Haven't slept in years

9:36PM - Oh yeah...

We are on strike, by the way.  I am the Picket Captain on days outside Gulf Canada Square.  So far, 18 hours of picketing and I'm pretty darn tired. 

Another full day tomorrow... 

9:25PM - I already sent my letters, but this is a good one out of Cranbrook..

With a few minor issues corrected, of course.  I have to admit that there is some very suprprising and useful information here....

I am writing to you regarding the current labour dispute between my labour organization and my employer Canadian Pacific Railway and reports that the government is considering legislation to order employees back to work and impose a collective agreement.

As railway running trades employees (Locomotive Engineers and Conductors) at CP, we are not unfamiliar with back-to-work legislation resulting in imposed work conditions. Since 1950, the federal government has legislated railway workers back to work and imposed settlements on at least eight occasions. Each time, we have accepted the will of government and the conditions imposed through this process. The simple fact is that the threat of government intervention has become a factor at the bargaining table in every round of collective bargaining for our group, particularly since 1995 and the introduction of Bill C-77 Maintenance of Railway Operations Act. Bill C-77 provided that the three member commissions established “be guided by the need for terms and conditions of employment that are consistent with the economic viability and competitiveness of a coast-to-coast rail system in both the short and the long term, taking into account the importance of good labour-management relations.”

Bill C-77 definitely tipped the scales in favour of the employer with respect to the work conditions imposed as a result. However, the mediation process established by Bill C-77 at the very least allowed for consideration of the employees interested with regard to the concessions imposed as a result.

However, as you know recent back to work legislation imposed during the 41^st Parliament include the “Final Offer Selection” provision,  Bills C-5 (2011/06/25), C-6 (2011/06/16), and C-33 (2012/03/15), respectively.  Specifically, I am concerned that the “Final Offer Selection” process with the inclusion of pension issues introduced at the bargaining table by my employer will result in an unjust outcome in this matter.  The circumstances of this dispute do not justify or warrant the employer's pension demands being addressed through the back-work-legislation being considered by the government.

CP Rail management claims that it must have pension parity with the Pension Benefits provided to running trades employees at Canadian National Railway. However, this demand ignores the fact that the pension benefits provided to these different employees have evolved through very separate and distinct bargaining environments. For example, while employees at CP have opted to forego percentage wage increases to achieve improvements in pension benefits, employees at CN have not taken similar actions to gain pension improvements.  This difference has provided CN employees the ability to direct a greater portion of their annual income toward personal retirement savings. To discriminate against CP employees on the basis that they opted to direct greater portion of their wages toward their company pension plan rather than personal income is not justified. Nor does the so-called parity argument take into account specific pension and work condition concessions made by CP employees during previous rounds of bargaining as a means of maintaining monetary Pension entitlement.

The railway's demand for major pension concessions originated with former CEO Fred Green.  The management team led by Mr. Green claimed that these changes were necessary because of recent deficits experienced by the fund.

However, in 2009 Mr. Green admitted to employees at a town hall meeting in Cranbrook, BC, that the plan would be fully funded had the Company pursued a more conservative approach to managing the fund. Mr. Green stated that the company had reviewed an alternative to the risky investment strategy that has resulted in a $1.6 billion deficit.  Mr. Green advised that had the Company invested the Pension Fund exclusively in instruments such as GIC’s and government bonds combined with an annual infusion of approximately $35 million a year during the past 15 years, the fund would be deficit-free.  Instead, the course pursued by CP management including CEO Green has resulted in successive pension fund deficit repayments totaling $1.6 billion during the past 5 years, a total cost per employee of approximately $107,000 or $21,000 annually during this 5 year period.  The more conservative alternative investment strategy considered by the company would have cost only $2,300 annually over the 15 year period, a far more desirable outcome for all parties and one that would negate the current pension concession demands.

As you are no doubt aware, CP shareholders recently forced the resignation of CEO Green and caused significant change to the Board of Directors. As reported in the media there were concerns about the ability of senior management at CP. Given Mr. Green’s admission that a different pension investment strategy would have resulted in a more favourable outcome, it is unreasonable to suggest that employees should be left paying the price for the poor pension investment decisions made by senior management.

If we as employees are forced to pay the price for the poor management decisions made by the former management, this injustice will be underscored by the $18 million severance package available to CEO Fred Green (Source: ISS Proxy Advisory Services Canada - Publication Date 3 May 2012). It is ridiculous in the extreme that the CEO responsible for creating this pension deficit is so handsomely rewarded while employees are called upon to accept up to a 40% reduction in their pension benefits to pay the price for this mismanagement. Yet this is precisely the outcome that will be achieved if the government imposes the same legislation on TCRC members that it threatened to impose on Air Canada employees.

