Prototype Railroading: Seniority

Railroads are based heavily on seniority.  Seniority is basically the length of time a person has been working for a railroad, compared to other employees.  It is pretty simple really.  Someone who has been around longer has more seniority, and therefore their work opportunities are more flexible.  Everyone gets to work, but what their specific assignments are vary.  When the railroad hires Conductors, they do not hire them for a specific assignment, only a location, and then they can choose their assignments to a degree, based on their seniority.

When a Conductor first hires out with the railroad, they are assigned a seniority number, and placed at the very bottom of the seniority roster.  This means they basically get last pick of what to do, as a Conductor.  When they pick a job, such as an extra board, pool job, or yard job, they will immediately be placed, or marked up, on that specific job.  Then, they will stay on it as long as no one else wants it.  If someone else sees that job and decides they want it, they can bump the person off it if they have more seniority than that person.  If they are lower in seniority, they cannot bump the owner off the job, and will have to wait until it is a vacant job, or there is someone lower than them on it.

So what happens when someone gets bumped off an assignment?  There is a board called the bump board.  After being bumped, an employee goes to the bump board, and then they are given a certain amount of time to find a new assignment and mark up to that.  In Glendive, we get 48 hours to mark up again.  At the end of that time, if they have not marked back up, then the railroad will put them somewhere.  That somewhere might not be on a job they want!  Almost everything is done based on seniority.  Seniority is gained as people with more seniority quit or retire and as people get hired later.  Every new employee goes to the bottom of the seniority roster, so anyone hired afterwards is lower in seniority.

There are some exceptions to the bumping game.  Some jobs operate on a bid system.  When the railroad knows they will be needing people for a period of time for a certain assignment, they may put out a notification of it and then open it up for bidding.  Bidding is done by seniority.  When the bidding closes, the person with the most seniority, who bid on the job, gets the job.  Once they have the job, they usually cannot be bumped.  Of course, there are also exceptions to that.  Generally though, a bid job is pretty safe for the owner once the bidding closes.

Eventually, as people retire, the people who were once at the bottom of the roster, get close enough to the top of the seniority roster that they can hold just about any job they want.  Usually by then they have earned their money, and they just want a regularly assigned yard job.  There are plenty of jobs on the railroad with very irregular and unpredictable schedules, so the jobs with known time off and a predictable schedule are often held by the most senior people, even if the money is not as good.  Eventually most people get to a point where they would rather be home with loved ones more, even if it means taking a small cut in pay.  Until someone has enough seniority to hold a job like that, they must play the bumping game, which does get old in a hurry!