Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen Local 16

TP Hudson Recording Secretary Local 16 814 Mount Moriah Rd. Greenwood, SC 29646 [email protected]

Minutes from the meeting at Rocky Mount, N .C. – Jan. 19, 2013

President Karle was absent from this meeting.

Our Financial Secretary, Brother Billy Yates was appointed as presiding officer over our meeting. Brother Yates called the meeting to order at 9:15 am.

Brother Yates appointed Brother Ken Barber to be Chaplain and Brother Chris Cavanaugh to be Sergeant-at-Arms.

There were 5 local members, 6 members of the General Committee and 2 local officers present for this meeting. We welcomed Mr. Gary Williams to our business meeting. Mr. Williams represents our BRS designated counsel at the Moody Law Firm located in Portsmouth, Va. Brother Yates expressed appreciation for his attendance and support on behalf of Local 16. Brother Yates gave him the floor to speak to our members. Mr. Williams explained some aspects of FELA law and urged the signalmen to contact his law firm if there is a need to discuss an on-duty injury.

Brother Yates called for a motion to accept the minutes as written from Greenwood, S.C. Motion was made by Brother Ken Lamb to accept the minutes as recorded, seconded by Brother Chris Hettle, and unanimously approved.

Brother Demott presented the obligation to Brother David Suggs and Brother Reggie Galloway. We took a short break to welcome our members into the Local.

Brother Yates presented a report on our Local Treasury. National BRS membership is 11451. There was a time we were down to under 9000 members nationwide across the BRS. Our Local currently has 595 members. At the end of the third quarter, we were as high as 620, but a large number of retirements occurred right at the end of 2012. There’s a lot more to come in 2013. Overall, 2012 was a good year for the treasury. We stand at approximately 35k in unencumbered funds, and with BRS Convention coming in 2014; we will be in good shape to send delegates to this event that occurs every four years.

Brother Yates asked General Chairman Gus Demott for a report from General Committee.

Brother Demott began his report by pointing to the increasing number of signal in-service cutovers and the number of complaints received about design contractors and supervisors participating in the work. We are aware of an average of 6 to 8 managers and contractors present for each signal cutover. According to alleged reports, managers and contractors continue to perform signal tests, view signal aspects, and set track circuits. However, we need documentation such as signed statements of the facts to battle this issue. Managers and contractors should not perform any work; they are there to direct the work. Information can only be gathered from field personal witnessing these violations. We hear all the time that this is happening, but we receive no credible supporting information to file a claim. There is no reason why we should be left out of the technical aspects of this testing and in-service work. In addition, we hear that managers continue to work after signal teams knock off for the day. We have a lot of power to enforce the Scope if we actually take a stand. It will not be popular, but it is clearly worth fighting for since it is your very future!

Brother Demott met with Labor Relations this past Thursday; the Railroad is seeking BRS agreement mergers across the system. Brother Demott read a notice aloud that he received before Christmas explaining the Railroad’s position and calling for this initial meeting. We have experienced agreement merger attempts before. The acquisition of the Conrail by CSX over 12 years ago involved attempts to combine agreements. We have some experience with this process. It wasn’t long ago that CSX initiated this process then abruptly abandoned it. At this point, Brother Demott reported that this concept has its benefits, but it is very preliminary and we definitely have our reservations about the sincerity to invest in a long process, as well as, the resulting large general committees. The impact of combining agreements will be far reaching for each General Chairman and his committee structure. From the perspective of our General Committee, we have definite ideas with respect to merger negotiations. We do not believe one agreement for the entire system is efficient and we actually believe it could be detrimental. All in all, Railway Labor Act does give the Railroad the right to call for an attempt for coordination, but we have a good position, in that, the Railroad has not called for this kind of coordination, on this level, for decades. Nonetheless, Brother Demott reported that future meeting dates are scheduled and we are prepared for negotiations.

Brother Demott wanted to mention for the benefit of our newer members, that we have a good supplemental sickness insurance plan that is paid for by the company. It pays in addition to Railroad Retirement System when an illness causes an extended absence. (More than 7 days)

Brother Demott remarked that PTC is still on schedule to be completed by 2015. There have been no reports of any extensions.

