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In making the decision as to whether to aid and abet the UTU's ambitions, the Board will also be deciding whether to sacrifice its credibility by overstepping the bounds of its limited jurisdiction. This Board has a statutory duty that is qualitatively different from that of the National Labor Relations Board. While the NLRB decides appropriate bargaining units, the NMB merely investigates to determine who the employees in a given craft or class have chosen to represent them for the purposes of collective bargaining. At the passage of the Act, the already mature rail industry was largely organized. Essentially, the railroads had worked out a division of labor, and in turn, that division of labor produced groupings of employees that shared both a community of interest vis-a-vis the employer, and the recognition that they would fare best through their mutual aid and support. Thus, the craft or class structure was created by both the division of labor and the reflexive self organization of rail employees. It was not the product of administrative fiat.
Thus far, the Board has respected those structures. Except for a scattering of recent cases involving primarily small properties, where the representative (usually the UTU) and the carrier agreed to a composite craft, the Board has refused to create compound units, and it has eliminated separate crafts only where they have gone out of existence (their instrumentality and skills disappeared). By contrast, UTU seeks to have this Board radically re-engineer the operating craft or class structure for the sole and simple purpose of eliminating the other major operating craft union, with the UTU expecting to feast on the spoils of the battle. The temptation to dabble in social engineering must be great. There are, undoubtedly, shortcomings with the present state of affairs. Perhaps, a Member might opine, a period of Board activism, while resulting in short-term turmoil, will deliver the industry to a labor-relations Golden Age. But this Board has not shown a proclivity for that kind of arrogance. For that sort of activism is, first and foremost, incompatible with the Board's investigatory role. In the railroad industry, it discovers the facts, but it has not sought to substitute its judgment for that of the employees who have organized themselves along their respective craft lines.
The Board should continue to confine itself to its statutory role, for the consequences of an ill-advised activism would be tragic. The subject application is a simple power-grab, with the purpose of destroying the BLE as an institution. Acceding to the UTU would deprive engineers of their free choice by diluting them in a sea of at least three other operating crafts. The threatened employees and their representative can be expected to fight back in what has been framed by their adversary as a fight to the death. It is inconceivable that the initiation of internecine warfare will be neatly confined to the hearing rooms and courts. Rather, it is inevitable that the battle will spill over, with the opposing armies invading the arena of collective bargaining.
There can be no doubt but that, if this Board unleashes the genie bottled up now in the stability of the craft or class structure, it will inevitably complicate collective bargaining in this industry. And that labor-management turmoil will be exacerbated by the Board's loss of credibility, as no fair-minded person would fail to see that acquiescence to the UTU's demands would constitute a partisan intervention in the differences that divide rail labor. Thus, the Board would no longer be able to present itself as a credible mediatory agency, at precisely the time that tensions would escalate in response to the UTU raid.
Therefore, the Board should reject the UTU's petition, or it will inevitably produce the very labor-management turmoil that it is supposed to help contain.
It follows from the foregoing that the questions posed to the parties in Senior Hearing Officer Watkin's letter of January 30, 1998, must be answered as follows:
1. The Board should defer to the Article XX process. The parties here have voluntarily submitted themselves to the Constitution of the AFL-CIO. That particularly well-suited unity for method of alternative Dispute Resolution should be afforded proper deference, and the result may render the Board's proceedings moot by prohibiting the relief sought by UTU.
2. The merger procedures in this industry (as well as their airline antecedents) were designed to deal with those circumstances where a new transportation system results from the combination of formerly separate carriers. It provides a method to readily ascertain the support for the pre-merger incumbents, and elections, where appropriate, within recognized craft lines. The merger procedures were not created as a vehicle to modify the existing craft structure on a particular carrier, and are wholly ill-suited to address the industry-wide vitality of the existing craft structure.
3. Since the merger procedures are inappropriate, it should not be necessary to address the appropriate showing of interest thereunder. But in any case, for employees to invoke the Board's investigatory services, the showing of interest must come from each craft involved (here, UTU must produce authorization cards from a simple majority of engineers). Otherwise, the way for mischief is clear, for any organization representing a relatively larger craft or class could commence a hostile take-over on the mere filing of a petition, without some objectively ascertainable evidence of the existence of a representation dispute, thus permitting abuse of the Board's procedures when, as here, applications are filed for improper purposes.
