americanpit13

oh ok, so when they were done hiring last we were at like 2300 plus trackworkers, in my 20 years i never seen it that high. when i was new i started at 17xx. so track is very different than other departments in transit. if a gang has 8 ppl and 2 left they get along fine usually because the big jobs pool multiple gangs together. the smaller jobs dont usually make a difference when your down a man or two. sometimes if they are really short like in my department. they will offer am guys to work a double shift to cover the pm guys who are out sick or short handed and vice versa. if they are really really short they just pool the guys they got in each zone to get the important jobs done, so there maybe one to two gangs on a plate job. 3 to fourr gangs on a rail job etc etc. they will do less jobs a day . they will take it in order of the track in worse condition. unlike train operators , conductors , bus operators, cleaners, its not as important in track to have 100 percent work force. its way easier to get days off in track than those others . and summer vacations which ive had since my first year.

if they closed cleaning gangs, then they opened up more maintenance gangs or captial gangs. i dont know if they in fact closed those cleaning gangs or not. they will have spots for every worker. to me the only thing that was lost when the SAP went was the sweet overtime. Ot is still here , but dam that SAP was good and it worked! delays were down all over

he went down 400 numbers because after 2 years they just sent out a new seniority list.new employeess make there biggest seniorty jump in the first few years. they dont lay ppl off or anything like that. he went down 400 because he is fairly new and in 2 years there were lots retirees , promotions and terminations. when i say terminations im talking about ppl that got arrested employed, abused sick, came up dirty on 2 drug test and ppl who left for better jobs. there was a tremedous jump this list because transit just pushed the new kronos swipe in swipe out with fingerprints system in. i wont get into to much detail about that, but it was an inconvenience to some of the senior guys. doesnt necessarily mean there a 400 less workers because im sure they hired ppl behind him, he just moved up 400 numbers.

good luck everyone, iam a trackworker here and my advice to you guys and everyone else after they are hired is to take the promotional exams for ms1 (maintenance supervisor level 1) and promotional exam for pdm (power distribuition maintaner sometimes call 3rd rail maintaner) . Do these as soon as possible and keep taking them when they come out until you get them. i waited 18 years to take the ms1 exam just to see what i would score. i got promoted then after 3 months gave back the title because after 20 years of seniorty my job was too sweet and i was too spoiled to start over. had i taken it sooner i would of kept the job. Happy to answer any questions if i can. I came on here to see if they were calling off this list yet.