Strike off medical benefits? My experience is that, in general, organized workers get them, while other do not.
As for unions' fighting for improvements for their own members only, what do you expect? We pay our dues and expect our unions' staff to work for us, not for those who don't join us.
You brought up shorter work days and paid holidays and then admitted that union workers were the first to get them. Do you think that nonunion employers would have felt pressure to follow suit if it hadn't been for the precedent established by unions? Not very likely.
Child labor existed long before the Great Depression.
Why would locomotive weight matter? Because the bigger engines are used to pull passenger and freight trains on mainline service, unlike the yard and local duties performed by smaller engines.
In mainline service it is imperative that the trains keep rolling and adhere to timetables, yet, as with operating an aircraft, there must be provision made for the operator to attend to bodily needs, such as taking food, having a nap, or using a toilet, therefore an engineer needs a helper, just as a pilot does. Furthermore, there are many things, both in the cab, and on the road, and on the train, which need attending, and two are more able to handle all the details than one.
As for attaching locomotives and more crew members, it comes down to "give them an inch and they'll take a mile", and that works both ways. Or hadn't you noticed?
"Strike off medical benefits? My experience is that, in general, organized workers get them, while other do not."
You should get out more.
"As for unions' fighting for improvements for their own members only, what do you expect? We pay our dues and expect our unions' staff to work for us, not for those who don't join us."
Then don't credit Unions with giving all of us the benefits.
"You brought up shorter work days and paid holidays and then admitted that union workers were the first to get them. Do you think that nonunion employers would have felt pressure to follow suit if it hadn't been for the precedent established by unions? Not very likely."
Yes, they would have.
"On January 5, 1914, the Ford Motor Company took the radical step of doubling pay to $5 a day, and cut shifts from nine hours to an eight hour day, moves that were not popular with rival companies, although seeing the increase in Ford's productivity, most soon followed suit."
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_hour_day
As I wrote, not only Unions but society at large pushed for better working conditions. Look up the Progressive Movement. Lots of folks besides Unions in there. In fact, in the 1800's the leadership of the Knights of Labor, under Terence V. Powderly, rejected appeals to join the eight hour movement as a whole.
"Child labor existed long before the Great Depression."
Yes, some State laws regulated child labor, but it was not banned nationwide until 1937.
"Why would locomotive weight matter? Because the bigger engines are used to pull passenger and freight trains on mainline service, unlike the yard and local duties performed by smaller engines."
In mainline service it is imperative that the trains keep rolling and adhere to timetables, yet, as with operating an aircraft, there must be provision made for the operator to attend to bodily needs, such as taking food, having a nap, or using a toilet, therefore an engineer needs a helper, just as a pilot does. Furthermore, there are many things, both in the cab, and on the road, and on the train, which need attending, and two are more able to handle all the details than one."
Baloney. The Unions wanted to keep to the same 8 hour or 100 mile restriction before changing crews or paying overtime, despite the fact that a diesel could now make four times as many miles in the same time. There was LESS things to attend to after dieselization, not more. Firemen were not, and are not needed in a modern locomotive. They haven't had them in at least forty years and it's not a problem.
"As for attaching locomotives and more crew members, it comes down to "give them an inch and they'll take a mile", and that works both ways. Or hadn't you noticed? "
Ask the members of United Auto Workers Local 5 working for Studebaker. Oh, that's right, there aren't any.