Extra Board Order

[treetoplover]

I checked the boards today and noticed something new, a couple guys were showing on the board and on the off list at the same time. In other words, one man was first out on the extra board and also marked off sick. Another guy was fourth out and marked off with permission. It was my understanding that when an extra board employee marked up they went to the bottom of the board.

[REDEYE]

I seen this earlier myself and a brother called me and asked about it also. Called the call office and they said it was normal and that they always did it this way. Kinda like how the company always does things.....THE WAY THEY WANT !!!

[Rico Suave]

I spoke to the chief caller this morning myself. He maintained it had always been this way also. I begged to differ, which led to a call to his boss.

Apparently a "fix" was uploaded resulting in what we see. The computer has always had a way to track where your turn was to facilitate the calculation of lost wages, it just physically shows up on the turn order screen now. I don't know how this could possibly be deemed as "always been this way," but they were all steadfast in that position. I assured them that everybody who rang my phone this morning was not crazy, or hallucinating. That went well.

He did assure me that when people do mark up, they will be placed at the foot of the list as appropriate.

Keep an eye on it.

Rico

[Div375]

It could be that "they" are working on the system. Just recently the guys that were on their 48 and 72 hours rest were not showing on the boards.

In other words their turn would disappear off the list instead of moving up the board as people got used. CMC said that there was "problem" in the system but they are "working on it".

Looks like we are going to have to keep an eye on them.

[Div375]

Once again I am too slow at the keyboard. Rico beat me to it. So basically, "what he said". My chief caller basically told me the same thing. For some reason the CMC and officers "see things different" than what us lowly T&E employees do. Had an investigation today and the RFE submitted a "snapshot" of the extraboard. The employee who was "being handled" was second out as far as the VRU was concerned but on the snapshot he was 4th out. The second and third out engineers were "off sick". Sounds like their "fix" made it so that we can see things the way that they always have.

[throttle]

Originally Posted by Rico Suave

I spoke to the chief caller this morning myself. He maintained it had always been this way also. I begged to differ, which led to a call to his boss.

Apparently a "fix" was uploaded resulting in what we see. The computer has always had a way to track where your turn was to facilitate the calculation of lost wages, it just physically shows up on the turn order screen now. I don't know how this could possibly be deemed as "always been this way," but they were all steadfast in that position. I assured them that everybody who rang my phone this morning was not crazy, or hallucinating. That went well.

He did assure me that when people do mark up, they will be placed at the foot of the list as appropriate.

Keep an eye on it.

Rico

On the old "WOOD BOARDS" (yes young guys, they actually had a board and your name was on a block of wood with your rr number! and it moved up and down the board LOL)
they had a pull out slot on the side, this reminds me of it. Still showed you at your spot when you marked off, I was told this was back then a way to see when you pulled yourself off the list. I imagine the computer keeps track of this as well.
On the real board, when you marked back up, as the term implies, you marked yourself from the "side slot" back to the bottom of the board.

[Tacothrill]

Originally Posted by throttle

On the old "WOOD BOARDS" (yes young guys, they actually had a board and your name was on a block of wood with your rr number! and it moved up and down the board LOL)
they had a pull out slot on the side, this reminds me of it. Still showed you at your spot when you marked off, I was told this was back then a way to see when you pulled yourself off the list. I imagine the computer keeps track of this as well.
On the real board, when you marked back up, as the term implies, you marked yourself from the "side slot" back to the bottom of the board.

you talking about the slot board?

[knuckledragger]

Originally Posted by treetoplover

I checked the boards today and noticed something new, a couple guys were showing on the board and on the off list at the same time. In other words, one man was first out on the extra board and also marked off sick. Another guy was fourth out and marked off with permission. It was my understanding that when an extra board employee marked up they went to the bottom of the board.

Don’t know how your agreement is written, but our general manager is pulling a similar interpretation to our (shitty) agreement. That is, when a man is marked off for whatever reason, including rest days, he will return to the board in the same spot be was in at the time his rest day took effect.

So, if you’re 1st out going INTO your rest day, you will be first out upon the expiration of your rest day (or 24 hours).

I don’t agree with it, and believe it’s complete bullshit, but our agreement is sadly vague & lacking teeth anyway.

On the old "WOOD BOARDS" (yes young guys, they actually had a board and your name was on a block of wood with your rr number! and it moved up and down the board LOL)

We still do it that way, sorta. Kind of pathetic in 2010, because the local management essentially puts it “in our hands” to maintain the board, and 2 of 3 men are too worried about screwing the next guy, or not bothering to do their part so the poor bastard can put in a run-around claim.

One case in point just over a month ago, mostly an act of “I’ll show you”, was a conductor who marked off 3 hours before the assignment he was projected to go out on. He only worked the previous Sunday for the pay week, for 4 hours no less. Our trainmaster ran around him for the remainder of the week, and no one bothered to tell him WHEN he was getting ran around in order to put in the applicable run-around claims.

[Tackett3ts]

Originally Posted by throttle

On the old "WOOD BOARDS" (yes young guys, they actually had a board and your name was on a block of wood with your rr number! and it moved up and down the board LOL)
they had a pull out slot on the side, this reminds me of it. Still showed you at your spot when you marked off, I was told this was back then a way to see when you pulled yourself off the list. I imagine the computer keeps track of this as well.
On the real board, when you marked back up, as the term implies, you marked yourself from the "side slot" back to the bottom of the board.

Our Engineers board is like that on some spots, you mark off sick, your right back where you were when you marked off, but not all the spots are like that. Now I have noticed in the last couple of trips, when I tied up, I would be 999 times out, i called the caller both times and their answer was, how did that happen? I just got back to work from an on duty injury, and missed the people who were around to help you, but the deadheads are the ones that give me the most trouble. It kept asking me, where I was deadheading from, I worked a yard job and the only place I came from was home! I called the caller and she rambled off so quick, I told her to fix it for me.And they call this a simplified pay system?

[nsrlink]

Originally Posted by Rico Suave

He maintained it had always been this way also. I begged to differ, which led to a call to his boss.

Apparently a "fix" was uploaded resulting in what we see. The computer has always had a way to track where your turn was to facilitate the calculation of lost wages, it just physically shows up on the turn order screen now. I don't know how this could possibly be deemed as "always been this way," but they were all steadfast in that position. I assured them that everybody who rang my phone this morning was not crazy, or hallucinating. That went well.

He did assure me that when people do mark up, they will be placed at the foot of the list as appropriate.

Keep an eye on it.

Rico

LOL, CMC, NS, et. all; I tell you what: If we said the grass was green, they'd swear it was black, if the ocean was blue, they'd swear it was yellow (& believe it too.)
Their authoritarian arrogance never ceases to amaze me.

(Y'all) please ask them to "unfix" this so called "fix." If a man is laid off, why do we need him showing up in turn order? We still have the extraboard seniority standing listing & the off list. Some programmer probably "goofed" & they don't have the balls to show 'em the street like they would a good T&E employee. (Kinda like that supposed "wrong data" that got "accidentally loaded" on to the mainframe when NS bought Conrail & turned on the switch on day one ---- wonder where that guy is these days?)

BTW, I was off & 1st out in turn order on extraboard, marked up via VRU & duh system placed me at the bottom of the board as it should... fyi. VRU reported to me my correct /actual position as 10 out instead of 12 out.... computer showed me 12 out with 2 laid off guys ahead of me, so yeah I was really 10x in actuality. (Someone will get this all messed up between the computer & the VRU soon enough; then arrange to attend.)

Gentlemen, thank you for your calls today & the information provided herein.