CP Rail is not a Company in jeopardy as a result of its pension funding obligations; in fact, CP is a profitable company to no small degree on the contribution of its employees. During the past 10 years, employees have agreed to extended runs, improved work attendance in excess of 90%, and to reduced arbitrary payments for employees.

Many of the employees who would be affected by the pension demands made by our employer stand to have the pensions they have worked many years to achieve dramatically reduced.  Some of these potentially affected employees have worked for CP for 30 plus years. As a running trade employee, I work long hours which frequently occupies 60 or more hours a week away from home working in this heavily regulated environment. The nature of my employment requires me to base my work attendance on 2 hours notice to work, and this places considerable demands on lifestyle and families. The existing negotiated pension benefit is one of the primary reasons that I have remained a committed CP railway employee.

For all the reasons detailed in this letter, I respectfully ask that you urge the government to specifically exclude the employer's excessive pension demands from any back to work legislation the government intends to introduce. 

1:16AM - Costanza might have been on to something.

I wonder if I would have any more success in my life if I just screwed up the courage to do everything that my instincts tell me not to do.

I suppose that I can't guarantee that I would be any happier, but I could guarantee that, at very least, things would be different.

Also, I suppose that things would be easier if I were able to care as little as I often pretend that I do.



I was talking ... or, I guess, texting ... with tehluggage some time ago about these kinds of issues and the notion arose of not worrying about things that one cannot control.  What it amounts to for me is that there are a number of factors that influence my life of which I am not in control, and rather than being able to ignore them, I find them to be an almost constant source of outrage.  I don't want to be in control of others: I just want to be left alone.  That must sound awfully strange.  I wonder if the attitude of ignoring things that one cannot control is symptomatic of the "Entertaining Ourselves to Death" worldview that is becoming, in my opinion, increasingly prevalent these days.  In other words, there is sufficient money floating around in order to be, at least, satisfied with life, and sufficient avenues of distraction available to allow us not to pay any real attention to the injustices and the inhumanities that people willingly and carelessly propagate on one another as they strive for the ultimate profitability of pure capitalism.  The geniuses of our generation have bent considerable effort to inventing humanity into obsolesence, and the truth is that humanity, as a concept and as a race, continues to see its value to a world market decrease.  Humans and their labour truly are the world's only expendable resource.  This truly is a war of every man against every man.  And, at this crucial time in our history, people are playing Angry Birds and watching reality T.V.  These are the new Dark Ages.     

In some sense, only worrying about the things which one can control is the mantra of the slave.  Perhaps if we behave this way long enough, we won't have any worries at all.

I suppose that things could be worse.  At least in this system, everyone has a fighting chance, and the onus is on each individual to become a success, or not become a failure, however one wishes to look at it. Our lots in life are not pre-determined.  However, many, if not most, people are contented to consume and fuck one another into oblivion.  Others find contentment directing those energies into valueless pursuits called hobbies.  The conscience-less human predators that we laud as industrial and corporate successes will exploit both of these classes of people into the ground and drive their carts over the bones of the dead.  A very few find no contentment at all, which is to say that, for them, there is no way in their society to direct energy that satisfies the urges that animate them.  Very often such people are made to feel as though there is some defficiency within them that stops them from enjoying the idle entertainments and passive, mindless consumption that many find so fulfilling.  The constant difficulty that such people find in relating to one another as well as the other classes dooms them to be politically and economically impotent in perpetuity, and forces them to exhibit something between a grudging tolerance and outright refusal to accept and acknowledge the authority of those inferiors that somehow develop an entitlement to exercise dominance over them.  The cutting down of the tallest wheat maintains the status quo, and keeps power in the hands of our social aggressors. 

I believe that this is what we support when we say "life is good."  

         

11:52PM - Picture Post -- A Long Time Coming

Well, I have a few pictures on file from last summer that I have been meaning to post.  The first few, I believe, are from the August long weekend.   


( We are now descending into a valley known as Big Valley... )

10:06PM - Notice Served

Well, news of the pending work stoppage at CP is all over the internet now.  Of course, the depth of ignorance exhibited by anonymous 140-character commentators continues to be unfathomable.

