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In an effort to facilitate a new national rail agreement between the UTU and most of the nation’s railroads, two members of the National Mediation Board attended the ninth negotiating session between the UTU and the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC) in late March.

NMB members Linda Puchala, a Democrat, and Elizabeth Dougherty, a Republican, met with both sides as facilitators.

The UTU is the only rail union not in mediation with the carriers, and the board members’ appearance was not in a mediating role. Once the sides enter mediation, the NMB takes charge of negotiations.

“We continue to make progress through interest-based bargaining toward developing a common framework recognizing the needs of both sides, and we remain prepared to reach a voluntary agreement with the carriers,” said UTU International President Mike Futhey.

“At the March session, the negotiations were focused on specific issues with participation by the NMB officials,” Futhey said. “Non-referable proposals were exchanged and positions discussed.” Non-referable proposals mean that proposals now on the table cannot be put before a third-party presidential emergency board were that to occur.

“A tenth negotiating session is scheduled for late April, and we have been promised continued assistance by the NMB,” Futhey said.

The NCCC represents BNSF, CSX, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific and many smaller railroads. Some 40,000 UTU members employed by those railroads are covered by the national agreement.

The national agreement came open for amendment Jan. 1, 2010, and remains in force until amendments are concluded under provisions of the Railway Labor Act.

The two sides have been pursuing interest-based bargaining in their talks. Interest-based bargaining involves joint problem solving whereby both sides seek to understand the needs of the other. It differs from demand-based bargaining, where each side’s list is endless.

“Our negotiating team has been armed with a solid understanding of carrier economics and fact-based arguments justifying our Section 6 notice that was prepared by our general chairpersons,” Futhey said.

In addition to UTU lead negotiator President Futhey, UTU officers on the negotiating team include Assistant President Arty Martin; National Legislative Director James Stem; UTU International Vice Presidents Robert Kerley and Delbert Strunk; and General Chairpersons John Lesniewski (CSX, GO 049), Pate King (NS, GO 680) and Doyle Turner (CSX, GO 347).

Negotiations also continue between the NCCC and two other rail-labor coalitions — both of which are in the mediation phase.

One coalition includes the Transportation Communications Union, the American Train Dispatchers Association, the International Association of Machinists, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the Transport Workers Union.

A second coalition also negotiating with the NCCC includes the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes, the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, the Brotherhood of Boilermakers and Blacksmiths, the National Conference of Firemen and Oilers, and the Sheet Metal Workers International Association.

The attack on organized labor by right-wing extremists seems to have no boundaries.

The latest outrage is an attempt by a conservative research group in Michigan to intimidate college professors it considers sympathetic to organized labor.

News organizations report the Mackinac Center for Public Policy has filed a far-reaching Freedom of Information Act request for emails sent by college professors at three state-supported Michigan universities that mention the Wisconsin attack on collective bargaining rights.

Several of the targeted professors called it an attempt to intimidate them.

The Michigan assault on free speech follows a similar request by the Republican Party of Wisconsin seeking access to emails of a University of Wisconsin history professor who had publicly criticized Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker for his efforts to revoke collective bargaining rights for public employees.

The Michigan FOIA request seeks all emails of targeted professors that mention “Scott Walker”, “Madison,” [Wis.], or MSNBC liberal talk show host “Rachel Maddow.”

The director of academic freedom for the American Association of University Professors told The New York Times, “We think all this will have a chilling effect on academic freedom. We’ve never seen FOIA requests used like this before.”

The executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin refused to give a reason for the Republican request for email contents, telling The New York Times, “I don’t have to give a reason.”

All this has prompted UTU General Chairperson Mike Reedy of Milwaukee, Wis. (UP, GO 225) to observe, “The attack is aimed not just at public employees or unions, but intended to weaken or destroy the two-party political system that has served this country so well. Every citizen is at risk.”

