Word is BNSF is going to cut work force system wide by at least 2000, prior to contract negotiations to leverage forced arbitration decision for TYE, and create negotiating points such as cutting Halcon contract to give a few furloughed conductors the ability to become traveling conductors who take engineers to trains and tie down trains in sidings. Further cuts will come from middle management and mechanical in shops that BNSF is continuing to down size or contract out to RJ Corman. Tulsa, Northtown, Alliance, Alliance and Kansas, Birmingham will most likely take the brunt of mechanical furloughs best on shortages and workloads. They will cut deep to get young low seniority mechanical workers to transfer to trans con locations like Belen and the BIG location. Post peak season going to be a rough one come February/March
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Do not panic, been out here 19 years, they do this every year, then they fire the managers. Sit tight, the managers will be fired next, you have to have crews to do the work.
I've been saying this sĥìŧ for years now. If you haven't woke up yet, the building is on fire. Everyone in the diesel and car shops need to start implementing their exit strategy. The union is going to sell you boys out.
Will be a lot more jobs based on most units of that age, will only have warranty work, so it will be pop and swap parts, with no actual repairs being performed, and warranty will be authorized only to manufacturers own contracted workers, so if your employer is not wabtac, New York air brake, progress rail or the handful of various contractors who manufacture locomotives parts outside of assembly, ie if your employer is BNSF on the mech side, and won’t be retired by 2030-2035, retirement might be a pipe dream, not fear mongering but BNSF is literally saying in advance how it plans or is planning to contract out the work, they aren’t pushing to build a 1.5 billion dollar facility in California because it’s good for business, they are doing so because it gives them an realized goal to cut jobs, cut overhead associated with staffing and please stakeholders, which was highlighted in that power point on the last line. Better be paying attention when contract negotiations start in 2025, whoever your union leadership is, if that aren’t war dogs and willing to stand behind members to strike, or to force BNSF to not go automated or implement locomotive fleet age restrictions, mechanical will be contracted out in favor of warranty work to contracted manufacture labor workers. The years of sending some union officers to negotiate in bad faith for their workers, like the UTU union did. The negotiated transportation contract that was voted down by workers, but still was implemented with the company getting even more for less, was an alternative agreement that said if members voted it down the UTU union leadership alone said an expedited arbitrator could force it on workers anyway, and as every BNSF union employee knows, arbitrators never rule in favor of the employees, it’s always for the benefit of the company. Therefore, allowing union officers to have their wheels greased to circumvent and operate outside of the will of the workers, workers lost more money than previously purposed, and workers who held dual seniority, engineers who held conductor seniority, but were forced to the seat by would not be eligible for bonuses, even if they were forced to seat or operated in areas that had local agreements that protected brakemen positions. While that is a summarized version, with a few anomalies and caveats not mentioned, the idea is that BNSF is now highlighting openly that union leadership is willing to bypass workers, and implement contracts voted done by having union leadership prematurely sign for expedited arbitration and ensure that votes of workers can be by passed. Stage has been set.
If BNSF manages to get those things implemented it will be a death nail for machinist through out BNSF by 2030, and many more jobs based on no locomotive older than “23” years old is the end of the entire intermediate and many high hp units such as as maces and aces built in the 80s
Yea that official was Lena Kent, and if you look on the PowerPoint it shows that by end of 2025 they will be implementing the construction, but we’re waiting on a vote by the city council and a lawsuit to play out against carb for some of the barriers carb put up in its construction
https://www.instagram.com/themikearias/reel/DBM84oByqwN/?ig_mid=DAF9D4A0-78AB-4DA8-918C-C2E09EF4B7D4&utm_source=igweb
This was as of October 2024 and shows what BNSF said right out of corporate’s mouth, shows a video of BNSF corporate official speaking was is to come and the cuts BNSF plans on making
What’s the date on this article?
I’m pretty sure long shoremen union said no automation, but then again if BNSF is planning on going to war with the long shoreman union over the BIG project, I expect a corporate person on here saying it will be all automated and contracted out on a 4500 acre facility will be grounds for lawsuits from unions when the new contract negotiations start in 2025 and at very least a way for all unions to follow suit with the NLS and negotiate no automation in the rail industry, but thanks for the heads up that BNSF is planning on violating the Labor laws, they’ve had a lot of luck in litigation in 2024 doing so, corporate suq azz saying the quiet part out loud
Pretty sure people got furloughed in March and July, that’s not exactly nothing, but hey whose counting right, nothing like a BNSF fuq boi on here saying people losing their jobs via furloughs is nothing, but expect nothing less than corporate minions to get on here and start posting that garbage like those saying it wasn’t going to happen and then it did, didn’t age well then
This was kind of believable until you mentioned BIG. That whole facility will be automated and what’s not will be contractors. Are you the same person who post months ago and nothing came of it?
Rumor in Topeka, KS is another 90+ cut to get the head count down to 200. Just 5 short years ago we had a head count around 650. They're outsourcing most of the manufacturing and fabrication work that was done here to 3rd parties or OEM at higher costs and significantly longer lead-times, all in the name of lowering the payroll cost and making that stock look good today. Truly unbelievable what this company has become, they'll spend a million dollars to save a hundred thousand and pat eachother on the back for it.
SJVR IN BAKERSFIELD WZNTS YOURE WORK TOO...
It’s already started, management utilizing drones to write up staff, no staff interaction until they call you in for investigation to fire you, technology cutting out middle management, no trainmasters, safety coordinators, foremans, or approaching others needed, simply drone footage and investigation notices electronically sent. The new BNSF way. Training coordinators doing the job of foremans, no op test needed, just an electronic record that says you were trained, with an ipad that says you were notified.