Pros
Easy work, does not require much thinking, anyone with common sense can do it. Good pay for what you actually do. Can work as fast or slow as you want as long as you work by the rules. You pay into railroad retirement which is awesome (just as long as it is still there when you retire) good benefits for now... but that is slowly declining with every new contract.. not looking good for long term
Cons
It is all a mind game, lots of "high school" drama. Everyone is in it for themselves and nobody has your back. You go into work wondering if it will be your last day due to MGMT trying to fire you. The union is not really a union, just another paycheck deduction. TONS of deductions. If you make$2,800 a half you'll probably only being home about $2k at most. You basically have to walk on eggshells all the time trying not to break all the ridiculous rules and then they wonder what takes you so long to get a job done. Your fellow employees will rat on you, especially if they have lower seniority than you. Seniority is everything, it is what allows you to work and hold different jobs that perform different tasks. Some jobs are mon-fri 8 hours, others work 12 hours everyday with tues wed off. Biggest CON of all is the negative work atmosphere. I have never seen such a divide between the Unions and MGMT. Literally if one was on fire, the other would not pee on the other. You start off working the extra board. You will be on call for 5 days 24 hours which is guaranteed (which is a pro) when you get enough seniority ( people above you getting fired, injured, quitting, or killed) you will very slowly move up the totem pole and start being able to hold the worst jobs, many years from now 8+ you might get to hold a decent job with a weekend day off. After your loving life, having your SUN MON off or FRI SAT you will get pulled up to engine service and get trained to run a locomotive. After training you go to the engineer board and start ALL over back to the bottom being on call.. its definitely a lifestyle. You will miss family functions, births, weddings, you will miss it all, your family relationships will decrease and your friends will stop inviting you out. The life of the railroad is nothing to be proud about, its emotionally draining. You will get divorced and your kids will quit talking to you. Family is wayy more important than anything you will get from this company.