, if you want that coveted saturday off, you better be on the mainframe or at the phone hitting the enter button for that date precisely at 0001 , along with the 10 other guys that want that day--and hope your number is chosen!

This response may be tinged with a bit of disparity towards the company, but they will have to forgive me, my "uninterrupted rest day" was interrupted by the caller and Trainmaster ordering me to work at 2201 instead of waiting for when my rest day ended at 0001 when they *could* call me , and I just got home, over 13 hours later. Those extra 2 hours they thought they gained by calling me early just interrupted my nap, and made me crabby...but i'm an engineer, and I'm supposed to be crabby!
"I've used all my personal days, so I'm calling in dead!"

Oh--a P.S. Just so you don't think I"m mad about this policy, I'm not one of the people personally affected by this--I'm a good worker bee, and haven't had an unexcused absence in 5 years. In the engineer's contract there is incentive in the form of 20 shares of CSX stock for staying marked up every 6 months. Also, a demand day off (a sure-fire day off for when you can't get the Personal day) for staying marked up every quarter is too much incentive for me to mark off all willy-nilly!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/10 10:32 by DrLoco.

junctiontower Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm not totally up to speed on the lingo; I assume
> they are talking about what my employer calls
> unexcused absences, such as plain not showing up
> for work, rufusing a called assignment, not
> answering a crew call, or not calling in sick in
> advance of your asssigned work time?


at csx a t&e who doesn't show up for work, refusing a call or misses a call will get you terminated. no what their talking about is not being able to work, when flu season hit we'd all better hope is only for 24 hrs or we will be in violation of the new ploicy.

also when an extraboard engineer marks off sick on the weekends he get docked 50% of hit $$ for the pay period per the contract, so now if you call in sick more than 1 day per month you can be terminated.

DrLoco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> basic situation--CSX is severely understaffed in
> T&E now. That isn't to say that in December they
> won't furlough people, but they typically don't
> think that far in advance. This is another way
> for them to get all of the people in T&E working
> all of the time--and with the new Federal RSA
> (Rail Safety Act) laws, everyone is now safer and
> more rested,of course!

Made for better lineups?

TAW

DrLoco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> basic situation--CSX is severely understaffed in
> T&E now. That isn't to say that in December they
> won't furlough people, but they typically don't
> think that far in advance. This is another way
> for them to get all of the people in T&E working
> all of the time--and with the new Federal RSA
> (Rail Safety Act) laws, everyone is now safer and
> more rested,of course!
> The RSA laws have cut down on the availability of
> some employees--the ones who would work without
> days off for weeks on end--specifically. Mostly
> though, it's a case of not hiring fast enough,
> then in wintertime furloughing more than they
> probably should have, and then the Company acting
> all surprised when those furloughed people found
> other jobs and didn't come back to good old CSX in
> springtime, and we've been dealing with this ever
> since!

(snip)

Thanks for the over view.

Are there places where CSX is overstaffed on the T&E side? If there are, I'm wondering whether they could "slide" some people from A to B to fill out depleted boards. I'm sure people would enjoy the opportunity to pick up some extra money, even if it means called a furloughed guy from A and sending him to Q or Z, etc.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> DrLoco Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > basic situation--CSX is severely understaffed
> in
> > T&E now. That isn't to say that in December
> they
> > won't furlough people, but they typically don't
> > think that far in advance. This is another way
> > for them to get all of the people in T&E
> working
> > all of the time--and with the new Federal RSA
> > (Rail Safety Act) laws, everyone is now safer
> and
> > more rested,of course!
> > The RSA laws have cut down on the availability
> of
> > some employees--the ones who would work without
> > days off for weeks on end--specifically.
> Mostly
> > though, it's a case of not hiring fast enough,
> > then in wintertime furloughing more than they
> > probably should have, and then the Company
> acting
> > all surprised when those furloughed people
> found
> > other jobs and didn't come back to good old CSX
> in
> > springtime, and we've been dealing with this
> ever
> > since!
>
> (snip)
>
> Thanks for the over view.

There is an important aspect that is not picked up by people on the outside and not by management. 21st Century big league railroading requires everybody to be 110% at the top of their game every minute of every day. Feeling sick, worried about something at home, just mentally burned and can't deal with it today? You don't belong at work! It is a quick way to getting killed, killing somebody, bending stuff or getting fired for what might have happened but didn't. There is no support. There is nobody to help out when you aren't at 110%. The dispatcher has no operators, the yardmaster has no clerks, the engineer has no fireman and the conductor has no brakemen. There is nobody to watch for mistakes when you are not on top of it (well...except for the folks who watch for them so that they can fire you), there is nobody to let you slack off a bit today and handle it for you. If layoff happens too frequently, then it's time to find out why and maybe do something (unless it is related to workload).

The funny thing is, back when there was this kind of team support, there was much less marking off. You could come to work mentally blown or physically sick and know that you could get by. That is just not the case any more. When I was in a position to do so, I let dispatchers lay off a shift just because they didn't feel like they could deal with it. Yeah, you could come in and maybe coast through an easy shift. You might also have a train wreck, flood, or landslide right after you come to work. You might need to make a life-death split second decision because the car they hit is on fire or there is hazmat in the train that might be leaking or exploding. I have had numerous occasions of getting off work and sitting in the car in the parking lot because I couldn't deal with driving home, and that's after showing up 100% ready to do it (or as close to 100% ready as anybody can be under those conditions). I'm not the only one. Does anybody on an adjoining district have time to help out like in the Olden Tymes? NO!!! Workload is set at 110% during normal days. Nope, if you aren't on top of it, you don't belong on the job. The funny thing is that there is a big deal about drugs. Drugs are against the rules and against the law. If you are not 100% together because of drugs, you're outta here. If you aren't 100% together from illness, stress, or continuous exposure to extreme workload, you need to be right here on the job and not goofing off. The latter is just as dangerous as the former and much more likely to occur.

TAW

MR. Rice has the best answer to this issue thus far. Thank you sir, for that. I don't think any railroader could've said it any better!