July 11, 2004
Mr. Dan E. Johnson
General Secretary and Treasurer
United Transportation Union
14600 Detroit Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44107-4250
Article 74 Charges against General Chairman J. Kevin Klein UTU GO-887
Dear Sir and Brother:
The purpose of this letter is to prefer charges against General Chairman J. Kevin Klein of UTU General Committee GO-887. This member states that he is in deliberate and willful violation of the United Transportation Union's 2003 Constitution, via abuse of office due to failure to fulfill the obligations and responsibilities imposed upon him by that Constitution and the General Committee he serves. I specifically charge that he is in direct violation of Article 85, lines 15-17 of said UTU 2003 Constitution, and continues to be, even after acknowledging receipt of formal written protest from an overwhelming majority of the General Committee.
To briefly review: Earlier this year, the UTU filed a lawsuit against the Union Pacific Railroad for violations of the 1985 agreement. This was a result of the carriers refusal to negotiate with the Western Lines General Committee, as affected by manager borrow-outs used in place of engineers. The Union Pacific desired to eliminate the lawsuit and began negotiations. International officers Assistant President Rick Marceau and Vice President David Hakey were assigned by President Thompson and are signatures to proposed adjustments to the UP Western Lines HUB agreements in return for withdrawal of the lawsuit.
The first version of which Local 240 received was called UP Western Lines-Los Angeles HUB modification proposal. Early in June 2004, Local Chairmen were served with three versions in the different HUBs as local agreements, because each HUB has items specific and exclusive only to that HUB such as Flat Rates to Yermo, Crest Conductors, etc. The proposed adjustments were made to the Union Pacific Western Lines HUB agreements which were originally to be voted HUB by HUB under local ratification procedures lines 38-40 of Article 85 ratification procedures. The proposal was receiving almost unanimous opposition by Local Chairmen, which became more and more apparent during the 3 day Reno region meeting I attended in late June of 2004. By day three of these meetings, it was clear that the proposal would fail Local Chairmen ratification by a wide margin. At the General Committee meeting that I also attended, we received a little surprise. We were informed that International President Thompson had determined due to ratification concerns received by him from members, the proposal was no longer a local agreement but was now to be considered a system agreement, subject to member ratification (Thompson letter enclosed), how interesting.
The General Committee objected loudly to the items in the proposals themselves, be they called local or system. The primary objection was a "giveback to the carrier" provision to eliminate overtime after no more than 10 hours for pre-85 members. They also objected to forced assignments to auxiliary extra boards and other items. The General Committee drafted a written petition of opposition of July 6, 2004, (enclosed) listing the above items and instructing GC Klein to withdraw from the proposal until those issues were resolved. GC Klein acknowledged receipt of this petition at Local 240s special July 8, 2004, union meeting in front of 30 members in Rosemead, CA of which I was in attendance. GC Klein also acknowledged the General Committee objections and overwhelming membership opposition to the proposal, but changed only the forced assignment item and then mailed out a new "system" agreement without voting the General Committee. We appealed the President's decision does not permit GC Klein to ignore voting procedure in lines 15-17 of Article 85, but have received no action as of this date by the President.
The new, proposed UP Western Lines System Modification Agreement contains no change to the overtime elimination "giveback" that was objected to by petition in the first proposal(s). This overtime "giveback" clause was suggested by many to be the main reason for failure of acceptance of the proposals during three consecutive meetings at Reno, Colton and Rosemead because the recent BLE modification agreement has no "giveback" provision for pre-'85, while providing overtime after 12 hours to post-'85 up until July 1, 2004, which is a net gain imposing no negative impact on those in service now. This, they all said would be more desirable. However, GC Klein sited his desire to eliminate the July 1, 2004, cutoff date instead. This required "giveback" of overtime after 10 hours to the UP, regardless of wage loss the proposal will suffer members. Note: This 20 mph schedule, overtime after no more than 10 hour provision was obtained by trading crew consist and other monetary considerations away in recent, previous UP-SP merger agreements.
