Things are getting heated over on www.train-dispatchers.com with the CSX Dispatchers In the Indianapolis/Albany offices.
After five years they do not want to give them good contract. Hell they dont even want to give them the same contract that the SAME dispatchers in florida are making. Someone would think that all the dispatchers would make the same and have the same contract. They do the same job, Talk to the same people. Hell even the Indy/Albanys volocity is better than jacksonvilles. You can read alot more on the site than I can state.
CSx dispatcher
i can sympathize with your situation. a store i worked at was transfered to another to another zone. they put the store under a supplement contract. so a guy stocking shelves in another store made 2-3 bucks more an hour than me.Thats one of the main reasons I no longer work there.
stay safe
Joe
I know what you mean. I worked under a “B” scale with the airlines. It infuriated me to think I’ll never make the same amount of money as the guy standing right beside me was making. I was working harder and paid less. It’s one of the reasons I walked away.
I firmly believe that those who dictate the working conditions (bean counters and lawyers) of others (laborers, T&E, agents, etc) should also live under the same conditions. My favorite example would be to lock ALL THE BATHROOMS IN NORFOLK SOUTHERN’S OFFICES and hand out baggies like the T&E crews get. Then, stand back and see how fast toilets in locomotives become a justifiable expense.
Is it still this way at NS? I know in Pennsylvania, operable toilets are required on lead units, but on old NS Routes, are they still doing it with the baggies? Dave Williams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsaltoonajohnstown
rrnut, the bags disappeared several years ago, they’re no longer an issue but they seem to resurface here whenever someone wishes to cast stones at NS. Units all have flu***oilets now and, for the most part, they seem to be serviced on a fairly regular basis.
Conspiracy Theory: Get the Albany/Indy DS’s to walk, move all dispatching to JAX…
GO ON STRIKE!
Yeah, keep it up and they will price themselves right out of a job!
NS could be dispatched from some place in Puerto Rico orMexico!
It’s called…Cheaper Labor!
calls on phone to report stalled car on crossing in Georgia “Hello, this is the NS emergency dispatching center, Hong Kong, please hold!”
Maybe they’ll move their tracks to China someday.
All dispatching in the USA could be handled from somewhere in India someday[:(!][:(].
now that is a scary scary thought… just dealing with some of the customer service people over thier is an exersize in futility on tech issues with the computer… the thought of someone that can bearly speak Engli***elling me that i have a signal or permistion past a stop signal sends shivers down my spine!!!
csx engineer
Actually, it is an FRA rule that North American railroads be dispatched in North America. I know there are special considerations for RR’s operating in both US and Canada, and the US and Mexico, but I can’t remember them offhand
Keep quiet about that FRA rule! Industry will get King George and Court Jester *** Cheny out to gut it quick!
I knew they were using toilet equipped units in Pennsylvania due to state laws. I guess they decided it was easier to equip the fleet rather than turn units at the borders. It’s nice to hear civility won out over the “bottom” line. Don’t get me wrong, I like NS and have worked with them several track projects. I was just citing an example that I knew about that fit in with the theme of the thread.
CSX-dispatcher & rnut 282:
First, I empathize with your position. We all are not paid what we are worth, and even us “bean counters and lawyers” get screwed over by “the man."
However, I think this is an instance where you are being treated exactly like “bean counters and lawyers.” The reason people in Jacksonville Florida do–and should–make more money than people in Indiana is that the cost of living in Jacksonville Florida is considerably higher than people who live in Indiana (especially Albany).
When I was in law school (in Bloomington, IN) interviewing for jobs all over the country, one of the first things I noticed was that the same firm would pay considerably more in one city as compared to another. It is not that the work is qualitatively different; it is that the cost of living is qualitatively different in different cities.
If I am a worker in Jacksonville, I would be the first person to cry foul if I were making the same salary as someone in Albany IN. In effect, the person in Indiana would be making considerably more than me.
I hope you get a raise, but it isn’t fair for the same work to pay the same rate in Jacksonville Florida as compared to Indiana.
Gabe
P
You do realize that New York has one of the Higest Cost of living in the United states.
Florida has no State Tax
New York has one of the higest State Tax in the Country
The list keeps going on and on…
I was just referring to Indiana. When I saw Indianapolis and Albany under the same contract, I assumed that you were referring to Albany, Indiana since I did not expect Albany NY to be covered by the same contract as Indiana. (that is why I said “especially” Albany).
You are right Albany, New York actually has a slightly higher cost of living than Jacksonville Florida ($50,000 in Albany would be worth $52,150 in Jacksonville). Although, Indianapolis had a noticeably cheaper cost of living than Jacksonville–especially when the suburbs were taken into account.
Gabe
P.S. When you say Florida has no State tax, are you referring to a State income tax? If so, I don’t think that changes the cost of living much, as the income tax is made up in other ways.
Florida has no state income tax, nor does Texas. Both states…I would say make up for it…but that’s not entirely true, by having fairly high property and sales taxes, and user fees (car registration, licenses, etc.) I say not entirely true, because CA and if I recall, NY and Mass have fairly high sales and use fees too…and there doesn’t seem to be a whole lotta return to the investor there in terms of benefit.