The Association of American Railroads, which represents freight railway operators, said its members have been hiring in recent years to address staffing needs and recognize employees’ desire for better scheduling. The group said the number of overtime hours worked by BMWE union members increased to 4.7 hours per week in 2022, compared to 4 hours in 2016.
Cory Ludwig, who works as a machine operator repairing railway tracks in Iowa, said he’s been working Saturdays and some Sundays along with 10- to 12-hour shifts since September. Recently, he worked 13 days without a day off. With the mandatory Saturday work, he’s had to rely on friends and relatives to take care of his five-year-old and nine-year-old kids. He said the overtime demands have increased as he’s seen the number of workers assigned to his crew go down.
“You fall asleep and then you wake up in the morning and you go right back to work. It can really break a person down, it gets really wearing on a person after a while,” Ludwig said. “With less people trying to do the same amount of work, working long hours, working multiple weeks in a row without one day off, you get irritated and you get burnt out.”
Recently one of the union’s members had been working 22 hours straight when he fell asleep on the job, an error that could have put his colleagues’ lives at risk but also could have been avoided had the employee had a rest period, said Ballew. Another member was recently disciplined for refusing to work through his scheduled days off on short notice so he could care for a family member having health issues, Ballew said.
“The stress it puts on marriages and parenting and the things you leave behind for your spouse to deal with or the things you miss, that kind of stress builds up,” said Ballew. “In the rail industry, we have noticed recently a spat of suicides and I can’t help but think there is a correlation there.”
In a just society all those people that force these workers to work those hours, wrecking their health like for example they’ll be exponentially more likely to suffer strokes and more severe ones at that, would be thrown in jail, holy shit what a misery that is put upon these people and for what? So some financial ghoul can shift some numbers from one pile to another and maybe buy a new jetski. It makes my blood boil how people are abused up for literally miniscule amounts of additional profit at this point, they are just grinding up the stone to get that last droplet of blood out of it.
Dude, you need to take a moment to breathe. People like me can be uninformed without being a “cultist.” You’ve strawmanned people like me in an effort to win some kind of internet pissing contest, rather than just letting the information speak for itself.
Sometimes, people simply don’t have all the information.
Why say something about it if you are uninformed? Don’t go into discussions or post about things you don’t have a good grasp on, this should be obvious.
People who are uninformed don’t know they’re uninformed, and until you’re given such information that shows you don’t have all the facts, why would you assume you don’t have a good grasp?
Listen, I don’t want to resort to the type of condescending interaction that is so common on the internet - perhaps you don’t realize the implications of what you wrote, or even what you wrote. If, however, you are sincerely arguing for some fucked up form of expertise by default, please let me know and I’ll be happy to oblige.
I’m really tired of being gaslight on this issue. It’s not about you in particular, but without fail there’s always people ready to tell me that “ackchually the unions got everything they wanted without a strike!” It’s so consistent.
Thanks for breaking the railroad strike Joe!
They got most of what they wanted in the end anyway, thanks to Biden.
Edit: I’m wrong. It happens.
Thry absolutely did not and y’all need to stop spreading this lie! I’m gonna keep posting this until you cultists admit Biden betrayed the workers:
In a just society all those people that force these workers to work those hours, wrecking their health like for example they’ll be exponentially more likely to suffer strokes and more severe ones at that, would be thrown in jail, holy shit what a misery that is put upon these people and for what? So some financial ghoul can shift some numbers from one pile to another and maybe buy a new jetski. It makes my blood boil how people are abused up for literally miniscule amounts of additional profit at this point, they are just grinding up the stone to get that last droplet of blood out of it.
Dude, you need to take a moment to breathe. People like me can be uninformed without being a “cultist.” You’ve strawmanned people like me in an effort to win some kind of internet pissing contest, rather than just letting the information speak for itself.
Sometimes, people simply don’t have all the information.
Edit: typo
Why say something about it if you are uninformed? Don’t go into discussions or post about things you don’t have a good grasp on, this should be obvious.
People who are uninformed don’t know they’re uninformed, and until you’re given such information that shows you don’t have all the facts, why would you assume you don’t have a good grasp?
wtf, are you being serious right now? Why do you assume you do?
Ironic.
Listen, I don’t want to resort to the type of condescending interaction that is so common on the internet - perhaps you don’t realize the implications of what you wrote, or even what you wrote. If, however, you are sincerely arguing for some fucked up form of expertise by default, please let me know and I’ll be happy to oblige.
Oh. I guess I might’ve done it anyway.
You’re literally quoting Wikipedia as if it’s an authority when it doesn’t even qualify as a secondary source.
I’m not trying to undermine Wikipedias place on the internet, but they are far from an authority on any of the subject matter posted on the site.
So I picked a source I found concise. That’s not a crime or proof that the information within is wrong.
I’m really tired of being gaslight on this issue. It’s not about you in particular, but without fail there’s always people ready to tell me that “ackchually the unions got everything they wanted without a strike!” It’s so consistent.
Sorry, it was the latest information I knew. I’m fine being wrong.
To be honest, chalking anything positive up to Biden screams liberal cultist to me. Given that he betrays every promise he makes.
If you are able to change your mind when presented with information to the contrary then you are a very rare specimen indeed.