UTU Local 426 Archived News.
6/29/05
Local 426 Picnic
Our Local 426 picnic will be on July 27th at the Spokane County Park at Liberty Lake. The picnic will start at about 11:00am, the bar will open at 12:00 noon and go to 8:00 pm. We have to have security at this event were a bar is open. The picnic will also end at 8:00 pm.
6/2905
URGENT HELP NEEDED TO SAVE AMTRAK
WASHINGTON, D.C. – UTU legislative directors at the state and national level have been building coalitions in support of adequate Amtrak funding. Now they need your immediate and active support. As you may know, the House Appropriations Committee has passed spending legislation that would provide Amtrak with less than half of what it requires to provide the existing level of service, properly maintain equipment and run safely. We have to keep that committee bill from being enacted by the entire House of Representatives, and instead have the House vote adequate funding for Amtrak. It is urgent that UTU members, their families and friends contact members of the House of Representatives today and Wednesday morning (eastern time) to encourage votes for a bi-partisan amendment to be offered that will provide Amtrak with $1.2 billion annually rather than the $550 million in the existing legislation.
Amtrak President David Gunn and DOT Inspector General Ken Mead both have said that Amtrak will be forced to shut down on or shortly after Oct. 1 if Amtrak does not receive adequate funding. Please call – and encourage other family members and friends to call – House of Representatives members to ask they support a bi-partisan amendment to provide Amtrak with $1.2 billion for fiscal year 2006 that begin Oct. 1.
To find the name of your House member, go to www.utu.org. Look to the left red tile and left click on “Washington Updates” at the top. Scroll down and left click on Contacting the Congress. Then type your home address into the box on the lower left and submit. You will then be provided with the names of your senators and House member. Only call the House member. And e-mail them, also. Politely ask them to support the bi-partisan amendment to provide Amtrak with $1.2 billion for fiscal year 2006. Tell them you support Amtrak and don’t want Amtrak to shut down -- that Amtrak cannot survive on just $550 million annually.
6/26/05
Gentlemen, Please have your members
contact their member of congress and ask them to vote yes on the
bipartisan amendment to raise Amtrak FY 2006 funding to $2.1
billion. This amendment will be offered when the Transportation,
Treasury, HUD, Judiciary and District of Columbia Appropriations
comes to the floor early this week.
Thanks,
Tom
6/26/05
UTU, NCCC RESUME CONTRACT TALKS
WASHINGTON -- Talks resumed here June 22 between the UTU and the National Carriers" Conference Committee (NCCC) over rates of pay, rules and working conditions for some 40,000 train and engine service workers employed by most major railroads. The talks resumed pursuant to an order of the National Mediation Board (NMB). NMB Senior Mediator Patricia Sims led the resumed talks. She is a Harvard Law School-trained mediator and a pioneer in interest-based bargaining techniques. These were the first talks between the UTU and the NCCC since March 15, when the two sides mutually broke off negotiations after the carriers demanded the UTU bargain over local crew consist agreements that are protected by a moratorium and, according to the UTU, cannot be handled nationally. The carriers also had demanded the UTU bargain regarding repeal of the Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA), an act of Congress not appropriate for bargaining under the RLA, according to the UTU. The carriers, following a June 22 meeting with the federal mediator, agreed to discuss issues other than crew consist and FELA while a federal court considers a previously filed UTU petition seeking a permanent halt to carrier demands that the UTU collectively bargain over those two issues. Those other issues now being discussed are included in the parties' Section 6 notices exchanged in November 2004. (Section 6 refers to the section of the Railway Labor Act by which carriers and their unions exchange demands for contract changes.) The parties also agreed to a schedule of four future bargaining sessions in August, September, October and November. The NCCC represents, among others, BNSF, CSX, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific in this round of bargaining that began Nov. 1, 2004. Under the Railway Labor Act, contracts between railroads and their unions do not expire, but rather continue in force until changes are negotiated. So long as the parties are in mediation, each must maintain the status quo of existing contract provisions.6/25/05
HARRIS COLAS TO BE PAID EFFECTIVE JULY 1
Cost-of-living adjustments, commonly referred to as the Harris COLA (an application of PEB-219), will be paid effective July 1 to train and engine service employees covered by the UTU National Agreement. This follows a 3 percent wage increase that was applied Dec. 1, 2004, under the 2002 national agreement. Under the COLA, basic daily rates of pay will increase by 15 cents hourly, or $1.20 daily, effective July 1. The COLA will be rolled into the basic daily rates of pay under terms of the national agreement. Also, under the UTU Health and Welfare agreement, employee health care cost-sharing payments will increase by $6.11 monthly. This amount reflects the lesser of one-half of the increase in the cost of the health care plan as compared to one-half of the COLA-increase times the average straight time hours. The $6.11 will be applied uniformly to employees belonging to organizations that have such cost-sharing provisions in their agreements with NCCC. Rate tables are posted on the UTU web page at www.utu.org. To view these rate tables, left-click on the Awards/Agreements link in the hand column, red column, of the UTU home page. Then, left-click on the Important Documents link midway down the page. Then, left-click on the Rates of Pay (Train and Engine Service) link. Scroll to the bottom of the page to left-click and view the July 1, 2005, rate table link.6/22/05
CREW OFFICE COMMITTEE
SHARED VALUES
FIRST MEETING-PASCO WA.-APRIL 11&12
FOLLOW UP MAY 18, 2005
CONFERENCE CALL-1300
Bobbie Smith opened the call with a report on what has been achieved and a direction this committee needs to go to maximize its effectiveness. What are Global issues, (matters to bring up at regional shared values meetings), local issue, (issues that local chairman or committee contact people need to deal with at each respective terminal), and committee agenda.
