In a non union context, laid off means fired for good…if you want to come back to whatever industry/ company you were laid off from, you have to re-apply, go through the interview process, and renegotiate salary and benefits.
In the unionized railroad world, “laid off” or “furloughed” means you are moved to the furlough board…a roster of laid off employees.
Being furloughed, depending on your local contract, can mean $0 income, or a minimal income of say $1000.00 monthly, and depending on your job insurance whatever benefits that provides.
Furlough boards work just like any other roster, the “older” you are, or higher in seniority, the later you are “laid off” and the sooner you are called back, simply because it works on the same system as job bidding, older guys have the pick of the jobs first…the younger guys are laid off first, then the older guys as they work up the active roster…the older guys are called back first, oldest to youngest.
That is why your seniority date is so important; it controls every thing from what contract you work under to what arbitraries you get to when if ever, you get laid off and how soon you get called back.
My railroad has what is known as a flow back agreement with the union at the UP…if they manage to lay me off at the Port, then I can exercise my seniority date on the UP here locally… if the UP has not already laid off their local employees up to that same date, March of 96, then I can bid on any local job someone with that seniority date on the UP can bid on.
Now, because most unions on the class 1s have a nationwide agreement, then employees can exercise their seniority system wide…if they can’t hold a job in say, Nebraska, but they can hold one in Houston based on their hire date, then they can bid on the Houston job…if I happen to be one day younger than that person, and they bid on my