I applied to this last round of hiring by BNSF because my unit (National Guard) is dragging its feet on getting me a CTO and I need to be making money at a real job and not bumming around shitty job to shitty job waiting on them to send me somewhere to finish out my ATC training.
/ventoff
I got it and I can answer a few of these questions.
You work no more than 9 hours a day. That ninth hour is always paid as time and a half even if it's your first 8 hours of the work week. Anything over 40 hours a week is time and a half. How many hours you work a week is dependant on how you want to shift your schedule around. My buddy just worked two weeks straight (14 days) so that he could get off for drill one weekend. He said he typically works at LEAST 5 days a week and sometimes 6-7. It all depends. But they will NOT work you more than 9 hours a day, so it's not so bad.
They have health insurance that they'll take outta your check. I believe it was $300 a month, but you can get your own insurance. Like me, I use Tri-Care because full coverage is only like $70 a month.
I don't know about pensions. They weren't mentioned in my orientation, so I doubt it. We pay Railway Retriement instead of Social Security. You pay in MORE than you do into SS, but you KNOW you'll get it back when you retire, unlike SS...sooo...yeah.
Haven't started the job just yet, but my buddy says it's nice. If you're former military it's supposed to be just like that. Be on time to where you're supposed to be and they love you. Be a slacker and life will get real hard, real fast.
If you get hired under a Dispatcher Trainee position THEY send you to the course, put you in a hotel while you take it, and pay you while you're there.
Pay is $244 a day while you're "in training." That's roughly $30 an hour, so overtime is around $38 an hour. Once you're actually on the job you continue at $244 a day until you've worked 60 solo days (could take 6-8 months because they want to train you on as many desks as possible). When you've worked your 60 solo days you move up to $305 a day. Also, any solo days you work while "in training" are $305 a day. This is because the 244 is 80% pay and the 305 is 100%, so a solo day nets you 100% while a training day gets you 80%.
I'm excited about starting the job. BNSF is the only railroad I've seen to offer a TRAINEE Dispatcher position. The rest require you to have previous Dispatching experience or the course BNSF PAYS YOU TO TAKE. It's a sweet set-up.
Hope this helps! I'll know more when I start class in Sept.!