Helen Deneen, 88, mother of UTU Wisconsin Legislative Director Tim Deneen died March 28. Tim’s son, Brandan, had been caring for her at her home.
A service will be held March 31 at St. Bernard’s Catholic Church, 2015 Parmenter St., Middleton, Wis., and internment will follow.
The family asks that remembrances be made in Helen Deneen’s name to Hospice Care or a charity of the donor’s choice.
Tim Deneen’s office address is:

United Transportation Union
Suite 320
7 Pinckney St.
Madison, WI 53703-4262

WASHINGTON — As the House of Representatives later this week decides whether to second-guess the expert National Mediation Board, lawmakers must ponder voting for a double standard.

At issue is an NMB decision last year to make union representation elections more democratic.

The NMB reversed a decades-long practice of adding to the “no” column in airline and railroad representation elections all eligible voters who failed to cast a ballot.

Instead, the NMB ordered that airline and railroad representation elections henceforth would be decided by counting only the votes of those actually voting — a simple majority as is the case in all American democratic elections, from the local PTA to Congress to the White House.

A federal district court turned back a challenge by airlines to that new NMB policy, deferring to the expertise of the NMB and its decision to treat representation elections for airlines and railroads in the same manner that democratic elections for Congress and other elective offices are determined.

Yet some in Congress want to legislate a turn-back — a turn-back that, if applied to congressional elections, would have resulted in the defeat of every member of Congress who won an election in 2010.

As a study by the Communications Workers of America revealed, not a single congressional lawmaker would have won an election in 2010 had those not voting been considered to have voted against the candidate.

Clearly, the efforts of those lawmakers wanting to second-guess the NMB and trash democratic principles in representation elections is nothing more than a union-busting measure.

Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.) unmasked the union-busting agenda in a statement to her fellow House members:

“Before I came to Congress, I spent eight years as Michigan’s secretary of state. In that job, one of my prime responsibilities was to serve as my state’s chief elections officer. I’d like to think I know a little something about conducting free, open and fair elections,” Miller said.

“Each of us who has the honor to serve in this House does so with the consent of those we serve in free elections. All we have to do is win this privilege is receive more votes than our opponent. That is the fundamental caveat of our democracy, and how we conduct elections. Why should a union election be any different?” she asked her fellow House members.

To help block this latest union-busting initiative, call or email your House member and politely urge them to oppose the provision in a Federal Aviation Administration authorization bill that would legislate an undemocratic process for union representation elections in the airline and railroad industries.

Go to www.utu.org and click on “Washington” in the red tile box on the top. Then scroll down and click on “Contacting the Congress.” Insert your home address, click “Submit It” and then click on the name of your representative for their phone number and email address.

WASHINGTON — Bipartisan legislation to improve motorcoach safety has been introduced in the House and Senate.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) jointly introduced S. 453, the Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act, which is co-sponsored by Senators Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

In the House, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) has introduced identical legislation, H.R. 873.

The Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act would:

  • Require safety belts and stronger seating systems to ensure occupants stay in their seats in a crash.
  • Require improved commercial driver training. Currently, no training is required by federal regulation.
  • Require anti-ejection glazing windows to prevent passengers from being easily thrown outside the motorcoach.
  • Require strong, crush-resistant roofs that can withstand rollovers.
  • Require improved protection against fires by reducing flammability of the motorcoach interior.
  • Require better training for operators in the event of fire.
  • Create a national commercial motor vehicle medical registry to ensure only medically qualified examiners conduct physical examinations of drivers.
  • Require a medical certificate process to ensure that all certificates are valid and no unqualified operator is allowed to drive.
  • Strengthen motorcoach vehicle safety inspections, including roadside inspections, safety audits, and state and motor carrier programs for identifying vehicle defects.
  • Require electronic on-board recorders (EOBRs) with real-time capabilities to track precise vehicle location that cannot be tampered with by the driver.

The American Bus Association reports that there are more than 720 million passenger trips by motorcoach annually, and bus travel has outpaced air and rail as the fastest growing mode of passenger transportion.

To view text of the legislation, click on the following links:

H.R. 873: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr873ih/pdf/BILLS-112hr873ih.pdf

S. 453: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112s453is/pdf/BILLS-112s453is.pdf

WASHINGTON — A doubling in the number of damaged or leaking hazardous materials containers shipped by rail has prompted the UTU and six other rail labor organizations to petition the Federal Railroad Administration for enhanced safety standards to protect rail workers and the public.