I wonder how many people know that collective bargaining in good faith is considered a basic human right defended by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  And I wonder if they know that this is why the union has filed federal charges against CP with the Canada Industrial Relations Board.  I daresay that members of unions constitute a large portion of the small percentage of people in the working public that are even mildly educated about their rights as employees.

Perhaps that is why there isn't much support for unions out there.  

8:11PM - 200 ft-lbs of torque, easy. 455 ft-lbs of torque? Hard.

Well, I am on holidays and in Stettler.  Getting lots of work done. 

It seems that I might have to go back to Calgary for union business.  Perhaps I should have cancelled my AV after all, even though at the last meeting they said that only the LC's needed to worry about it.  Hmm. 

12:46AM - It's been a long time.

By which I mean, it's been a long time since I have shared an inside joke with someone.

I suppose that one of the downsides of being effectively alone on a day to day basis is that you miss out on a lot of things that keep most essentially normal people going.

I remember reading somewhere about the foolishness of assuming the singularity of one's experience.  I don't necessarily see myself as singular, but that doesn't necessarily make things much easier.



Also there were some drunk women outside my building that may have been mere minutes from making out.  What I wouldn't give to be a little less tired right now.  Also there was some party or other going on in the courtyard, and despite people talking to me, nobody offered me a drink.  So, basically, the upshot of all this is that I'm going to bed. 

3:41PM - Dr. Hutchy and 269

Well, I ended up getting 269ed after all.  It would not have been a bad trip except for some shenanigans on the part of a northbound that delayed us by over an hour and threw off the timing of the trip enough to change it from a straight shot to having a couple of meets. 

When we finally got it back to town, we had to back in (which is the move that Alyth is in love with currently) but at least a crew was available so we did not have to tie it down.

Also, Hutchy has a new slogan (and a philosophy) that I think we should adopt:

CPR: We just move the fuckin' freight.

Maybe Hunter is listening.


By the way, I read the Pershing Square blurb about why we should elect their slate of directors and Mr. Harrison.  Aside from the claim that "Hunter is a wealthy man, so he doesn't need the money" which I found rather confusing, the operating numbers for CP under the current management team are damning.  I will write Mr. Ackman a letter at some point and inquire as to whether Mr. Harrison will be receiving compensation as CEO, or if those funds will be re-directed to general revenue in order to increase shareholder return.

In any case, I find it very odd that our OR was quite low in the Ritchie days, which, interestingly, were the days before many of the money-saving, productivity-boosting initiatives that are in place now or soon will be in place.  Ackman himself says that fuel costs are no excuse for a dismal operating ratio, so, by the same logic, the lower fuel costs of the early 00's cannot single-handedly be responsible for favourable metrics. 

In other words, the railroad was performing better in the days before Fuel Trip Optimiser and widespread beltpacking.  The railroad was more productive before 12,000-foot trains and before quits in the yard were abolished.  Operating costs were lower before train length and length of run payments were cut for new hires.  More trains were moving at lower cost when the attitude towards booking off was relaxed and the mileage quota was at 3800.  The company was managing to turn a significant profit even with the appreciable costs of a Defined Benefit pension plan, without extended runs, and without mandatory 12-hours-on-duty for all classes of service.

Very interesting indeed.   

11:01AM - Love the north...

I got TCS'd around yesterday because the engineer was on mandatory.  One conductor up there has been TCS'd around twice today since the engineer booked rest, and they have run still another TCS so it looks like I will be getting 269ed at midnight again.  It is one of those trains that runs a couple of times a week at about 35 cars and 3000 tons.  Every time I get it, it's like 100 cars and 11,000. 

Also the southward haulage capacity for the Red Deer Sub has been increased so now the trains will get even heavier and slower going south.  The average south trip over 95 miles is currently a mere 7.5 hours, so there is a substantial opportunity for "productivity gains" (i.e. trip-lengthening) to be realised yet.

Oh well, at least I will be home Friday so I can get 269ed on Saturday night too. 

10:53PM - Back to the north.

And the first trip was a pretty spectacular failure.  6 hours in the yard, made it to Crump, and they just put us in a taxi and sent us home.  Probably just to get us off the railroad.

Oh well.  It should work out okay.  I will be able to spend all of my day off in the various meetings I was kind of hoping to miss.

11:29AM - Really?

My shipment of Dash 8 detail parts is stuck in customs at the Coutts/Sweetgrass border crossing until someone from the hobby store drives down there and springs it from hoosegow. 

Some brokerage issue, I believe.

