When efficiencies aren't the answer

Details

Published on Thursday, October 16, 2014

By Neil Strohschein

An Oct. 7 story posted on CBC’s web site has raised an issue that should concern all Canadians.

According to the story, 75 per cent of those who responded to a recent survey admitted to reporting for work without having had adequate rest and “nodding off” at least once while they were on shift.

These workers drive the freight trains that pass through our communities every day. They are caught in the middle of a three-way fight that, if not resolved soon, could result in another disaster similar to the one we saw at Lac Megantic, Quebec. They face enormous pressures every day.

The three parties in this fight are customers, railways and government. Customers use trains to carry raw materials to factories and manufactured goods to ports for shipping around the world. Millions of tones move across this country by rail each year; in trains up to three miles in length, with a two-person crew in charge of each train. It’s a demanding job; and I have nothing but the highest amount of respect for those who do it.

Unfortunately, they must work under some rather unique conditions. Most claim to have no firm schedules. They are, they say, essentially “on call 24/7” and never really know when or how long to sleep.

In contrast, airline pilots know their flight schedules one month in advance. Truckers can stop and rest if they are feeling fatigued. Train drivers can’t. When you factor in the recent drive to increase profits by cutting jobs and the federal government’s demand that railways increase the amount of western grain they move to market, the results of the above survey should come as no surprise to anyone.

In their defense, the railway companies claim that shifts are scheduled to ensure that workers get adequate rest. I believe they are telling the truth; but the problem isn’t the number of hours workers get for rest. The problem is when and how regularly those hours occur—and that problem isn’t unique to train drivers.

Our bodies function best when they get six to eight (or more) hours of sleep that occur at roughly the same time each day. Disruptions to the work-sleep routine (like those that occur when a worker goes from day to evening or evening to night shift) put the body out of balance. In time that balance can be restored. But if ones schedule is constantly being disrupted, as appears to be happening with some train drivers, the body can’t regain its balance. Eventually it stops functioning altogether. That’s when serious accidents can (and often do) happen.

To understand how this problem began, we need to go back almost 40 years to a time when governments and businesses began to downsize. Management’s argument was simple—cut back on workers (specifically those at the top of the wage scale), assign their duties to others, get them to work more efficiently and save money.

Unfortunately, the workers who lost their jobs also had the most experience; so as employment costs went down, the cost of fixing mistakes made by inexperienced employees went up. In some cases, businesses actually lost money thanks to the efficiencies they introduced.

Today’s strategy is “hire casual or part-time workers, guarantee them lots of hours and schedule their hours whenever we need someone to fill out a shift.” The results of the survey mentioned above are a wake up call for workers and employers. Sometimes efficiencies aren’t the answer. Hiring more good workers, paying them well and giving them regular hours of work (even if only part-time) is.