News Clips

Spring 2003
Volume 110 - No. 1

BLE News Clips

"We love Union Pacific, and we love our jobs. But this is not the time to take a shortcut approach, especially after 9-11." - BLE Division 197 (San Antonio) Local Chairman Russell Elley, on remote control operations being implemented on Union Pacific. San Antonio Express News, December 19, 2002, circulation 219,837.

"Why the railroads would choose to de-skill a position and deny people the work they spent a lot of money training them for, I can't figure it out." - BLE International President Don M. Hahs, on the railroads' decision to implement remote control operations. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 1, 2003, circ. 303,314.

"We've had problems getting people to agree on different concepts. But we still don't think carriers are as concerned about fatigue as they should be." - President Hahs, on the problems of getting the railroads and labor to agree on fatigue management. Progressive Railroading, December 2002, circ. 28,500.

"It's all about greed. The way things are going, it won't be long before there are no jobs at all. When I started, a train crew included seven people. When I retired, only two people, an engineer and a conductor, were running trains. We don't have near enough men. It's the grunts that do all the work." - Retired BLE Division 415 (Roseville, Calif.) member Noel Stull, on decreased crew size and its correlation to safety. Colfax, Calif. Record, January 30, 2003, circ. 1,830.

"We understand technology is changing. We just want it (implementation of remote control operations) done correctly. Some of the operators have never even handled a train before." - BLE Michigan State Legislative Board Chairman Greg Powell, on the implementation of remote control operations. Chicago Tribune, January 12, 2003, circ. 1,016,103.

"I take exception to the BNSF making it appear that the employees are the Scrooges in this situation. I equate this to the BNSF saying the Union - which is the employees - killed the Santa Train off. No one, to my knowledge, has asked for volunteer labor to run the Santa Train. I know I could have found people. I would have done it free-gratis myself, but the subject never came up." - BLE Division 622 (Alliance, Neb.) Local Chairman Mike Thiellen, on BNSF's claims that lack of employee volunteers is the reason the annual Santa Train was discontinued. Operating employees had been paid in previous years, but this year BNSF dropped the program due to budget cuts and claimed employees were the problem. Alliance Times-Herald, December 7, 2002, circ. 3,121.

"We hear a lot about homeland security these days. When locomotives are controlled by radio transmitter, you have to believe that if terrorists wanted to take control of an unmanned locomotive, they could obtain a transmitter. Given the hazardous and nuclear material cargoes around the country, controlled remotely, could become a deadly weapon." - President Hahs, at the BLE-IBT rally for remote control safety in front of the Federal Railroad Administration's headquarters in Washington, D.C., on March 11. Chicago Tribune, March 12, 2003, circ. 1,016,103.

"It defies common sense that we should have something this big run by remote control. It's a hare-brained idea whose time has not come." - International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa, at the joint IBT-BLE rally on March 11. Chicago Tribune, March 12, 2003, circ. 578,706.

"These devices are inherently unsafe and hazardous and CSX is doing nothing about it." - BLE New York State Legislative Board Chairman John Collins, after the death of a trainman in Syracuse involving remote control. Ithaca Journal, February 22, circ. 18,530.

"These guys aren't used to handling such big cuts of cars, doubling up trains. They're not always looking out for crossings."- BLE Division 937 (Toledo, Ohio) member Dan Knorek, on the problems of remote control operations. Toledo Blade, March 9, circ. 198,140.

"We're our own worst enemies. We've done our jobs so well that it makes it look elementary." - CSXT-Northern Lines General Chairman Don Menefee, on remote control. Toledo Blade, March 9, circ. 198,140.

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