Global issues:
1)To be affective, we must have a contact person from each local or location in the NWE division so we can approach specific concerns at each location. Currently, resolutions have been specific to the location of the committee members.
2) The largest complaint and concern from our original meeting at Pasco was the inability for TY&E personnel to get pre-approved for PLD’s and single day vacations. a) Allow the single PLD’s and Vacation days to be pre-approved 90 days out and change all others to 60 days out. b) Allow for a separate allocations within the pre-approved system to define parameters that separate the requests. This issue is also a local management issue account they set the number of pre-approves before the other crew office filters begin to apply. As an example, at Spokane last year this numbers was at 6 for Conductors, currently because of manpower this number is 2. The downside to this is more sick lay-offs and no faith in the system to allow us to get our single day vacations that were taken from full week allocation when vacations were set in November.
3) Have a training session connected to the contact people at each location so on occasion and when changes are made within TSS and VRU those individuals could have a blitz and give hands on instructions to all members with questions or needing help.
4) TM’s that have L/O request’s forwarded to them by schedule must be available. The crew office has no control on lay-offs except to log them on VRU and TSS. From there on out it is entirely up to local TM’s. We discovered also TM’s can approve lay-offs from the VRU.
Committee issues:
Many of these issues are outlined from minutes of the first meeting at Pasco. Realize we know our scope of impact was mainly Pasco and Spokane issues. Some of the adjustments within the system were schedule items, there are obvious reasons those issues had to remain local.
1) Call times and start times in road and yard service to get staggered to eliminate the confusion of offering same start times to first out person.
2) Create the ability to see future lay-off request’s that are pre-approved, so to be better able to determine lineups and projected call times.
3) We discussed problems with marking to temporary vacancies.
4) We discussed the scope of the Do Not Call list. This applies to pool service only. Cannot be called to move up or work outside of regular assigned service. (Excluding the impact of paper DH’ of course)
5) When boards are adjusted, be sure the indication of change at the top of each screen show the date and adjustment, even if left at no change.
6) Full week vacation bidding (weeks vacated and showing open) seems to be working good at Spokane.
7) There is a problem at daily mark location when a person that is marked to days the following day and needs to lay-off the evening before. The request only allows till midnight and person left on job for the following day. He or she, should not have to wait till midnight to lay off.
Local issues:
1) Make sure the carrier knows their obligation under agreement to have someone manning the phones at all times for immediate layoff needs.
2) Try to negotiate better allocations for pre-approved vacation and PLD’s.
Please be aware we know there have not been resolution on many of our concerns, but they will remain open until fixed, or at least monitor progress on each issue.
Scoter Pischel
LC UTU 0426
6/22/05
CREW OFFICE/CREW CALLING COMMITTEE
SHARED VALUE’S
1) One idea is to create a manual for callers and crew technicians to access to offset program error’s.
2) Conductor's being allowed to mark to brakeman vacancies and visa versa. The organizations position is that there is no restrictions of going between brakeman and conductor craft’s as long as it complies with all other schedule agreements, permanent or temporary vacancies.
3) Renumbering the Wenatchee pools and Pasco pool, 100 & 110, 101 and 111.
4) What are the chances for having separate call times for different pools, i.e.. Pasco at home terminal verses away terminal.
5) Trainmen and yardmen being laid off on call when they initiate the call, only because they have been tied to the train before it’s call time. Yard service the same thing, extra board or regular man, since we have two call times, previous to 2 hours before call or on duty time the employee if they initiate the call should be allowed to lay off. We encourage our members not to layoff just previous to any call times, we will encourage them to lay off early, at the very latest 2’15” before expected call or risk a layoff on call.
6) How much time is a person allowed to call back when not initially contacted by phone or a message is left on a phone? Any difference between yard or road?
