UTU Local 426 Archived News.
04/25/06
Members Local 426
Local Chairman's meeting held April 24th, Local Chairman in
attendance : Jim Larkin, Bob Johnston, Arnie McDonald, Jeff Shoop
UTU-E, Rich Mize BLET
Scoter Pischel not notified per E-Mail, was not in attendance, as
was not Jeff Young.
Guest from FRA in attendance Matt Brewer.
Carrier officers in attendance: Maxine Timberman, Jeff Whitacre.
Discussion about notifying principals of an investigation by phone
in conjunction with the registered letter that is to be sent, or a
hand delivered investigation notice. We all agreed that a phone
notification would be appropriate because of the postal delivery of
mail and having to sign for the letter, there have been a couple of
times that the letter was not timely received before the
investigation, with the understanding, that the carrier officer will
just let you know the time, day, alleged rules infraction, and if
alternative handling is on the table. They are not to discuss the
events or seek any information about the incident. If this happens
then we will revert back to the old way and hope nobody falls
through the cracks and there is an investigation held without a
principal or representative, on a serious charge this would be
terrible.
Attendance violations were discussed at length, it was generally
surmised that a lot of the issues were in the misunderstanding of
the policy, IE; bunching days off, vacation days, bump days on
markup board, as examples, were days not allowed to be counted in
the 75/25 equations, example if you have 30 days in the month and
you were on vacation 14 of those days, the 75/25 equation would be
based on a 16 day ratio. Its complicated, and hopefully we will get
a flow chart that everyone can understand or at least give a
reasonable guideline for us.
Doctors notices will be looked at on a case by case basis, if a
person has a bunch of Doctor's notices every month, that will most
likely not get you out of an investigation, we do not like it
either, call your local chairman for further explanation.
Rich Mize is updating the "held on train form" to make it easier to
put location on form, use these if you are held on the trains
waiting for a ride, turn them in to your local chairman, the FRA is
interested in this issue and local management is committed to
finding out the reason why you are sitting waiting for the ride,
this is an issue you can really help yourself and your fellow
workers.
There was much discussion and all the local chairman in attendance
were in agreement: people who have the capability, or the will to
put in for layoff days consistently 90 days in advance for about
every day, then purge the days they do not want shortly before the
day approved, have been and will be monitored, this practice is a
burden to the system as a whole, system general notice no. 938
should help with this. We concurred that if it is possible in the
computer to delete the purge option on this issue, then that person
who is doing this to the fellow workers will have to take the first
layoff days/pl days, in essence burn them.
The whistle issue was brought up and the FRA said at Spokane we are
doing a fine job and no exceptions were being taken and that the
rule was under review and expect some changes.
There was one issue with the FRA and Mr. Brewer stated his boss is
an ex dispatcher and has no sympathy for Track Warrant violations,
that means possible fines to us and the carrier for violations. The
approved abbreviation table is in the book, my advise, copy the
abbreviations, keep them handy, when you are working with track
warrants, and do not be shy if the abbreviations on the warrant do
not meet with the approved issued in the book, it's your pocketbook
and job.
Void the warrants as prescribed by rule, write void across the
warrant.
He touched on radio procedure, use Train ID, engine number,
not names when shoving movements are being used, who, what, how far,
the eighth deadly sin.
Pasco pool, the below SIRP was turned in and the result of the
Trainmasters reply did not meet with approval, to the person turning
in the report and not to me as well, from the looks of it the
problem is for the time being fixed. Any more problems let me know
993-6616, the FRA was interested but I said we could handle in
house, so if it stays in house fine, that is where we like to keep
problems, if there are any more problems, we will esculate to where
it will be fixed.
Gary Hein and I are discussing an agreement about the short
turnarounds in the Pasco pool, a bus agreement, to keep crews
rotated properly in the pool, will keep you posted.
Springs here, enjoy the weather, about time, so please stay focused
and return home safe.
Jim Larkin L/C
Jim,
I would have called you on this issue
yesterday, however you showed on a train to Whitefish.
I gave Mary the information to respond to the SIRP item at Templins. I tried to respond based on the actual request by Mr. Render.
First I want you to know I understand the exact problem. Crews coming down the mainline see the cars on the lead and are concerned they do not clear.
