Winter 2002
Volume 109 - No. 4

BLE News Clips

"It helps to pray with them (engineers who have been involved in grade crossing accidents), talk with them, let them know that God still loves them. There's always the would have, should have, could have. They think, 'Maybe if I'd had one more piece of meatloaf for dinner, I wouldn't have been at that crossing at that time.' Someday I'd like to connect the engineers with the families of those who were hurt or killed. I tell them the railroad isn't a big ogre, and the crashes affect us, too. You've never seen the people in these crashes, but you mourn for them." - BLE Division 133 (Denver) member Mike Gaines, on the affects of grade crossing accidents on locomotive engineers. Rocky Mountain News. October 18, 2002. circ. 396,114.

"The next derailment might be the one where there's chemicals on the train. If the knowledge base has been expanded (on the risks of unmanned locomotives), then the mission has been accomplished." - Baton Rouge, La. Mayor Pro Tem Lorri Burgess, on the city's resolution to ban remote control locomotives with in the city. Baton Rouge Advocate. September 26, 2002. circ. 93,625.

"It's unfortunate that the railroad has had to be responsible for something that was a production problem from the outset." - BLE Long Island Railroad General Chairman Robert M. Evers on the mechanical problems of the LIRR's fleet of diesel locomotives. Long Island, N.Y. Newsday. October 8. circ. 553,182.

"We understand the pressure she was under to get the ports open, but we're disappointed." - BLE International President Don M. Hahs, on Senator Dianne Feinstein's support of President Bush's decision to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act in order to open the West Coast ports. Park City, Utah Park Record. October 16. circ. 6,225.

"Labor wants better working conditions, higher wages and job security; management wants fewer employees, higher productivity and pay cuts. Can you imagine how bad it would be if there were no contracts? No schedules, no advertised departures, no regular yard jobs ... just 30,000 people waiting by the phone to get a call to go to work." - BLE Division 332 (Montgomery, Ala.) member Cindy Peterman, on labor-management relations. Progressive Railroading. October 2002. circ. 28,500.

"What we have is budgetary forces versus safety forces. It's money. This whole issue is money and profits for the Union Pacific." - BLE Union Pacific-Central Region General Chairman Charlie Rightnowar, on the Union Pacific's labor force issues. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. October 24. circ. 290,372.

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© 2002 Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers