OldPoleBurner Wrote:
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> > The American work culture will never allow on
> time performance. The Work cultures of
> > Switzerland and Japan demand excellence in all
> they do
>
> If you look close enough, you'll notice that
> excellence IS demanded here in America too:
>
> Hence the myriads of ex-Amtrak passenger who say
> they will never ride again after their first trip,
> which invariably was a grand maul CF;
>
> Hence congested airports at one end of the travel
> market continuum, to congested highways at the
> other end, all while the old depot sits mostly
> empty;
>
> Hence the political will to spend billions on
> airports and highways; but very little funding of
> Amtrak;
>
> Hence the trucking industry taking a 90% market
> share in ton miles of freight transportation
> produced;
>
> Hence thousands of empty decrepit industry spurs;
>
> Hence. . . . . Hence . . . . . . . .
>
>
>
> > Switzerland and Japan would never tolerate the
> unionized mentality of the
> > American Railroad industry.
>
> It ain't the unions per se, or the workers. That
> "mentality" you complain about was born in a deep
> seated aura of chronic mistrust, that has existed
> in the rail industry for decades and decades. This
> is what caused the severe rigidity of railroad
> unions that we still see - even while on their own
> death beds.
>
> That mistrust was in turn born of literally a
> century of treatment of workers, and their labor
> as mere chattel, as a mere commodity; rather than
> as a critical stake holder in the outcome of the
> enterprise. How could that create anything other
> than mistrust, animosity and rigidity in the first
> place.
>
> If you look closely, you will note that where
> employees are treated with respect, unionism never
> gains much of a foothold. And even where such
> respectful companies are unionized, there does not
> appear to be anywhere near the friction that there
> is in the railroad industry. But there is still
> more. The way most of the rail industry treats its
> customers is just as bad. Sadly these realities
> have totally negated the natural economic
> advantages of steel wheel on steel rail - almost
> entirely.
>
> So yes, it is mostly the responsibility of
> lame-brained unimaginative and often greedy
> managements that the rail industry has failed to
> achieve any degree of excellence, ever since the
> Staggers Act;
>
> Hence the total rejection of their NON-EXELLENCE
> by much of America. Sadly, most of America
> considers them to be irrelevant now.

welcome to the 18 century