7) Can you program the VRU and computer information to indicate the people going on vacation or pre approved
6/6/05
TEAMSTERS THREATEN RAIL RETIREMENT, FELA
By James Brunkenhoefer
UTU National Legislative Director
What is going on with the Teamsters supporting President Bush in his plan to dismantle Social Security, and the Teamsters playing kissy-face with a congressman who want to eliminate the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA)?
I can’t figure this one out. Maybe the BLET, which is now absorbed into the Teamsters, will explain just what is going on.
Social Security is very important to railroaders because the Tier I component of Railroad Retirement is directly linked to the financial health of Social Security. Tier I benefits are calculated the same as Social Security benefits. If Social Security is privatized, or changed in any way, Tier I of Railroad Retirement will be affected.
Of course, the BLET, even before it was absorbed by the Teamsters, was not in step with the rest of rail labor.
You will recall that when the fight began to lower the retirement age under Railroad Retirement for full benefits from age 62 to age 60, and to increase survivor benefits, the BLE (as it was then known) opposed reform.
In fact, the BLE was joined in that opposition by the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees (which also has been absorbed into the Teamsters.)
By contrast, the UTU was the leader in Railroad Retirement reform. Indeed, all other rail labor organizations (with the exception of the BLE and BMWE) were part of the UTU-led effort.
Only when it became apparent we were going to prevail on Railroad Retirement reform, and make it possible for thousands and thousands of rail workers to retire with full benefits at age 60, did the BLE change its position and say it would no longer oppose Railroad Retirement reform. Sadly, the BMWE remained opposed right up to the time the president signed the reform bill into law.
Now, we find the BLET and the BMWE (as obedient servants of a truck drivers’ union) again out of step with the rest of rail labor – as well as with the AFL-CIO (which the Teamsters keep threatening to quit).
As the newspaper USA Today said in a headline, “Hoffa Praises Bush on Social Security.” The Detroit News said, “Teamsters Leader Hoffa Commends Bush.”
What?
Yes, Jim Hoffa and the Teamsters are praising the Bush administration, which wants to privatize Social Security. What the Teamsters support, the AFL-CIO and all of rail labor -- except the BLET and the BMWE -- oppose.
In return, President Bush has praised Teamsters President Jim Hoffa (remember that Hoffa was a guest of the president – and sat next to Mrs. Bush -- at a State of the Union address by Bush).
Also praising Hoffa is Republican Congressman Sam Johnson of Texas, chairman of the House Employer-Employee Relations Subcommittee.
Remember Congressman Johnson? He is the congressman who said, on the House floor, that Railroad Retirement reform “is a fake, a fraud and a phony … it is absurd that the federal government allows one group of people to retire at age 60.”
More recently, Congressman Johnson made derogatory comments about the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA), and it is said he is sympathetic to the carriers (who contributed $7,000 to his re-election campaign in 2004) in eliminating FELA.
What rail labor (except, apparently, the BLET and the BMWE) understand is that you cannot open up Social Security for change without also opening up Railroad Retirement.
We just fixed Railroad Retirement for the long term and, unlike the Teamsters' Central States Pension Fund, Railroad Retirement is not bankrupt. In fact, Railroad Retirement is in dandy financial shape.
While Teamster drivers are having their pensions frozen because of the sorry state of the Teamsters' pension plan covering truck drivers, railroaders with at least 30 years service are retiring at age 60 with full benefits.
As the BLET, the BMWE and the labor member of the Railroad Retirement Board have acknowledged, it would take an Act of Congress to reopen Railroad Retirement and – God forbid – allow the Teamsters to get their hooks into it.
But if you open Social Security to congressional change, as the president, Jim Hoffa and the Teamsters want, then all bets are off and Railroad Retirement could be in jeopardy, because Railroad Retirement would be open for congressional change, as well.
The Teamsters and the BLET would have you believe that UTU is the one out of step with its members. But consider:
The UTU, but not the BLET and BMWE, supported Railroad Retirement reform.
The UTU (as well as all the rest of rail labor as well as the AFL-CIO) are saying “hell, no” to the Bush plan on Social Security.
The UTU has applied to rejoin the AFL-CIO. The Teamsters are blocking that request while, at the same time, threatening to quit the AFL-CIO.
Only the UTU is in federal court to block the carriers’ attempt to negotiate an end to FELA; and only the UTU is in federal court to protect crew consist agreements.
Perhaps the rank-and-file of the BLET and the BMWE will recognize just what they have gotten themselves into by joining the Teamsters, and start demanding the Teamsters stop lobbying on behalf of truck drivers only.
What the Teamsters and Jim Hoffa are pushing is pretty bad medicine for railroad workers and their families.