THE LOCOMOTIVE NGINEER ENEWSLETTER · JUNE 2002 GCofAs file remote control lawsuit In a lawsuit filed on May 15 in the U.S. District munity served by UP cannot be ignored.” At the same meeting, Union Pacific representa- Court of Colorado, the General Committees of the He also stated that: “This action is necessary be- tives advised BLE that they intend to implement re- Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) repre- cause the Union Pacific Railroad has improperly and mote control train operations in 21 of their major ter- senting Engineers on the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) illegally eliminated Engineers’ work. By law, such minals, and 40 satellite locations, over approximately filed for injunctive relief to prohibit UP from drastic, arbitrary change in work assign- the next 24 month period. “There is no restriction on operating remote controlled locomotives ments requires negotiation between the par- what type of commodities the railroad will move with without trained and certified Locomotive ties. BLE is the proper ‘holder of the contract’ remote control trains in all of these communities, Engineers. for the craft of Locomotive Engineers and has including hazardous materials and nuclear material BLE General Chairman Michael Young traditionally, and historically, maintained this movements,” Young said. said: “The impact of remote control train Engineer work. UP continues to refuse to Several accidents have already occurred on most operations cannot be overstated. Locomo- discuss or negotiate with the Engineers on all the nation’s major railroads involving these re- tives without trained and certified Engi- our main issues of concern relative to this mote control trains, which have caused property dam- neers will be operating without anyone change.” age, compromised the safety of communities and im- physically on-board. These remote control train op- According to Young, “In many cases job elimina- pacted the timely movements of rail shipments of all erations present a serious safety threat to all rail tion will require Engineers to work hundreds of miles types. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), employees, as well as their families, and will certainty from their home and away from their families.” He the safety “watchdog” of the industry, has failed to place the general public in harm’s way. Safety con- noted that in a recent meeting in February with John issue any mandatory regulations regarding remote siderations are an obvious high concern for poten- Marchant, UP’s Vice President of Labor Relations, control equipment. tial train accidents, including those at public road the issue of Engineers and their families being re- The BLE General Committees are seeking an in- crossings, and further related derailments. However, quired to relocate as a result of this remote control junction to prohibit UP from operating remote con- the elimination of Engineer positions and the poten- equipment was something that the UP was unwilling trol trains until the employees and the general pub- tial adverse economic affect it will have on each com- to discuss at that time. lic can be assured of its safe operation. • BLE clarifies UTU remote control spin Teamsters, TTD ask In response to the con- UTU invited BLE to jointly ne- more onerous jobs that they tinuing disinformation from gotiate with the carriers over are not properly trained for, NMB to dismiss the United Transportation remote control technology in which makes those jobs po- Union’s propaganda ma- October of 2001. “This is far tentially unsafe. All this chine, the Brotherhood of from true,” the Executive Com- strategy has accomplished UTU application Locomotive Engineers’ Ex- mittee wrote. In reality, the is the loss of hundreds of en- ecutive Committee has is- UTU used its remote control gine and train service jobs sued a letter to the union’s letter of intent with the carri- with all the reduction in la- The International Brother- “Rather than possessing a hood of Teamsters (IBT) and community of interest, engi- Advisory Board and its Gen- ers in an attempt to blackmail bor costs going toward the the AFL-CIO’s Transportation neers and trainmen diverge on eral Chairmen which sets the BLE’s newly elected Execu- railroads’ bottom line.” Trades Department (TTD) a myriad of issues,” the IBT- the record straight regard- tive Committee into merging The Executive Commit- filed a joint submission re- TTD brief states. ing the recent history of re- with the UTU — two months tee also gave its perspective mote control technology. before the actual merger vote on the UTU’s “pro com- questing that the Na- The Teamsters The Executive Commit- had been counted. pany” approach to repre- tional Mediation and the TTD argue Board (NMB) dismiss that the BLE’s rejec- tee, made up of President “This letter became a senting its members. the United Transpor- tion of a merger with Don