Brother Demott talked about the new absenteeism policy and the award days associated with this program formerly known as Safety Bonus Days. Brother Demott explained his opposition to the award days and the application of the policy. There is a provision for assessment if a “sick no pay” payroll code is used. The CSX General Chairmen agreed that negotiating directly with the employees for this kind of compensation (days off with pay) may be a violation of the Railway Labor Act. A response to this policy is being assembled by the CSX General Chairmen.

Brother Andy Moore asked how he can show vacation per supervisor instructions. Brother Demott discussed the application of vacation schedules and the National Vacation Agreement. The vast majority of Signal Managers allows their team members preference according to requested time, but there are a few that will attempt to modify and add conditions to the Vacation Agreement. Here are a few of the misconceptions added by some Signal Managers: you must get work done before a vacation can be taken, cannot take more than one week at a time, cannot have adjoining maintainers off at same time. These conditions have no merit and Brother Demott has sent an informational email to all of the Signal DE’s on Local 16. This email explained the National Vacation Agreement and common misconceptions. We can get a schedule worked out with involvement from the area local chairman. Brother Moore asked if he could take a vacation one day at a time and this provision is a part of the agreement up to one week.

Brother Demott is still looking for the new web based system that will replace JBID. This new system called JobTrax. We are hoping that this new system will take care of some of the mistakes made by PACS. We have been patiently waiting for this new program to hit the system. Eventually, we hope that it will relieve some of the time spent by our General Chairman having to straighten out bulletin problems, because we do spend a lot of time making corrections and dealing with the chaos associated with them. That’s time we pay for the mismanagement of the PACS department.

Brother Hettle asked Brother Demott to explain the recent division maintenance team agreement created primarily for track structure work on the Florence Division. Due to the absence of provisions in the Local 16 Agreement for non-headquartered maintenance teams, this new maintenance team is working under system signal construction rules contained in Appendix 5. As with the existing Maintenance Gang Agreement, the provision that the foreman will direct and participate in the work remains.

In closing, Brother Demott was asked about the claims for Hurricane Issac, Brother Demott reported that the claims have been settled and payment should occur within the month. Brother Hettle and many other employees in the claim worked many hours compiling this claim and Brother Demott thanked them for their assistance.

Brother Yates asked for a report from the General Committee members:

Brother Yates from north Florida reported that all retirees will receive a dues rebate for dues paid in advance. There is a new ESS at Florence taking an open position created by the retirement of Brother Terry Thrasher. Brother Yates has filed some vacation claims for the maintainers in the vicinity of Jacksonville. TCIS now sends notification every two hours that a log has not been updated. Maintainers need to be aware of this new feature. A maintainer that does not update a log through the mobile worker or through an ESS will receive a call from the ESS to update information on the open ticket.

Brother Darrell Allen from North Carolina had nothing new to report.

Brother Hettle from construction north had nothing new to report besides the hurricane claims and some new management in construction.

Brother Ken Lamb from the Savannah Signal Shop reported that The Signal Shop is taking over CMA2 and radio control module repair. These repairs were made a company located in Jacksonville. Brother Lamb encouraged all signalmen to send the repair and return modules directly to the Shop.

Brother TP Hudson from South Carolina reported that he continues to receive information on claims associated with trainmasters applying shunts for signal efficiency tests. Brother Hudson reported that we have posted the signal seniority roster on the brslocal16.org website. Please sign up for the website to get email reminders when new information is posted and visit the website for valuable information concerning Local 16. No New Business

Members reported off due to illness: Brothers, Brad Woolard, Dan Bailey, Buck Williamson, Mike Tyre, Craig Smith, and Cadillac Seville.

The next regular meeting of Local 16 will be in La Grange, Ga. on Saturday, March 16, 2013. The meeting will be held at the Lafayette Garden Inn. The address is 1513 Lafayette Parkway just off of I-85.The phone number 706-884-6175. The meeting will begin at 9 AM. Please make every effort to attend.