By the end of the eighties the brotherhoods began to press energetically
for improvements in employment conditions and found the railways not
disinclined to grant their demands in a measure. This was due in great
measure to the strategic position of these trades, which have it in
their power completely to tie up the industry when on strike, causing
enormous losses to the carriers.[60] Accordingly, they were granted
wages which fairly placed them among the lower professional groups in
society as well as other privileges, notably "seniority" in promotion,
that is promotion based on length of service and not on a free selection
by the officials. Seniority was all the more important since the train
personnel service is so organized that each employe will pass several
times in the regular course of his career from a lower to a higher rung
on the industrial ladder.[61] For instance, a typical passenger train
engineer starts as fireman on a freight train, advances to a fireman on
a passenger train, then to engineer on a freight train, and finally to
engineer on a passenger train. A similar sequence is arranged in
advancing from brakeman to conductor.
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