This Board is facing what is perhaps the most important decision it will make during the present Members' tenure. The existing craft structure is time-honored, but that fact alone neither validates its continued application, nor urges change for change's sake. In its essentials, the objectively existing craft structure is, for better or worse, unchanged. If representation is to be reorganized on some other basis, that is up to the employees, not an agency charged with simply ascertaining their choice. For all of the foregoing reasons, this Board must decline the invitation to substitute its judgement for that of the employees and their representatives.
This Board must leave the genie in the bottle, or bear full responsibility for the consequences.
APRIL 16-18 St. Louis BLE Secretary-Treasurer Training Class. The second of seven BLE secretary-treasurer training classes will be held April 16-18 in St. Louis, Mo. S-Ts will be instructed on proper bookkeeping, record-keeping, dues handling, and filing of taxes. The training class will be held at the Henry VIII Hotel in St. Louis. The room rate is $68 per night. For hotel registration, call (800) 325-1588 or (314) 731-3040. For further details and registration, contact Patti Smith of the BLE International Division at: (216) 241-2630, extension 227.
APRIL 17-20 AFL-CIO Union Industries Trade Show. The world's largest "Made in the U.S.A." exhibition of union workers' skills and services will be held at the New Orleans Convention Center, April 17-20. The show begins at 11 a.m. each day and features over 300 unions. Admission is free. The show is produced by the AFL-CIO's Union Label & Service Trades Dept. and the Louisiana AFL-CIO. For details, contact Show Manager Dennis Kivikko at (202) 628-2131.
JUNE 8-10 St. Paul, Minn. BLE Secretary-Treasurer Training Class. Due to popular demand, this S-T training class was added at the last minute. It will be held at the Best Western Kelly Inn in St. Paul. For hotel reservations, call the hotel at (612) 227-8711. For further details and registration, contact Patti Smith of the BLE International Division at (216) 241-2630, extension 227.
JUNE 14-18 BLE-GIA Southeastern Meeting Association. Held at the Drawbridge Inn in Ft. Mitchell, Ky., a few miles south of Cincinnati, Ohio. SMA Chairman Jerry L. Wyatt announced convention activities may include a trip to Kings Island amusement park, a Cincinnati Reds game, the Cincinnati Zoo, thoroughbred racing and riverboat dining. Contact Drawbridge Inn at (800) 354-9793 (in Kentucky please call (800) 352-9866). To contact Brother Wyatt, call (606) 331-5859, or write: 3061 Lindsey Dr., Edgewood, KY 41017-3252.
JULY 12-15 Operation Lifesaver 10th International Symposium. Held in Indianapolis, Ind. at the Westin Hotel. Room rates are $97 per night and early-bird registration is $165 and guest registration is $95. After June 12 registration is $205. More details to come. For more information, contact Operation Lifesaver, Inc., 1420 King St., Suite 401, Alexandria, VA 22314; or call (800) 637-6224.
JULY 12-17 BLE Local Chairman Workshop. Held at the George Meany Center for Labor Studies in Silver Spring, Md., the expanded local chairman training workshop is a valuable training tool for all new and experienced local chairmen. Additional classes are scheduled and will be announced at a later date. For further details, contact Carolyn Copeland at: (216) 241-2630, ext. 253.
TUCSON, March 19 -- With just over one month to go before the start of the International Western Convention in Tucson, Ariz., IWC Chairman Ken Kroeger issued a reminder to everyone concerning the upcoming deadline.
"The IWC will be here before you know it," said Kroeger, who reported that the better hotel rooms are going quickly for the May 26-30 meeting.
Registration and a golf tournament will begin on May 27 and a cocktail party will follow.
A special rate of $85 per night has been secured at the Westward Look Resort, which provides fantastic views of the Catalina Mountains. The special room rate at the hotel is good two days prior and two days after the convention. Reservations can be made by calling (800) 722-2500.
Afternoon presentations will be provided on May 29 by FELA, FRA, job insurance and the Railroad Retirement Board.
An all-day hazmat training class is scheduled for May 30, and workshops will be held for division presidents, local chairmen and secretary-treasurers. There will also be a Mobilization training workshop and a Peer Support workshop, followed by a banquet that evening.
For registration information, contact Kroeger at (520) 575-1002, or fax (520) 575-1705, or write 8720 N. Myrtle, Tucson, AZ 85704.
By action of the delegates at the Fifth Quinquennial Convention, summaries of BLE Advisory Board members' activities are published monthly:
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THE LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEER NEWSLETTER
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End of March 1998 Newsletter