Re: re why ......

["Tezza" <tezza2000@dingoblue.net.au>]

"Mark Bau"
Tezza at

| > | > A labourer doesn't have to know shit, isn't
| > | >> responsible for thousands of lives and doesn't have to sit constant
| > exams and isn't subject to disciplinary action or charges if he digs a
hole
| > the wrong way.

| > | How wrong you are. Try digging a hole in the wrong place and hit a
fiber
| > | optic cable or gas main, or petroleum pipe or phone line.
| >
| > Then they'll call him a dickhead, his foreman or boss might get in a bit
of
| > minor shit, happens every day. He isn't responsible for thousands of
lives.
| > He doesn't have to sit constant exams. He doesn't face charges if he
digs a
| > hole the wrong way.
| >
| >
|
| I'm in the fortunate position to see this argument from both sides of the
| fence. I was a Driver/Engineer for 15 years, I now work for Union Pacific
| doing signal construction/maintainence.


Ok, so you're not a labourer, what I said still stands.


| All jobs have some degree of responsibility. In my present job, if I wire
a
| signal incorrectly you can get a green into an occupied track.

That's not a labourer's job.


| In my job I sit for more exams than I ever took as a Driver, I could face
| charges if I do my job incorrectly and I'm resposible for thousands of
| lives. If during my signal installation I hit a gas line with a backhoe I
| could ruin the day for a lot of people.

A labourer does none of those things.


| After stepping back from the
| throttle I get amused when Drivers think they have the most important job
in
| the world.

I have never met or even heard of a Driver who thinks that.


| To be sure driving trains is a very responsible job but so are
| many others on the railway. (and for that matter many jobs outside of the
| rail industry)

That was never disputed, it was Drivers being no better than labourers.


| Having run everything from a 6 car suburban train to a 15,000 ton coal
train
| I'll go on the record in saying that I could teach anyone of average IQ


There's the rub, a lot of the latest trainees are well below average.


| to be a good driver in 6 months. We do it all the time in the U.S. I doubt
I'll
| know half of what I need to know as a signal maintainer in 5 years!


They don't get 6 months, that's the problem. They also still get passed even
when their Driver Trainer says they shouldn't be driving trains. Quotas,
genetalia and skin colour are more important than safety and skills.