Rail labor is concerned that the FRA routinely grants special permission for railroads to transport damaged hazardous materials containers on mainline tracks to repair facilities.

In fact, the number of such requests has more than doubled since 2007, subjecting rail workers and the public to an unacceptable risk of exposure, the labor organizations told the FRA.

“Railroads and shippers must do more to reduce the incidence of non-conformance,” the organizations told the FRA.

Among changes sought by rail labor is advance notification to rail workers and necessary protection when workers are in the vicinity of damaged containers transporting hazmat.

Current federal regulations provide no requirement that safety devices be provided to protect rail workers from exposure to hazmat.

The labor organizations told the FRA that operating crews should be provided emergency escape breathing apparatus when involved in the movement of hazmat containers.

Although there have been no injuries or known exposures, the risk of employee exposure will only increase if the current rate of movement approvals continues, the FRA was told.

“Railroads and shippers have a business interest in timely review and approval of movement requests,” the labor unions told the FRA.

“As soon as the backlog impacts their bottom line, railroads and shippers will pressure FRA to accelerate the approval process. Such acceleration will undoubtedly diminish the level of detail and due diligence now afforded each request, resulting in an increased probability of unintended consequences such as fire, explosion or chemical exposure,” rail labor said.

In addition to the UTU, rail labor organizations jointly providing the comments to the FRA include the American Train Dispatchers Association, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes, the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, the Transport Workers Union, and the Transportation Communications Union.

Click here to read rail labor’s submission to the FRA.

Say it ain’t so, governor.

But it is.

Maine Republican Gov. Paul LePage has ordered removal from the Maine Department of Labor of a 36-foot, 11-panel mural depicting the state’s and nation’s proud labor history.

Gone will be World War II icon Rosie the Riveter and other artwork depicting the role of the American worker in Maine and in U.S. history.

If that’s not sufficiently shameful, Gov. LePage ordered also that a Maine Department of Labor conference room, named for the nation’s first female secretary of labor, Frances Perkins, be changed.

Perkins, who helped guide New Deal policies, which included passage of the National Labor Relations Act, had, earlier in her career, encouraged workplace safety reforms following the deaths of 146 garment workers in the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist fire in New York in 1911.

Gov. LePage says he wants the state’s Department of Labor to be more “business friendly.”

The Maine Sun Journal newspaper reported that the governor acted after “some business owners” complained the mural and conference room name were hostile to business.

It is not known what the Perkins conference room will be renamed. But given the hostility of Maine’s governor toward working families and organized labor, it could well become the Ebenezer Scrooge Conference Room.

Good grief.

Pursuant to a March 4 ruling of a federal district court judge, an arbitrator has been named to determine whether the merger agreement between the UTU and the Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA) is an enforceable agreement.

Georgetown University law professor Michael H. Gottesman has been named by AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka as the arbitrator — a choice approved jointly by UTU International President Mike Futhey and SMWIA National President Mike Sullivan.

In his March 4 ruling, Federal Judge John Bates said a separate action brought by several UTU members, challenging the validity of the merger — alleging violations of Titles I and V or the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act — is not within the arbitrator’s jurisdiction and that he would delay a ruling on that complaint pending the outcome of the arbitration.

Arbitrator Gottesman earned an undergraduate degree at the University of Chicago and his law degree from Yale University.

He teaches labor law, constitutional law and civil rights at Georgetown University.

Gottesman held an appointment from President Jimmy Carter to review hundreds of candidates for federal court vacancies, and has published numerous articles for law journals. His latest article, “The Role of Labor in the 21st Century,” will be published later this year by the Columbia University Law Review.

As matters develop, further information will be posted at www.utu.org.

Railroads are expecting an even stronger second quarter in 2011 following a 5 percent increase in carload volume during the first three months of 2011, carrier executives told a J.P. Morgan financial conference in New York March 24.

This prediction comes on top of strong profit gains in 2010 that saw multiple stock dividend increases and what one Wall Street analyst called “the best year-over-year growth [in traffic volume] in more than 50 years.”