Hahs, First Vice-Presi- threat — merge or else,” the “UTU’s leadership has tation Union’s (UTU) the UTU helps prove dent & Alternate President Executive Committee wrote. “If adopted an approach differ- efforts to create a that the two groups do Ed Rodzwicz and General (UTU President Byron) Boyd ent from the rest of Labor,” Secretary-Treasurer Will- and (UTU Assistant President) the Executive Committee combined craft of not share a commu- iam Walpert, issued the let- Thompson truly wanted that wrote. “It is a defeatist ap- “train and engine ser- nity of interest. vice employees” on “Notwithstanding ter on May 10. merger to go through, grabbing proach. It has been de- the Kansas City Southern Rail- their other interests in the out- In the letter, the BLE the letter of intent was about scribed to us by UTU’s lead- way (KCS). come of this matter, (IBT and Executive Committee points the most counterproductive ers as being modern and “The IBT has a direct and TTD) would still be compelled out that the UTU’s leaders thing they could have done.” recognizing that Rail Labor are “masters of spin.” The Executive Committee ‘doesn’t win,’ for the Carri- substantial interest in this to object to the UTU’s un- “They use half truths, wrote that rail workers across ers have the upper hand in case stemming from its on-go- abashed attempt to force its ing representation of railroad representation upon the misleading statements and the country have been — or government, the federal and airline employees through- nation’s locomotive engineers catchy phrases to justify will be — negatively impacted agencies, the courts, and out the United States,” the May through an improper use of the their actions,” the letter by this UTU letter of intent. therefore, we have to stop 28 IBT-TTD submission says. Board’s procedures, when the states. “Railroad employees “The railroad put the re- butting our heads against The Teamsters and the engineers themselves have af- in general, and train and en- mote control operations into the brick wall and join the gine service employees, in effect without an agreement,” railroads.” TTD argue that engineers and firmatively rejected the UTU particular, should not allow the Executive Committee The letter describes this conductors represent function- through their own democratic ally distinct crafts or classes of processes. themselves to be derailed by wrote. “Train service employ- “defeatist approach” as the employees at KCS, and that the “Jilted by its rejection, the the UTU’s distracting pub- ees have been performing en- UTU's “let’s join ‘em” policy. two groups do not share a sub- UTU would now have the lic relations efforts...” gineers’ work at lesser rates of The full text of the let- stantial community of interest Board abrogate the century- Recent UTU propa- pay than they would normally ter is available on the BLE ganda falsely claims that have received. They now have website. • sufficient to justify a single craft. See Teamsters, Page 2 Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Since 1863, a tradition of forward thinking Page 2 Locomotive Engineer Newsletter · June 2002 BLE NEWS BLE joins ‘Rally for Rail’ on Capitol Hill Labor, other groups lobby Congress to provide Amtrak funding, save passenger rail Representatives of the Brother- dation for the future, and to have it play tions process, which has provided only hood of Locomotive Engineers partici- a growing role in our country’s con- about 50% of the authorized funding pated in a high-energy “Rally for Rail” gested transportation system.” levels in recent years. on Capitol Hill on May 8, joining hun- In early May, the U.S. Conference To improve its financial position, dreds of concerned citizens and rail of Mayors, the National Association of Amtrak has found ways to boost rev- supporters from across the United Counties, the National Conference of enues by nearly 40 percent over the last States in urging Congress to support State Legislatures and three other na- five years — leveraging valuable as- passenger rail as an integral part of tional organizations representing local sets, borrowing funds from private America’s transportation system and governments sent a letter to House and banks, and cutting back on operating to provide full funding for Amtrak in Senate leaders urging them to appro- and capital spending without compro- - 2003 and beyond. priate $1.2 billion for Amtrak in FY ’03 mising safety, reliability or service. But Participants in the “Rally for Rail” to prevent the elimination of services. these efforts have not been enough to represent many businesses, labor Among those addressing the 9 a.m. offset the basic problems of conflicting unions, and state and local govern- pep rally were Senators Joe Biden (D- policy mandates and inadequate pub- s, ments, as well as millions of consum- DE), Tom Carper (D-DE), and Kay lic funding. Without adequate funds in ers and citizens across America.