PWS / Combining Extraboards / Off Days / Vacation Changes
Due to programming difficulties for the Conductor PWS, the start date has been pushed back to Feb. 19th (tentative). At some point prior to the implementation, the SMART Local Chairmen will be posted in the washroom for a period of time to teach Conductors how to use the system and to assist with setting up Bid Cards.
The combination of the East End and AGS extraboards was supposed to be implemented on Jan. 1, but we successfully fought back against that and were able to get NS to agree to combine them with the original PWS date of Jan. 29th. Now that PWS has been pushed back, I have spoken with the Division Superintendent and he believes that combing the extraboards will be pushed back till Feb. 19th with PWS. Labor Relations has been pushing hard for them to be combined, however, so I won’t be surprised if they try to push ahead with it, especially if they believe PWS will be pushed back even further.
Pool turn off days have been implemented at smaller terminals across the system, but there have been some programming kinks with that as well. The last time I spoke with the General Chairman, he said they were rolling it out to some pools that were slightly smaller than ours and that they’re trying to roll it out according to size, so I expect Birmingham will be next in line, but I don’t have a time frame of when that will be. There has been some misunderstanding about pool turn off days being implemented with PWS, but those two things are completely separate. Off days could be implemented before or after PWS, but I’m really hoping before.
As with all things on the railroad, expect all of this information to change. If/when it does, I will keep you updated.
Open Weeks of Vacation are posted HERE or by navigating to the ‘AGS Open Vacations’ page. Please contact me if you would like to change your vacation to one of the open weeks. After any change, I will update the document as changes are made, so check back periodically to see if the week you want has become available.
-Coty