> I don't know what point "Sam Alexander" was trying to make in his nonsensical rant but hourly is a disaster. I work on a Class II road that has a CBA completely separate form the National Agreement and is hourly. It basically eliminates all the work rules that prevent the carrier from abusing you. The carriers want maximum flexibility to force you to do whatever they want you to do on a whim, which is what an hourly agreement will permit. Class I TE&Y employees would be crazy to vote for an hourly agreement. If you think your quality of life sucks now, wait until all the rules that provide at least some predictability are gone.

Is Amtrak a class 1? It's TE&Y crews have been hourly since about 1985. Having worked under the older mileage-based agreements (pre-1985 when there was the 100-mile day, scads of arbitraries, absolute craft separation -yard crews couldn't work road jobs and vice versa- and all that), and then finishing my RR career on an hourly based wage, all I can say is going hourly doesn't necessarily affect other work rules unless the Union negotiators agree to the rule changes and the proposals are ratified.

You're right on about the "maximum flexibility" thing, and sometimes those managers' through processes and demands are so erratic and bizarre I wonder whether they are tooting crank or smoking crack.