Wednesday, March 2nd, about 100 BNSF train dispatchers walked off the job in a dispute over personal leave time, and for over 2 hours the dispatching was done by managers who claim not to have compromised safety but who did inconvenience thousands of rush hour commuters in Chicago and other cities.
Well now the President of the American Train Dispatchers' Association is saying that it was more like 200 employees who walked and that the dispute was "to protest changes to comp time that BNSF enacted "unilaterally" this year." The dispatchers' contract expired last October.
BNSF has filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in Texas because it believes "the union acted illegally by walking off without giving advance notice."
Working stiffs showing some gumption or simply a foolish and illegal wildcat strike? Just how overworked are those guys, anyway. Hope this isn't a case of productivity at any cost and that they aren't ready to snap like poor Myles Meyers.
For the dispatchers and the rest of us stressed out rails this is a story worth telling. If anyone out there has any information about this dispute and action please forward it to us and we wil pass it on.
11:05:52 AM 
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