I think that OPRRMS is spot on. Full automation is on the technological horizon, which will largely eliminate the need for real T and E personnel, and reduce what's left to a very dreary existence, at best.

I took the buyout, back when it became apparent that management fully controlled the UTU leadership with perks and bribes, and that they would be useless in maintaining a quality of life for their members.

This was back when Bryon Boyd was on his way up in the UTU. I was a UTU Officer at that time, trained by the "old school", by folks like Lynn Fruit and Jim Evans, to represent the men. I was thinking of staying, but after my own personal conversation with Bryon Boyd, it was one more reason to take the buyout, since he was clearly about lining his own pockets, at the expense of the men (and women) he was supposed to represent. When he was sent to Federal Prison for FELA shakedown rackets, I was not surprised one bit.

If you don't want any real home life, if you like to live like a tramp, permanently on the move, with unpaid bills for moving, with little job security, and you like to be worked like a mule, you'll love a future in today's T and E service.

Most of my best friends have now finally retired, and none of them were the least bit sorry to go, because the great job we used to have is gone. It only got worse and worse after I left, and with no one looking out for your interests, you're pretty much on your own.

It was a great place to work at one time, not anymore.