News Clips

"I've never seen vandalism in the locker room. I have a locker there, and I don't even keep a lock on it. Meanwhile, people who have seen the tapes have made lewd remarks about engineers in their boxer shorts, and the taunting is still going on." - BLE Grand Trunk Western General Chairman John Karkakian rebutting GTW management's defense for putting a hidden video camera in the engineers' locker room. Treasury & Risk Management, July 1999, circ. 46,000.

"By fighting to preserve the craft of locomotive engineers, we are protecting the jobs of conductors. History has proven the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers have in fact retained the conductor's craft. On VIA Rail in Canada, where conductors and engineers are represented by the Brotherhood, not one conductor has lost his or her job." - BLE Division 28 President Paul Currier in a letter to the editor refuting a statement by an official of the UTU. Arizona Daily Star, July 16. circ. 155,000.

"We're building a very strong case for our side and proving that if the merits of the case are looked at, there are a number of differences between engineers, conductors and brakemen. Engineers are federally certified - they're not." - BLE Vice-President & U.S. Legislative Representative Leroy Jones explaining the BLE's case before the National Mediation Board. Pacific Shipper, July 12, circ. 7,750.

"The rail yard looks like a parking lot with idled Norfolk Southern cars awaiting transfer to the railroad." - Conrail General Chairman Bob Godwin on the problems CSX and Norfolk Southern have had with the takeover of Conrail. Buffalo News, July 2, circ. 253,147.

"We've lost the right to perform work we've been assigned to inside the mill. We believe the work belongs to us." - Delaware & Hudson/Springfield Terminal General Chairman Mike Twombly, as two unions that represent railroad workers inside the Sappi Fine Paper Somerset mill began to protest the company's hiring of a non-union Florida company to do the same work. (Waterville, ME) Sentinel, June 13 circ. 18,436.

"You're always worried about it. We worry about a collision happening here all the time." - New Jersey Transit General Chairman R.A. Vallochi, commenting on railroad safety in the United States in the wake of a recent crash in London that killed 40 people. Newark Star Ledger, October 7 circ. 402,000.

© 1999 Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers