Over the years, these contracts have been made with the attempt to maximize the earnings potential of the membership. Local labor and management representatives periodically adjust the number of employees in the pool to prevailing train traffic so that each employee will operate a certain number of miles each month. The route is over rugged terrain and a trip of about 115 miles can take about 9 hours depending on congestion etc. So, people in this district must make twice as many trips as those on the longer run in MT to realize the same earnings. When there is discussion of changing the hours of service rules or altering the schedule to manage fatigue most railroad employees immediately get concerned about the impact on their pocket book.
Life style is another component of the fatigue issue.
In many locations the work force is bimodal distributed with respect to age. There are a number of people who have over twenty years of seniority and there are a smaller number with fewer than 5 years of seniority. The demographics of the workforce then consists of one group of individuals who have raised families and gotten their children into college and another group that is younger and just getting started raising families and buying homes. The more senior groups are looking for life style changes that allow for more leisure time while those in the younger groups are looking for earnings potential and more predictable schedules. To the extent that fatigue countermeasures do not interfere with earnings potential, and at the same time promote leisure and family time, they will be supported by the local work force.