As a result, veteran controllers say they have worked substantially more overtime in the last 18 months.
Veteran controllers are expressing their concerns and are being systematically ignored and devalued.
Mr. Richards said the controllers had been working without a contract since September 2006, a matter of frustration that, he said, has led many veteran controllers to retire.
The veteran rail controller said that "he may have momentarily stepped away from the console" and did not see the student remove blocking devices from the track, the safety board said.
"They must have long-range radar out there," said Ron Ruggeri, a veteran air-traffic controller and instructor at Vaughn College of aeronautics and technology.
CSX seeks engineers and mechanics for its technology-oriented operations, according to Myers, while AutoNation recruits veterans to be controllers in its stores.
Mr. Watkins, an Air Force veteran and an air-traffic controller, wasn't about to put up with it.
A union official defended the air traffic controller, a 13-year veteran.
The controller, a 26-year veteran, had just returned from a break after what had been a busy early evening, the officials said.
Greuel's chief deputy controller is Claire Bartels, a veteran of City Hall who has worked for Greuel since 2002, moving with her boss from the City Council.
