@sean since I was responsible for contracts totalling millions and was under contractual obligation with regards to this, I legally did need the notice or stood to experience significant financial penalties. CN not only understood this and respected it, this is why they gave me the guaruntee that it would not be held against me, and they guarunteed that the next opening would be mine. (Which turned out to be just 2 weeks later anyway) RE the seniority, the net effect is 0 since they had no other candidates for the terminal I am assigned to, (There are still 6 openings as of my hiring, so in fairly short order, there will be others below me..) Further, since seniority is based on Application date, not Hire date, the delay is moot.
Certainly in general I do agree with you, someone should approach thier current employer and see if something can be worked out, however things are not always that simple, and not all RR are unsympathetic to this... further, I was also told that if I had breached my contract with my former employer, it could have jepardized my advancement into management in the future. (A long term goal of mine, and HR specifically suggested that they concur)
