 |
Dennis Pierce General Chairman BNSF/BN Northlines/MRL 817.338.9010 |
Pat Williams |
Brotherhood of
Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen |
| Austin
Morrison General Chairman BNSF/FWD.JTD.C&S 806.358.9025 |
Rick Gibbons General Chairman C&S BNSF/SLSF.MNA 4 17.887.5 267 |
IBT Rail Conference |
April 17, 2006
320-210
Mr. Carl Ice, CEO
The BNSF Railway Company
2600 Lou Menk Drive
Fort Worth, Texas 76131
Re: Engineers Score Card
Dear Mr. Ice:
Following a meeting with all the BLET General Chairman on April 5, 2006, we
discussed the Carrier's new program called the Engineers Score Card, a unanimous
decision was reached that a letter addressing our concerns and worries should be
written.
During the initial presentation of the program GC Gibbons and I were in
attendance at the Carrier's offices in Ft. Worth when John Quilty presented his
ideas of how the program would work. Both Rick and I had serious doubts and
concerns as to the way this program would be accepted by the engineers on the
property. We were quite adamant disagreeing as to the way the Carrier intended
to gather information for this score card. Both Rick and I felt that the
information gathering used to determine whether an engineer was considered a
good engineer or bad engineer lacked credence. From the way it looked to us was
that the only information that would be used would be when an engineer had a bad
trip or one that did not meet the Carrier's standards. Any and all good trips
that this same engineer made were not taken into consideration when deciding
whether an engineer was good or bad. These concerns by Rick and I were made
clear to John Quilty and there was never any semblance of agreeing to this new
program. In fact we were just the opposite. Both of us were completely against
the program in its entirety.
Following the initial meeting, GC Pierce and I met with John Quilty and members
of his staff to discuss a number of different issues. John again made a
presentation to GC-Pierce and me about the Engineers Score Card. Both Dennis and
I raised our concerns about the Carrier's wish to implement such a program. Many
of our concerns were the same concerns that Rick and I raised at the initial
presentation.
Nothing had changed from the initial presentation to the second presentation I
witnessed with Dennis. The Carrier was still gathering information strictly from
an engineer's bad trip. There was no mention of information being used from all
the good trips that an engineer made. Therefore, all figures that the Carrier is
using to decide whether an engineer is a good engineer or a bad engineer are
clearly bogus to say the least. One of the greatest worries that are shared by
all 4 BLET GC is the fact that the Carrier is going to take an engineer that is
99% when handling trains and use one bad trip to rate this same engineer as a
60% engineer. And once the Carrier has rated this engineer as a 60% engineer
that is exactly what you will end up with. Once you take the pride out of a
person you're pretty much left with an empty shell. We feel the same will be
done to our members and engineers. Most of the engineers of the BNSF are
dedicated, , professional and conscientious employees. They do their level best
to perform their jobs a fashion that makes them feel good. Their expertise in
handling a train is not for the benefit of the Carrier but for themselves. Even
though the Carrier benefits from their desire to be the best it is for their own
satisfaction.
Therefore, all the BLET GC are requesting that you issue the necessary
instructions to cancel the Engineers Score Card Program in its entirety before
it does more damage than it already has. Apparently we have local Carrier
officers that are using this program to literally deflate engineers around the
property. These same officers are telling our members that we have agreed to
this program or worse yet that we are behind this program which is clearly not
TRUE. We have been against this program since our initial viewing of the
Engineers Score Card and have stated so.
Sincerely,
/s/ A Morrison
/s/ DR Pierce
BLET General Chairman
BLET General Chairman
/s/ P Williams
/s/ R Gibbons
BLET General Chairman
BLET General Chairman
Cc: Mr. Dave Dealy, Vice
President Operations
Mr. Chris Roberts, Vice President South
Mr. Steve Goodall, Vice President North
Mr. Mark Kotter, Vice President Southeast, Coal
Mr. John Quilty, AVP
All BLET GC
All BNSF BLET L/C