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Sunday, November 09, 2003 |
An “A” card campaign.
Norman Davis
There is a regional railroad now headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota called the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern. They have been in existence since the fall of 1986. It is a sell-off of CNW track. Many of the startup employees came over from the CNW to form the original group. Things stumbled along as a non-union outfit until the UTU came on the property in 1989. The first contract was ratified in June 1990.
There is an ongoing “A” card campaign to get the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers to be our collective bargaining agent. Why you may ask? The reason is simple; the UTU doesn’t give a flip about us as individuals. They only want our money and showed little interest in us until the BLE appeared. The BLE was invited on the property early 2003. They held several meetings in Waseca, MN along with Huron and Rapid City, South Dakota with the BLE organizer Tom Miller, special representative Gene Imler and the Short line Director John Mullen. These meetings were also supplemented with local support for the Organization by workers from the DM&E along with an occasional person from another railroad including the IC&E. The BLE sent First Vice President Ed Rodzwicz along with Vice President Dale McPherson to speak to the employees on a different occasion. They held meetings across the entire system over a three day period.
What is hampering the campaign here is the UTU infrastructure on the property. They have spread so many lies and untruths about the entire “A” card campaign so as to scare some away and confuse many others. It has been rumored if the DM&E votes to go BLE we would loose our Union contract. Untrue according to the Railway Labor Act 2nd, Seventh, as amended. This is also addressed on the web site of the National Mediation Board under the FAQ portion. There is absolutely zero factual evidence to substantiate their wild claim.
There have been many different tales of how to loose our Representation completely via the voting process. Almost every version told by a UTU member was incorrect, but for some reason many younger employees believe these guys. They even believe them when they are told the truth, and offered to read it for themselves from the Representation Manual about the entire process. I have offered the name of an individual that works in Washington DC at the NMB HQ to answer questions about the process. No takers.
I am open to constructive suggestions for furthering the cause of the “A” card campaign on our property. You can also read about some of the goings on about this little tiff at the following web site: http://www.network54.com/Forum/248301. Feel free to jump in there and offer you views on things. Some use their real names while the majority use either anonymous or a fictitious handle. If you want to contact me directly I can be reached at: kb0yit@yahoo.com .
11:08:51 AM 
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Brother Sims on the maladies of non-negotiation:
Brothers,
We are all faced with the maladies of non-negotiation by our own senior
international officers. It seems that as we go along that we are always going for
the grass on the other side. In the interim the senior officers are blocking
our way to the grass on the side that we currently occupy. No matter that the
grass is turning with the latter day negotiations. We are faced with a decision
to all to concur that we need a better way to negotiate.
It is our time to go forth and elect the younger and more willing to fight
officers within our own ranks. It seems that the older more "experienced"
officers at the international lever have figured out a way to "NON-Negotiate" our
own contracts on a national level.
It doesn't matter what union we belong to we need to get in some new blood.
The need to protect ourselves in a seniority level is ridiculous. No more
leaving out of the later hires. No more of percentages. No more of leaving a craft
to fight another for the right of operation of an engine. Let's stick
together. That is what the companies don't want to happen. In the past years we have
been able to work around our differences. We will always have differences. Let
us not let them be our own death bell ringing to the tune of "Happy Days Are
Here Again" for the companies.
I propose common walkouts. We should have our own blue flues and also have
our own stay at home because of not being "physically rested" "Unsafe to
operate" with the rest afforded after a stretch of twenty or more days in the cab
without a break. IT is time that we are able to mandate more hours of rest and
not "service." I remember being from the farm and being in "service" meant a
lot more than able to be in the seat.
We are a group of over stressed and over worked and not compensated people.
We have good pay but not the type that we deserve for having to put up with the
hours that we put in to get what we get. We should all work together and see
about getting split service requirements. I have friends that work afternoons
for ten days and then evenings for the same and then days. Why can't we go and
do the same. All we have to do is be available to the trains. IF we do this
in fifteen day shifts we can at least get out biological clocks in a rhythm
after a time.
People, it is time not to let the railroads deal us the slow death that we
get out of working till retirement. How many of us really get to enjoy our
retirement. IT is our duty to ourselves and the future people coming into the
railroad to change this as soon as possible. Maybe you will consider me another
whiner but if you look into what we are looking in the future we need a drastic
change. Have a voice in this, do it properly, don't let it go by?
