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CLEVELAND, Jan. 12 An attempt by the United Transportation Union to eliminate the craft of locomotive engineer is a "naked attempt at a power grab by a desperate union that has negotiated away much of its membership," BLE President Clarence Monin charged today.
"Each time the UTU has agreed to eliminate a position on the train, it has tried to raid our membership," Monin said. "Locomotive engineers are proud of their craft, and they want to be represented by the union that has represented their needs since 1863."
Today the UTU announced its plan to eliminate the craft of locomotive engineer. It petitioned the National Mediation Board to create a single operating craft in the railroad industry, combining locomotive engineers with conductors and trainmen effectively eliminating those crafts as well.
"That's like flight attendants asking the NMB to rule that they should represent the airline pilots because they work on the same aircraft," Monin said.
"We have on many occasions suggested a voluntary consolidation of our unions," Monin said, "but we will resist a hostile takeover."
Today's petition by the UTU alleges the existence of a "representational dispute" in the railroad industry among operating employees, but "there is no dispute as far as locomotive lngineers are concerned," Monin said. "Locomotive engineers do not want to be represented by any other union but their own." ·
WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers today hailed a unified condemnation by rail unions against the back-door attempt of the United Transportation Union to eliminated the craft of locomotive engineer through a bogus appeal to the National Mediation Board.
"This strong statement by rail labor shows that the UTU is isolated from the rest of its Brothers and Sisters who work on the nation's railroads, and following a divisive policy that plays into the hands of railroad management," said BLE President Clarence Monin. (For the full text of the resolution, turn to page 2.)
The Rail Labor Division of the AFL-CIO's Transportation Trades Department earlier today passed a resolution condemning the UTU's petition to the NMB that seeks a single class of operating railroad employees, charging that the UTU was precipitating a "false crisis" to achieve its own self-serving goals.
A similar effort by UTU last year, in which it proposed that Congress change the Railway Labor Act, was opposed by rail unions and the AFL-CIO because it was not in the best interest of workers in the rail industry.
"Now the UTU once more is using a back-door attempt to force its way into the rail engine cab," Monin said. "Locomotive engineers want to be represented by the union that has been fighting for their interests since 1863."
"Many of the crafts the UTU represented have disappeared," Monin added. "That's why it is going after our members."
The Rail Division's resolution urges the NMB to reject the UTU petition and calls on AFL-CIO President John Sweeney "to insist that the UTU cease and desist from this union-busting attack, which would help management in the railroad industry to achieve what it has not been able to get at the bargaining table."
"We request that the AFL-CIO impose appropriate sanctions on the UTU if it refuses to stop its efforts to deprive the membership of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, or any other rail union, of their lawful right to freely and individually choose their union representative," the resolution declares.
Unions comprising the Rail Labor Division of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department include both the BLE and UTU, as well as the Railroad Signalmen, Maintenance of Way Employees, Machinists, Boilermakers, Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees, Fireman and Oilers/SEIU, Electrical Workers, Transportation-Communications Union, Transport Workers, Sheetmetal Workers and the Train Dispatchers/BLE.
Monin said the BLE is sympathetic to the concerns of rail service and ground service rail employees "and we have tried to work with their union on mutually beneficial concerns."
"We know that many of these workers want to be promoted and become locomotive engineers, and we help train them to do just that," he said. "But we will not allow the UTU to promote itself as the union for locomotive engineers. That's a sham."
The BLE, which recently obtained two full-motion simulators for use in training locomotive engineers in schools in the United States and Canada, has campaigned tirelessly this year to promote safety on the nation's railroads.
The 10-year-old BLE Safety Task Force assists the National Transportation Safety Board in investigating rail accidents. ·
OTTAWA, Dec. 19 The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers has acquired two full-motion simulators for use in training Engineers at schools in the United States and Canada, BLE Canadian Director Gilles Hallé announced today.
"This equipment will help us provide quality assurance in the training of engineers," Hallé said. "It will better ensure safe and reliable operation of locomotives on the two nations' rail systems."
BLE President Clarence Monin at the throttle of a simulator as it moves into a tunnel on the video screen ahead.
The simulators, complete with computer and hydraulic equipment, were acquired from Canadian National Railway, said Hallé, who negotiated the acquisition with CN President and CEO Paul M. Tellier.
They have been moved from Gimli, Manitoba, to Saskatoon in Saskatchewan, where they are housed until the locomotive engineer training schools are located in the two countries. Hallé set a tentative date of September of 1998 for opening the Canadian training school.
Brother Hallé reports that the Canadian training school will be housed in Western Canada, and that the BLE is currently negotiating with the province of Saskatchewan in regards to its specific location.
Hallé said the simulators will be used to train new engineers and also be used to provide refreshers for presently qualified engineers.
The simulators, which the BLE acquired for a nominal fee, are the two full-motion simulators used by Canadian National to train 7,000 locomotive engineers at its training facility in Gimli, Manitoba.
"This is certainly a major commitment that the BLE will fulfill," Hallé said.
Brother Hallé also announced that a special training school for Canadian BLE officers will be opened at the same location as the locomotive engineer training school. Training will be provided for division presidents, local chairmen, secretary-treasurers and legislative reps, in addition to members of such groups as the Safety Task Force, the SENSE program and the National Mobilization Team.
"The training manuals are currently in the Ottawa office and will be made available at the training school," Hallé said. ·
BLE President Clarence Monin was nominated last month to serve on the Amtrak Reform Council, the board which will govern the future direction of Amtrak.
Monin was nominated on behalf of all rail labor by the Rail Labor Division of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO.
Chair of the Rail Labor Division W.D. "Dan" Pickett, who is also President of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, made the nomination in a letter to U.S. President Bill Clinton.
The Amtrak Reform Council, which was established by the Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act of 1997, will evaluate Amtrak's performance, providing oversight and recommendations to Amtrak's Board of Directors.
"It is extremely important that the Amtrak Reform Council include an individual who will provide an employee perspective as the Council carries out its work," Pickett wrote. "We are confident that Mr. Monin will fill this role with distinction and will add an important voice to the Council's deliberations."
Section 203 of the Reform & Accountability Act states that one individual will be appointed by President Clinton to represent all of rail labor.
President Clinton has yet to announce his appointments to the Council as this issue of the Newsletter went to press. ·
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