Rick Radek
Vice President and Director of Arbitration
radek@ble-t.org
(216) 241-2630 ext. 216
Richard K. Radek is a Vice-President and Director of Arbitration for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, a Division of the Rail Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
He was re-elected by acclamation to this position at the BLET's First Quadrennial Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, on June 19, 2006. He was first elected to the BLE's Advisory Board for a five-year term in 1996 at the Brotherhood's Sixth Quinquennial International Convention in Detroit and re-elected in 2001.
Immediately prior to his 1996 election, he served a five-year term in the office of Alternate International Vice-President and worked at the BLE's International Office as Director of Arbitration.
He began his railroad career in 1965, hiring on with the Chicago & North Western Transportation Company. He became a fireman in 1967, and earned his promotion to locomotive engineer in 1976. Brother Radek joined the BLE in 1974, and soon after began serving as division secretary-treasurer. He was elected local chairman in 1978. In 1981, then-International President John F. Sytsma invited him to join the International staff and assigned him to the National Railroad Adjustment Board in Chicago. Since 1982, he has served as the BLE member to the NRAB and has been its First Division chairman or vice-chairman since 1984. In 1987, he transferred to the BLE International Office in Cleveland. When the Arbitration Department was established in 1991, he was appointed to the post of BLE Director of Arbitration.
During the early years of his rail career, he also earned Bachelor's Degrees in Education and Music from Northern Illinois University in 1969. During a five-year hiatus from railroad employment, he was a graduate student at Northern Illinois, a professional musician and a high school teacher. He belonged to the National Educators Association and the American Federation of Musicians. While in the NEA he was chairman for collective bargaining negotiations in his district.
He was born on Nov. 19, 1947 in Evanston, Ill., into a railroad family (both his father Henry and uncle John Radek were career C&NW yardmen). He is married and resides in Strongsville, a Cleveland suburb. The Radeks have three children, Kimberly, Stacey and Keith. After professional pursuits, Radek is a jazz and classical music enthusiast.
