A close friend works for a railroad, told me recently heads of largest 4 railroads operating in US had a meeting with some committee in DC, and were told to work on better retention of employees. There have been a lot of quits and early retirements triggered by a combination of the vaccine mandate (before it was stopped) and a new attendance policy enacted by the Union Pacific and now also the BNSF railways.
Here is a scathing article a Union Pacific employee wrote about the attendance policy and other issues.
Isn't it weird that they chose this time to implement these policies? And now the Union Pacific doesn't. have capacity to accommodate all the needed railcars of fertilizer/fertilizer components?
https://www.railwayage.com/regulatory/the-game-has-changed/?RAchannel=news
If anyone does happen to take the time to read the article, my buddy confirms everything the guy says is accurate.
ditor’s Note: The Surface Transportation Board is conducting an in-person hearing April 26-27 (EP 770, Urgent Issues in Freight Rail Service) with the CEOs of the “Big Four” Class I railroads—BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific—on service problems. Union Pacific Locomotive Engineer Michael Paul Lindsey II sent this letter to STB Chairman Marty Oberman on April 18 as commentary for the hearing. It was entered into the Public Record by the STB Office of Proceedings on April 18. It is reproduced here in its entirety, with only minor edits for punctuation. The opinions expressed here are those of Mr. Lindsey, and not of Railway Age. – William C. Vantuono