Protect Your Job: Log Transmissions!

By Guest Blogger Adrian Hender 

At the CTA, the railroad is unpredictable. In a moment, a slow day can turn hectic. 

It’s entirely understandable that you make small mistakes in your response. However, that’s part of building useful experience! 

I’ve found this website is an especially useful tool to become better at my qualification. It archives all of CTA’s radio transmissions for 30 days. Once you are familiar with how the site works (filtering for your line, time etc) you can study incidents on your own time, without the stress of having to respond to control. 

We are all human. You may find yourself taking more time than you remember, or not using the correct Call-code. It’s also possible that you transmitted the correct info to control, but the error was on their end (it does happen).

Another case is for disciplinary interviews. Having access to a time-stamped independent log of the radio is a good way to keep management accountable. If you did follow the right procedure, it would be an effective way to avoid an unjust write up.  

We are never fully “qualified” as there is always more to learn! 

The opinions expressed by guest bloggers here or in Shop Talk newsletter are not necessarily the opinion or sanctioned policies and actions by Brother Eric Curtis Muhammad Basir, ATU Local 308 members, elected leadership or stewards. In the spirit of the First Amendment and the ATU Obligation, all CTA workers and supporters are welcome to submit content of any point-of-view for this blog. Real identities will be hidden upon request.