I love the railroad as a job. I don't like the hours and don't like the
constant being on an "electronic Umbilical cord" but it comes with the territory.
Don't call for assignments, call for call brackets and call for more time off
after a certain amount of days off.
Call for overtime on the road and meals and all the arbitraries. We can't
have the old ones but if we are creative and intelligent, we can have all the
compensation that we had before. No one ever told me that cash meant Assets, now
I know that there are more than one way to skin a cat. I suppose you in the
genre of the rails in general know what I am talking about. It doesn't have to
be extra engines, call it consist total or usable axles, plus extra. If you
have a train for 3,000 horsepower and have three engines you have 6 usable axles
and 12 extra. Any extra are having to be inspected and you are responsible for
them, get paid for it. To hell with tons on drivers, old school now you have
to have a different term.
Read this closely and think about all the items that we have lost and think
of ways that we can have them back. That is a "unified" effort. If we ever to
survive this century we are going to have to have all of the unions separate
and together at the same time. I don't believe in merging crafts that in the
long run by being able to be apart they actually help each other. We need to have
our solidarity but also our anonymity. Never force a merger when you can
force a cause by being stronger with two instead of one. Be very careful and
continue on with the fight. We are able to win if we finally put our prejudices
away at the union lever and plan together how to do what we need.
Good Day Brothers and never give up. Always be on the vigilant side and
always believe in each other as that is all we have now. Protect the younger people
as they will protect you in your later years and retirement. We need each
other to make this work. Never give up, always remember that we all work for a
common cause. Don't scream merger, scream bloody murder for equal representation
and compensation. Stand together and there will never be a stronger force in
the face of labor. Together working in the strength of solidarity we can win.
Stay True To Each Other
Alan R. Sims
BLE 494
St. Paul
Candian Pacific Railroad
11:05:02 AM
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BLE critical of Amtrak Board nominee
CLEVELAND, November 6 -- International President Don M. Hahs said today that the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers is surprised over the United Transportation Union’s endorsement of Louis Thompson, a pro-privatization nominee to Amtrak’s Board of Directors.
Of the three men nominated to fill vacancies on Amtrak’s Board, Thompson is perhaps the Bush Administration’s most pro-privatization candidate. He is an economist who serves as the World Bank’s top railway advisor.
“Considering the Bush Administration’s apparent plan to privatize Amtrak, it was expected that the Administration would try to ‘stack the deck’ and fill the vacancies on Amtrak’s Board of Directors with nominees who show the President’s ideology,” President Hahs said. “It was expected, but nonetheless disappointing.”
Thompson has authored 14 publications on the privatization of railways, including titles such as “Best Methods of Railway Restructuring and Privatization,” “The Benefits of Separating Rail Infrastructure from Operation,” and “Reforming and Privatizing Poland’s Road Freight Industry.”
In England, many of Thompson’s theories were put to the test as that country privatized its national rail system. Unfortunately, for British rail workers and passengers, the privatization was not successful.
“The disastrous privatization experience of British Rail provides an important precedent,” according to Columbia University economist Elliot Sclar in “Amtrak Privatization: The Route to Failure.” “There the breakup of the system was followed by serious accidents, financial insolvency, and further public subsidies (even while private investors were provided returns on their participation). Here privatization yielded the worst of both worlds -- chronic service failures, no effective market discipline, and wasted public revenues.”
(For more details, see Sclar’s report at the Economic Policy Institute’s website, http://www.epinet.org).
The UTU endorsed the pro-privatization Thompson in an October 30 letter from UTU National Legislative Director James Brunkenhoefer to Senator Conrad Burns.
In its letter of endorsement, the UTU cites Thompson’s extensive background on railroad issues, dating back to 1970 when he served as one of Amtrak’s creators.
“While it may be true that Thompson has a significant background in the railroad industry, the entire focus of his career has been privatization,” President Hahs said.
Amtrak has 23,000 employees, and its dismantling and/or privatization would create widespread job losses for railroad workers and could potentially cripple the Railroad Retirement system.
“Given the fact that all of Rail Labor would suffer under the privatization of Amtrak, one must ask why any Rail Labor organization would endorse a candidate for Amtrak’s Board of Directors who has such a strong pro-privatization background,” President Hahs said. “Nevertheless, this is exactly what the UTU has done.”
A copy of the UTU’s letter endorsing Thompson is available on the BLE website at:
http://www.ble.org/pr/pdf/utu.pdf
10:28:21 AM
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