Also I am still waiting for the NS SD70M-2s.  It has been over a year now.  But they are coming: the CN models are in stock here already.

Always excitement in the train world.

9:20AM - Blurgh

Chicken on the Way for lunch, nachos for supper.  To quote Dr. Marvin Monroe, "this is not the way to get healthy!!"

I had a not bad west trip the other day.  We stayed okay in Field and only ended up staying there for 3 hours or so.  I should have booked rest, though, since I was really exhausted by the time I got back.  Plus I couldn't really sleep yesterday either.  Kind of a waste of a day really.  However, it looks like I will be off today and it is finally sunny.

That doesn't change the pile of RMRS stuff that I have to do though.

12:40AM - Hmm.

Well, in the face of getting things done, I did the essential things and spent the rest of the evening getting overserved at the Beagle as usual.  I know better.  And by know better, I mean that I think I should stop.  I will learn my lesson too late, as always.  I even said to the waitress that, in my mind, I had the option of going home to write or getting another beer.  I guess that, luckily for this blog and her, I stayed there for the beer. Which turned into a shot, which turned into another beer.

Interviewer:  I see that you have been writing.

Me:  Well, I have been doing some writing.  I'm not sure if that qualifies as "writing" but, in a sense, I suppose that you are right.

Interviewer: And why is it that you write?

Me:  I don't know.  I see enough young people with lots of friends and healthy hairlines enjoying themselves.  I guess that this is my way of persevering.  I guess you could say that it's my way of staying sane.

Interviewer: But why does that make you want to write?

Me: Again I'm not sure.  It's hard to say what it is.  I'm not sure if I'm more angry that my life isn't better, or that their lives aren't worse.  That doesn't mean that I don't feel as though everyone should have the best life possible.  It's just that, even in a world of bleeding hearts, there is still such a thing as injustice.

Interviewer:  And how does that make you feel?

Me:  It makes me feel as though I want to write.

Interviewer: And what is it that you want to write about?

Me:  Again it's hard to say.  There isn't a lot that I can write about since, between one thing and another, I don't have a lot of experience.  I was raised in a middle class family and don't have a lot of experience with want.  I think I'm working class nowadays but I have more means than ends.  It won't be that way for long, mind you.  But I can count on it until the truly wealthy find the number at which I can be indentured to them but still remain an appreciable economic factor. 

Interviewer: So you wish to write about economics?

Me: Hardly.  I don't even understand them and I'm pretty sure that I'm not interested in them.  What it boils down to is that I have to write about myself.  I don't even know myself, and I don't know where I'm going, but I know where I've been.  Really I guess that I don't have any choice but to write about my heritage, whatever that is.

Interviewer: And what would that be, exactly?

Me: It's hard to say.  I'm an adopted child of immigrant parents in a nation of the same.  My heritage consists of what I remember from childhood.  Perhaps the worst thing of all about that is that I don't have any true history other than that which I make for myself. That's a lot of pressure.

Interviewer:  Well then maybe you should write about your future?

Me:  It's hard to conceive.  In my future, computers will make my labour worthless and time will make my knowledge obsolete.  It's hard to look forward to that.  It will be a dismal time when computerism replaces materialism and knowledge is useless.

Interviewer:  You could always pursue an aim that would avoid both of those problems.

Me:  And let them win?  I feel like writing.  How much of a pragmatist do you really think I am?

Interviewer: Some might argue that it is better to bet on a winner. 

Me: If we were all in love with doing the smart thing, World War II would have turned out much differently.  Sometimes it's better to be on what seems like the losing side.

          

6:21PM - Well well.

I was expecting to go back to work today, but it did not happen.  Faced with a new-found day off, I did not get much done. 

I did a small amount of RMRS work.  Much too small.  Then I had a nap.  Then I made some noise with various items in the apartment (and I finally did the honourable thing and dropped $30 on a pair of studio headphones with a 1/4" jack). 

I did some work on 8944.  It is about halfway done, and I have been looking at my project pile and thought that I need to pick up the pace.  I need to go back and do some work on the 3416 model I finished back in '08 or '09 or whenever since, looking back, it seems like it must have been a rush job and is lacking some conspicuous details.  Also, the weathering isn't very good, and that would be a major fix.  Nonetheless, its appearance could be improved substantially with some relatively minor additions.

I have also been thinking about Soo Line engines.  I found an approximation of the 789 I bought ages ago and forgot about that could make a neat project (again with the projects) since, among other things, some of the fuel tank would have to be ground off.  While I'm at it, I might as well work out the 6617 and 4601 which have both become Calgary engines, in the red and white schemes, respectively...