Mr. Render quoted two rules in his submission that I wanted to clarify first. Rule 8.12 crossover movement which does not apply at this location. Templins is a loop track with a double lead. Second he quoted rule 5.13 B (2), which refers to workmen under blue flag protection. So I tried to respond in order addressing the proper rules first. The correct rule which applies here is GCOR Rule 8.20 which requires crews to stop all movement at least 100 feet from a derail. All crews are required to be knowledgeable with this and all rules. If they are complying with this rule they would not be able to switch cars closer than 100 feet to a derail. Therefore as you and I both agree they would need access to the mainline, however I did not think an actual time frame (30) minutes would address all situations. I also try to keep with the proper application of existing rules instead of trying to create a new requirement for the crews to keep track of. New requirements, instructions, rules, ect. are the main complaint I get from crews, to many things to keep track of.
Under the section (notes) the reference to rejects or bad orders being set out at other locations for repair (Ritzville) the same would apply. The crew would have to wait until the dispatcher could provide them adequate time to switch their train for movement.
This is the first complaint I personally have received on this issue. But as stated above I can see where it would be an issue. In the response I stated supervisors will have to monitor the activity there and guide crews and dispatchers on the proper application of the rule. This can also be achieved through job briefs and safety marathons.
Bottom line to safely switch cars as described in the SIR report crews would need to use the mainline.
Roger S. Bartholomew
546-3391
Road Foreman of Engines
Pasco, WA.
In Old Mining Town, New Charges Over Asbestos
Dr. Brad Black, medical director of the Center for Asbestos Related Disease in Libby, examined patients' X-rays last month.
LIBBY, Mont. ? As W. R. Grace & Company prepares for a major criminal trial over widespread asbestos contamination here, doctors at the clinic that has treated hundreds of asbestos victims accuse the company of trying to discredit them and force the clinic to close.
The doctors are scheduled to be important witnesses for the prosecution when the federal criminal trial gets under way this fall in Missoula. They testified at several civil trials involving the contamination; Grace lost those cases.
The nonprofit clinic, the Center for Asbestos Related Disease, widely known as CARD, has been a sanctuary here for hundreds of sick and dying people as this former mining town's extraordinary battle with asbestos unfolded over the last six years.
The treatment records and investigations by the clinic's doctors have been crucial, medical experts around the country say, to understanding one of the worst cases of asbestos contamination in the nation's history.
Grace, a producer of chemicals and building materials, voluntarily pays for most of the medical treatment at the clinic. In recent months, the company's medical plan administrator imposed new rules that have made reimbursement more lengthy and involved, and pushed the clinic, its administrators say, into a cash-flow crisis. And the administrator said that a review it commissioned of past medical diagnoses in Libby found flaws in more than a quarter of the cases.
LeRoy D. Thom, who worked at Grace's vermiculite mine for 17 years as a foreman and is the vice chairman of the clinic's board, said he thought legal strategy and trial preparation could explain the company's actions.
"If they can put out the fact that people are being over diagnosed, then they reduce the credibility of the doctors," he said.
Dr. Alan Whitehouse, a consulting pulmonologist at the clinic, is even more blunt.
"It's a go-to-jail issue," he said.
Grace dismisses such talk. Dr. Jay Flynn, the medical director of the Libby Medical Plan, which is operated for Grace by HNA/Triveris, a company based in Eatontown, N.J., said the tighter financial rules were imposed because of concerns that the company was being billed for services that had not been performed.
Dr. Flynn also said the medical review of past cases had been under way for years. It looked at the first 719 asbestos cases and, he said, found that 27 percent of the diagnoses, not counting the 69 people who had died, could not be substantiated as linked to asbestos.
"A lot of the things getting diagnosed at the CARD clinic as being caused by previous asbestos exposure just can't be documented," Dr. Flynn said.
Grace and seven of its executives were indicted last year by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, obstruction of justice and violations of the Federal Clean Air Act in connection with the company's mining operations in Libby. All the defendants, who face huge fines and lengthy prison terms if convicted of the most serious charges, have pleaded not guilty.
Grace is also trying to emerge from bankruptcy, for which it filed in 2001 as it was pummeled by tens of thousands of personal injury claims from all over the country by people exposed to asbestos in the company's products.
Asbestos occurs naturally in the soil here and got mixed into the vermiculite, which Grace sold for insulation and gardening uses. Asbestos was also spread through town by Grace's mining and milling operations. The Environmental Protection Agency has already spent upward of $120 million on cleanup efforts, including work on hundreds of homes. Most people who have gotten sick here never worked for the company, according to prosecution documents in the criminal case.
