I agree wholeheartedly with Nick, the guy is a dirtbag. Smart, but still complete scum.

I visit the WSOR Yahoogroup and see all of these people "thanking Mr. G" and singing his praises, just like Richard above.

"From the same cloth" means operating as big an empire as you can, while cracking the whip on your people, paying them a menial (read: retail chain store) wage, and threatening them when they try to organize. Similar tactics have been used by Rick Webb / WATCO when even the word "union" is mentioned. Evidence of this is the 15-30 "no vote" when the BLET tried to set foot on the property in August 2005.

[www.nmb.gov]

Gardner threatened to "shut the railroad down", and he is nothing but a scab who pays his people dirt salaries (something that should NEVER be permitted for railroad labor) while sucking the teat of the same state government who doesn't believe public workers have a right to work for a reasonable income/benefits. Amazing.

I don't think you'll see WATCO change much of anything for the first year or more. This railroad could probably be run much better. It seems like they have a dedicated workforce, but I hate to see people exploited out of intimidation of losing their jobs. Selling out to WATCO isn't going to be much better, but it'll be "of the same cloth" for sure.