As for this evening, I should probably finish the small amount of RMRS stuff I started, get groceries, go to the bank, get gas...  Oh my will this be exciting.

  
 

10:54PM - Back

Back from the #1 Switcher.  Hoping for same tomorrow.




Hunter Harrison's coronation at CP seems to be getting increasingly likely.  Very heartwarming.  Whatever happens when he gets here will be quick, brutal, and make him and William Ackman a truckload of money.  Oh well.  I'm sure that that good ol' southern boy is looking forward to brutalising another railroad of "snow n_ _ _ers."

9:43PM - One of the "Top Plays" at the Beagle.

I think it's because "C" likes it.  Anyway, it has been stuck in my head all day...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyVVcQPJLgU



It's a surprise to me that Christine McVie looked less haggard by the 80s.

9:41PM - Darn.

I forgot to change my bid last night.

I was at the Beagle, innocently enough, but had to sit at the bar since the place was almost standing-room only for most of the night.  Bad things happen when I sit at the bar. 

Luckily I escaped relatively unscathed.  I got into a talk about the viability of pensions, the profitability of railroads, and fish tanks with some regulars. 

Somewhere in there, the bid thing slipped my mind.  Luckily, the change of card results have me owning the day spareboard as a permanent, so at least I will end up there at the worst.  I was going to make a move to the north since I just spent four days sitting at home. 

10:13PM - Problem

It seems that I am out of NS detail parts to the extent that they can be found at my local hobby suppliers.  I may have to order direct from Details West.

I can't remember if I mentioned it or not, but I got a Kato Dash 9 at the train show.  It was factory unnumbered but had some dry transfers applied sloppily that needed to be replaced.  I decided to maintain the number that the previous owner had applied, which is 8944. 

I broke the engine down into a couple of sub-assemblies which is about as far as my limited abilities would allow, and am currently doing mundane tasks like painting step edges and handrails.  I might do some decalling on it tonight.  I haven't decided.


Other than that, today I went to Heritage and bought some vinyl.  Actually I think I got ripped off.  But only because I was willing to pay whatever they wanted for the first vinyl copies of Closing Time and The Heart of Saturday Night that I have seen in three years.  The records have a few hisses and pops, but altogether are actually in pretty good shape.  I also got Innervisions for a more acceptable $12.

Also, at CP's behest, I filled out and mailed my white proxy today.  In spite of their reccommendation, I opted to withold Mr. Ackman from the board.  I guess that what it amounts to now is that I've done all I can do to stop the coronation of King Hunter.  It is odd how I am in the curious position of, on the one hand, supporting a Board of Directors on a proxy vote, and also complaining about their intentions to our anti-union and anti-pension federal government.  I'm not sure what kind of success I expect to see from either of these endeavours.     

4:38PM - Oh.

I forgot to mention that I did take the bottles in. 


I received twelve dollars and ninety cents.

12:35AM - Concern

It is a grave concern to me that the directives we receive from the company (at the NMC level) are written by lawyers, and the responses to them which the union contrives are, in my opinion, below high-school level.  They have provided us with a form letter to be sent to our federal government that would not be worth more than a C in any class that I would teach. 

As a unionized member of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) employed at Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) I am writing this letter of grave concern relative to the probable adverse changes to our CP pension plan.

CP has come under considerable pressure in recent months as it is thought the company is under performing in the opinion of some new investors. These predominantly U.S. investors are determined to make sweeping changes by replacing the current CEO Mr. Fred Green and a significant number of the Board of Directors by proxy vote of the shareholders.

CP and the TCRC are presently in contract negotiations with the main issue being the Defined Benefit Pension Plan (DB). CP is attempting to change the DB Plan in hopes this will help reduce their operating ratio, which is operating costs divided by operating revenue. This is an attempt to attract and appease investors to this profitable Company while keeping the current CEO and Board of Directors in place.  

Our members at CP deserve the same promised pension plan we have made contributions to during our career with C.P. Making changes to this plan will adversely affect our TCRC membership and their families.

As our Member of Parliament we need your support  to retain the pension plan that has been funded by our members for over 108 years since its existence at Canadian Pacific Railway.      

Although the letter is a somewhat less dismal attempt to communicate in writing than that which is demonstrated by our local management on a regular basis, I would still be ashamed to attach my name to this document. 

There needs to be someone at the national level of this union that does not make is sound like morons.  Or, at best, C students.