Railroad executives are especially bullish on steam and coking coal traffic for the remainder of 2011 given Japan’s considerble loss of nuclear power generation and expected future dependence on coal-generated power and need for steel production in the rebuilding process.

“We feel good about 2011,” said Norfolk Southern CEO Wick Moorman. “We anticipate solid growth in everything except anything that’s housing-related.”

Union Pacific Chief Financial Officer Rob Knight predicts “solid growth in quarterly operating income.”

CSX Chief Operating Officer David Brown said his railroad expects traffic volume to outpace the U.S. economy, with coal traffic up as much as 10 percent or more.

The railroads also predict a continued shift from highway to rail as trucking companies deal with rapidly escalating diesel fuel prices and highway congestion.

The Association of American Railroads reported March 24 that carload traffic was up more than 5 percent for the first quarter 2011, with intermodal (trailers and containers on flat cars) up more than 8 percent in the first quarter.

The Federal Railroad Administration’s ban on the use of cellphones and other electronic devices — personal and carrier-issued — becomes permanent Monday, March 28.

The ban applies to all on-duty train crew members.

Don’t let a railroad or federal safety inspector make an example of you in proving a dedication to enforcement of the ban.

Here are highlights of the permanent ban:

  • The ban prohibits the use of an electronic device — whether personal or railroad supplied — if it interferes with that employee’s or another employee’s performance of safety-related duties. This means while the train is moving, a member of the crew is on the ground or riding rolling equipment during switching, or any railroad employee is assisting in the preparation of the train for movement.
  • While railroad-supplied electronic devices may not be used by the engineer while the train is moving, they may be used by the conductor for authorized business purposes in the cab if use does not interfere with performance of safety-related duties, a safety briefing is conducted that includes all crew members, and all crew members agree that it is safe to use the railroad-supplied electronic device.
  • There is no exception for personal or medical emergencies, such as to check on an ill or injured family member.
  • The ban includes use of personal global positioning service (GPS) devices.
  • The use of calculators is permitted for determining formulas such as train stopping calculations or tons per operative brake.
  • Stand-alone cameras (not part of a cellphone or other electronic device) are permitted to document a safety hazard or a violation of a rail safety law, regulation order, or standard. The camera must be turned off immediately after use. Stand-alone cameras may not be used by the engineer for the above purposes when the train is in motion.
  • Crew members may use railroad-supplied multi-functional devices that include a camera for authorized business purposes as specified by the railroad in writing, and only after being approved by the FRA. An engineer is banned from using such a device when the train is in motion. The railroad-supplied device must be turned off immediately after use.
  • Deadheading crews may use personal electronic devices when not in the cab of the controlling locomotive and such use does not compromise the safety of any operating employee or the safety duties of another operating employee. But when in the cab of the controlling locomotive, deadheading employees are prohibited from using any electronic devices; and they must be turned off and the earpiece must be removed.
  • Personal medical devices such as hearing aids and blood sugar monitors may be used, but must be consistent with the railroad’s standards for medical fitness for duty.
  • A passenger train conductor or assistant conductor may use a railroad-supplied electronic or electrical device for an approved business purpose while on duty within the body of a passenger train or railroad business car. Use of the device shall not interfere with the responsibility to call or acknowledge any signal, inspect any passing train, or perform any other safety-sensitive duty assigned under the railroad’s operating rules and special instructions.
  • A passenger-train conductor or assistant conductor located inside the cab may use a GPS application or a railroad-supplied camera if the crew has held a safety briefing and all crewmembers have unanimously agreed that it is safe to use the device.
  • A passenger-train crewmember outside the cab of a locomotive may use a railroad-supplied camera to photograph a safety hazard if it is for an authorized business purpose and does not interfere with safety-related duties.
  • Railroads have the right to implement their own more stringent rules on the use of electronic devices; but railroads may not liberalize any provisions of the FRA permanent ban.
  • The ban does not subject engineers or conductors (when conductor certification is implemented) to revocation of their certification for a violation of the ban.
  • The FRA has authority under the law to subpoena cellphone records from a cellphone provider.

To read the FRA’s final 40-page rule, click on the following link:

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov:80/2010/2010-23916.htm