STB chairman says higher pay would help solve railroad crew shortages. [View all]
“There is a price that will get you enough workers. I don’t know what that price is. But everything has a price,” Martin J. Oberman says.
Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin J. Oberman says railroad service is suffering for one simple reason: The big four U.S. Class I systems aren’t paying enough to retain and recruit train crews.
BNSF Railway, CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific are experiencing ongoing crew shortages that since last year have caused widespread congestion and significant delays.
The railroads say the crew shortage is largely due to factors that are out of their control. Crews furloughed at the onset of the pandemic didn’t return to the railroad at the same rates as they typically had, and attrition rose due to the Great Resignation that accompanied the pandemic and has affected all businesses. Meanwhile, the historically tight labor market has made it difficult to hire conductors, an outdoor job with an unpredictable schedule and a significant amount of time spent away from home. . .
The STB has no plans to use its mandate to oversee service as a way to indirectly regulate railroad crew levels. “I’m not a backdoor kind of guy,” Oberman says.
But he questioned whether railroads, at their current staffing levels, are able to meet their common carrier obligation to provide service upon reasonable request.'>>>
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/stb-chairman-says-higher-pay-would-help-solve-railroad-crew-shortages/?
= new reply since forum marked as read