A spokesman for Grace, Greg Euston, said that because of a court order, the company could not comment on the criminal trial. Prosecutors would also not comment.
So far, more than 1,400 people in the Libby area, which has a population of about 8,000, have received diagnoses ? many but not all, at the CARD clinic ? of lung abnormalities related to asbestos exposure. And people are still coming forward.
"We see about 20 new patients a month, and that is ramping up," said Kimberly Rowse, a nurse and clinical coordinator at CARD. "We're seeing more and more people, and younger people, but our clinical resources are the same."
Medical experts around the country who support the clinic say there is more at stake than the patient care itself.
"These doctors stood up in the face of considerable pressures, including from some people in the town, and said, we have a real problem here," said Stephen M. Levin, the medical director of Mount Sinai School of Medicine's center for occupational and environmental medicine in New York. "To close this clinic would prevent us learning some very important things about this disease and what we might do about it."
Pete Arlt, of Libby, Mont., who lived downwind of a W. R. Grace processing plant for 10 years, has been treated for respiratory problems at a local clinic and carries a bottle of oxygen. He has been told by Grace's medical administrator that he is not a victim of asbestos.
Many people in Libby, meanwhile, like Pete Arlt, are left in the middle. Doctors at the clinic said that Mr. Arlt, 79, who worked for the company very briefly as a crane operator, had a thick layer of scar tissue around his lungs, probably a result of the 10 years in the 1960's and 1970's when he and his wife, Marjorie, lived downwind from a vermiculite processing plant.
But the peer review panel retained by Grace said that what might have looked like scarring at the clinic was really a layer of fat. The company's medical administrator sent Mr. Arlt a letter last fall formally telling him that he was not a victim of asbestos. The medical administrator said it would continue to pay for treatments at the clinic since Mr. Arlt was already a patient, but not for the oxygen he uses every day.
The clinic sent Mr. Arlt's records for its own peer review by radiologists around the country, who confirmed its diagnosis of pleural thickening, according to the clinic's medical director, Dr. Brad Black.
Both sides agree that asbestos-related disease can be tricky to read on X-rays and C.T. scans, and that fat deposits around the lining of the lungs can sometimes look like scar tissue. The Libby Valley also has high levels of particulate pollution, mainly from the smoke of wood-burning stoves, which Dr. Flynn said can compound respiratory problems.
But an equally important problem is the local geology.
The amphibole asbestos in the soil here is very different from the more common chrysotile asbestos that many homeowners might see wrapped around their basement pipes. Amphibole asbestos does not attack the lungs in the same way, and is less often the cause of the classic asbestos-related disease, asbestosis.
The effects of the amphibole asbestos are more insidious, according to health experts around the country. A common manifestation, they say, is so-called pleural scarring on the outer tissue of the lungs. Some people with pleural scarring then develop additional symptoms, while others do not. Dr. Black said that it took experience to even see the pattern that amphibole exposure left on the body, and that Libby was one of the few places in the world where that experience had been developed.
"You have to know how to look," he said. "Unless you're very suspicious, you could miss the disease." Other medical experts say that any good diagnosis also depends on knowing a patient's history. The Grace review panel examined only X-rays or C.T. scans, or in some cases both, Dr. Flynn said, and did not physically examine or interview any patients.
In addition, the effects of asbestos often do not manifest themselves for years, or even decades. "Even if the clinic did overread their X-rays," said Dr. Jacqueline Moline, an associate professor of occupational and environmental medicine at Mount Sinai, "people are still at risk for developing disease, and that risk is not going to go away."
A train runs through Libby, where a Grace-owned facility was shut down in 1990. The area in the center of the frame is the site of what was once a processing plant.
A view down Mineral Avenue in Libby. The train tracks at the edge of town give a good idea of how close asbestos-laden material was shipped through town on open rail cars.
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04/08/06
A Letter from the UTU General Chairman to Mr. John Felps, V.P. of Labor Relations concerning "Claims Handling Problems" and an email from Melissa A. Beasley to the UTU International regarding a "Correction to LR Article on BNSF Web Site".
A Letter from the UTU General Chairman R.D. Kerley to it's members on the issue of "BNSF Profit Sharing Propaganda".