October 15 is the date that your station, shop, dock and/or work unit should have started picking your vacation for the following year. Be sure to review Article 8 of the contract and any guidelines that may affect your vacation selection. Vacation is one of the few things done by company seniority rather than occupational or title seniority. Remember that you normally pick vacation in weekly blocks, a week being 7 days and not 5 days and that your vacation starts after your days off for the week of vacation that you picked.
Article 8 Vacations
Paragraph(c) Preference for the period in which an employee will be permitted to take his vacation will be granted within each station, building, dock/shop, or other vacation work unit in the order of Company seniority provided, however, that vacation schedules may be so arranged within each work group or section as will not interfere with the requirements of the service. The Company will post requests for vacation preference for the following year on Company bulletin boards not later than October 15th of each year; and an eligible employee will list his preference not later than November 15th. The vacation periods will be assigned and posted on Company bulletin boards by December 1st, whenever possible. Any employee not expressing a preference will be assigned a vacation, if eligible. Except in an emergency, an employee’s vacation will commence immediately following his regularly scheduled days off.