Word: dieselization
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Willie Glass, 60, a garbage man in Atlanta for many years and then unemployed for a spell, recently got a new job as a fireman on a Southern Railway diesel locomotive. On his first day at work, a supervisor showed him where to sit in the cab of the locomotive and where to find the toilet. Glass already feels confident he can perform a fireman's duties. "I don't do nothin'," he says. "I just...
...from the 195-company united front that U.S. railroads have presented in their work-rules battle with five railroad operating unions. Instead, the Southern has carried on its own fight in its own way against outmoded work rules, particularly the rule requiring a fireman in the cab of every diesel locomotive. Says an executive of the 100%-diesel Southern: "We need locomotive firemen about like we need camel watchers...
Befogged Future. Under the President's plan, the railroads may petition the ICC to establish new rules in the hottest area of dispute, notably the question of whether a fireman will continue riding in the cab of every diesel train, doing no necessary work. The commission must consider the findings of the presidential panels that have already exhaustively examined these issues and decided them in favor of management. The ICC is to act within 120 days "or as soon thereafter as is practicable"-a broad franchise for stalling...
Firemen & Featherbeds. The railroads want to revoke their 1937 concession to the Firemen's Brotherhood and get rid of the firemen on diesels in freight and yard service. These firemen do no necessary work, the railroads say. Firemen would continue to ride in the cabs of passenger trains to serve as safety lookouts. Some diesel engineers frankly agree that firemen are dispensable. "I don't really need him," says an Ohio engineer, "but he's handy to have around. He gets four hours' sleep and I get four hours' sleep." Another diesel engineer tells...
Fireman Gilbert can intone plenty of arguments against removing firemen from diesel locomotives-he has had a lot of practice at that. "Practical railroaders," he says, "rate the locomotive fireman as the most valuable safety factor available to the industry. His presence has meant the difference between disaster and saving lives and property on many occasions...