Mr. Fay, I take exception
with Superintendents Notice 238 (Attendance Guidelines). Your notice that reminds
employees of their responsibilities to be full time employees.
One more time I want
to go on the record that the expectations of the BNSF are unreasonable. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the average weekly hours in the
service-producing sector of Transportation and Public Utilities was 38.8 hours. I have reviewed some of the people
that your Guidelines consider part time employees and almost all work well above the
national standards.
The part that says, “employees
have a legitimate expectation of reasonable opportunity to be off from work”. It was
Dave Dealy that told engineer Bill Knowles; “ we are not obligated to maintain extra
boards so you can be off 25% of the time”.
Since the Guidelines
have been in effect I have documented instances where employees were declined to lay
off when there was room in the book for lay offs. Floater Vacations and PL days have been
denied when an advanced request was made and sufficient manpower.
Since the very first discussions of Advanced lay
offs I have said I would be willing to consider a signed agreement covering advanced lay
offs. But nothing less.
In closing I want to point out what Dr. Mark Rosekind, the
former NASA fatigue researcher, said that the lifestyle of the typical train worker with
its combination of irregular hours, poor diet, and continually compromised sleep cycles
will cost on the average, ten years from their life.
Not only is the BNSF reducing the life expectancy of its employees,
you want to deny any semblance of a life during their career
Yours Truly,
JL Schollmeyer
Local Chairman 1637
