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>Four of those companies collectively control more than 83 percent of the freight market. And the vast majority of train stations in the U.S. are served by exac
by gz5 4y ago
>Four of those companies collectively control more than 83 percent of the freight market. And the vast majority of train stations in the U.S. are served by exactly one railroad.
Monopoly behaving like a monopoly. The only real power the employees have in this situation is to leave, especially when the government's interests are also not aligned with employee interests.
Numbers tell us there are 10M open jobs in the US. Obviously leaving the devil you know for the devil you don't is not an easy decision, but I wonder how possible it even is? Are the rail employees in a position in which those 10M open jobs are not viable alternatives for them and how 'real' is the 10M number?
- i_am_proteus 4y agoMaybe they don't want to give up good pay at the rail road to make minimum moolah flipping ham burgers at Mac Donald's.
- JohnFen 4y agoI doubt that's the only option.
- datavirtue 4y agoThese people are ultra-reliable, proven workers with a lot of skills. They could move to construction for similar or better pay. You don't make any serious coin with the railroad unless you are working overtime. They all work their lives away.
- i_am_proteus 4y agoReliability, proof, and skills aren't of much import if nobody's hiring for the particular version of those things that you have. This is exactly how you get certain sectors of labor getting rough treatment from the Establishment even though there's a national net labor shortage.
- datavirtue 4y agoThey could all move to construction with minimal, if any, training and be happier for it. People outside of tech don't change jobs very often and are very weary of doing so. Changing jobs is a skill and experience they do not have. I would love to work for the same company for thirty years...just not feasible. My cousin is a tree guy who runs a crew. He has been with the company more than twenty years and just now started getting a fair cut. They didn't have a choice but to cave to his demands (which were quite modest) because they simply can't run their business without him. They also promised something in the deal that never came through (a $300k piece of equipment to make his job easier). I had been screaming at him for years that they had no viable business without him and that he should be getting a bigger cut. He just didn't have the business sense to believe it or leverage his power. He got fed up and had a much better offer from a startup and handed in his resignation. They panicked and started pitching better deals to him. Which he took.
- yamtaddle 4y agoDifficulty: railroad pensions are some of the only half-decent ones left in the whole country, and a lot of these workers will take a big hit on their retirement for leaving early (years of delay in when the pay-outs start, much smaller amount than if they'd finished at the RR, et c.) This lock-in give the companies more leeway to abuse the workers if the unions are prevented from functioning to protect them. Which is what's happened thanks to Congress throwing the workers under the bus.