GC Klein did not change several provisions required by the General Committee's petition, did not vote the Committee on the new proposal at all, but instead by-passed approval from the General Committee prior to membership ratification by mailing out the new unapproved approved system proposal to the membership. He continues to ignore the numerous concerns of protest and has begun a traveling "town hall" promotional campaign requiring special meetings. He has stated that he plans to mail the ballots in a few days regardless of all opposition incurred. In other words, GC Klein is disallowing the Constitutional rights afforded in Article 85, lines 15-17, ..."Any system or local adjustments agreed to by the International President or his/her representatives, shall be subject to a majority vote of local chairpersons affected; which I charge he is in full violation of.
The UTU President did not instruct GC Klein to directly violate the UTU Constitution by omission of lines 15-17, under Article 85 in his June 28 letter. President Thompson's decision to change the agreement proposal from local to system and submit the adjustments to modify the UP Western Lines Agreement to the entire membership does not in any way permit the General Chairman to violate any provision of the UTU Constitution. GC Klein must therefore be prohibited from by-passing the only step that will insure General Committee input and approval prior to balloting the members. He must be ordered to withdraw the proposal and cease and desist in mailing ballots of same until such time he is turned around and votes the Committee first or a trial board makes a decision. Constitutional rights of the Committee must not stand in violation. Ratification could impost those objectionable items upon our members, which the Union Pacific will never give back. That's why there is an oversight provision to allow Committee input under International intervention. Therefore the right of the General Committee to approve any local or system adjustment agreed to by the International President or his/her representatives must not be ignored. This General Chairman is deliberately denying the members the rights granted by the delegates in UTU Conventions under our democratic process and is quickly attempting to impose an undesirable agreement upon those he serves. That is not quality representation, nor should it be UTU representation.
Myself and others have requested on July 6, 2004, that the International President uphold and enforce the constitution and stop this violation. So far we have not received his response. We have appealed President Thompson's letter under Article 75, part II to you Mr. Johnson, on July 8, 2004, as it is being abused by the General Chairman as an excuse not to poll the Committee under Article 85, lines 15-17. So far, we have not heard a response. We all have telephones, email and FAX including J. Kevin Klein, who has informed us that he will be mailing the ballots regardless of the above listed objections already made very clear to him. Nobody in the UTU can claim they didn't know, several of us are covering those bases. We will not be ignored, the International must not delay, integrity is in check here.
Someone has to properly object to this violation. I am not experienced at preferring charges against anyone, this is a first for me. Therefore I must request your assistance against any impropriety you may find that would delay the process. We have almost no time left. So, having received this charge letter, please Secretary Johnson, instruct GC Klein to cease and desist in the mailing of ballots immediately until the President responds or a trial board renders a decision. Time is of the essence, as you well know. If ratification without General Committee approval were to allow the Union Pacific to implement, the losses will be permanent. I trust that is not the intent of the International. But, delayed and faulty union procedures will not resend an agreement once in the carrier's hands, and we the petitioner's and helpers know the International is very much aware of that fact. This is a test of the "new open" policy of the UTU. We must see immediate assertive action. We will not let $60 a day in lost wages go. This urgent charge letter is sent certified mail, overnight delivery for that reason, so you would respond in time. Should the President act in time to instruct GC Klein to abide by the UTU Constitution and withdraw the proposal until it meets General Committee approval, then I will gladly resend this charge letter as soon as the General Chairmen is brought into compliance.
Fraternally,
Robert D. Webb VP/ Local 240
Los Angeles
9633 Amestoy Avenue
Northridge, CA 91325-1917
FAX and home 818-993-5736, cell 213-280-7537
cc: Paul C. Thompson, President
R. L. Marceau, Assistant President
D. L. Hakey, Vice President
J. Kevin Klein, GC UTU GO-887
L. W. Partridge, Secretary, GO-887
12:50:18 AM 
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