July - December 2001 Meeting Minutes

Here's What Happened at the Meeting on July 16, 2001

Meeting opened by the President in due form.

Minutes were read and accepted.

Legislative Rep: Attending meetings in Reno, hosted by the International. Discussions were held concerning the ability of the various legislative boards in their efforts to sway legislation. It was discussed further how local and state boards can help affect politicians. One example is for local legislative boards to shun the big ticket political dinners that invite the elite, and focus more on local "hot dog feeds" and barbecues, etc. This will allow more bang for the buck with politicos. 

Discussions about the current 60-30 bill. Seems the Speaker of the House is sitting on the bill. He won't let it come to the floor. Efforts are being made to see exactly what he wants in return for allowing the bill to come to the floor.

Discussions on harassment by the UPRR. Seems that in California, several employees, including the state legislative rep were cited and dismissed for "bringing discredit on the employer". Their offense? They held an informational picket concerning problems with the UPRR. Gotta love it.

Bill also discovered the difference between a law being passed (by congress, also when the Supreme Court upholds such), and Administrative Law (when a board makes the rules to administer those laws). 

Our FRA glazing on our windows are not bullet proof. They are designed to withstand contact with a cinder block at 25 mph. Amtrak has glazing that allows contact with a cinder block at 70 mph. Be careful out there.

Finances: Presentation of current status made by sec/tres. The current balances of accounts were discussed and several questions were asked from the floor. The bills due for payment were presented and discussed. Bills were paid.

Local Chairman - Discussion once more on tie up times. Be sure to either tie up or call your tie up in upon completion of shift. Carrier may start citing for failure to follow instructions. There is no reason to wait until the next day to tie up at least by phone.
Discussions again were held on judiciousness on tie up times for road trips. If you are DHOS, you are not allowed to update rule books, etc. You need to tie up and go home.

The issue of the restaurant at the Doubletree at Pasco was discussed. Letters by both BLE and UTU were sent out concerning our unease at this decision. At this time. it seems their plan to close the restaurant during night hours has been placed on hold. Stay tuned for more.

OE Proposal- A new proposal for the OE that includes an option for rest days has been initialed by the carrier. This agreement was discussed, and will be posted until the next regular monthly meeting, where it will be voted on for ratification. Please check it out, and plan to attend the meeting on August 20 to vote on it. It is like our extra board proposal, in that it allows an employee to take any or all or none of the days off. For those that wish to have a family life, this will allow that. For those that want to work all the time, this will also allow that. Something for everyone.

FRA- It was discussed to invite the FRA to attend either the Sept. or Oct. monthly meeting to instruct members in how to perform a proper locomotive inspection. We will let everyone know well in advance as to which meeting they will attend.

Extra board regulation. The carrier is claiming manpower shortages in the entire Pacific 5th district. This is why our extra board is so short. Unfortunately, the figures don't support that claim. While our cycle time is hovering around 11.5 hours for engineers, and 11.3 hours for conductors, elsewhere in the pacific 5th, conductor and brakemen cycle times are in the low to high 20s. Hmmm. This committee is keeping up the pressure on the carrier to do something about it. It is mentioned many times by us (and our UTU brothers) that this problem was presented to them last November. The results? You can see for yourself. Once again labor was ignored.

Meeting was closed in due form.

Here's What Happened at the Meeting on August 20, 2001

Motion to close by Brother Knowles, seconded by Brother Bailey. Motion passed unanimously.

Here's What Happened at the Meeting on September 17, 2001

Here's What Happened at the Meeting on October 15, 2001

Presentation made by Mr. R. Pensel, FRA Motive power and equipment. Gave a handout to all in attendance and went over it, Ditch lights are included in this. Several questions were addressed with several more to be investigated. These are just guidelines, if in doubt you should apply to the appropriate agency or employee. The following web address can be used to get to the FRA site for specifics CFR's: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs.

Technical bulletins: http://www.fra.dot.gov goes to home page then to safety or office of safety (icon), then to right hand page and in blue letters go to motive power and equipment. Then down at bottom look for bulletins.

For a copy of FRA guide for engine inspection. http://www.etnsplace.com/758/stuff/locoinspguide.htm, or for the .pdf version. http://www.etnsplace.com/758/stuff/eng_inspguide.pdf

Here's What Happened at the Meeting on November 19, 2001

The Meeting was opened by the President in due form. Members present: R. Balkowitsch, D. St John,
R. Etienne, T. Jacobs, J. Bonnin, J. Johnson, T. Reddish, T. Nollette, E. Taylor, S. Evans, J. Hill, M. Cousineau, M. Weterhholt, S. Cordes and K. Howard.

Minutes of previous meeting read. No corrections made. Motion to accept by Brother Hill, seconded by Brother Johnson. Motion passed.

Reports of Committees:

Budget Committee: No presentation made, no meeting was held for this month.

Legislative Chairman: Bill Knowles made presentation on what the leg board is doing. Issues they are looking at include: Third party vans and insurance, two man crew bill, work rest issues- (FRA is not doing anything about this until there is a significant event). Questions were addressed from the floor.

Finances: Presentation of current status made by Secretary-Treasurer. Current membership is 106 plus one trainman. Two new members have been added this month, Brother Crowbar and Brother Richter. We will be transferring A. Kehdi to Wishram and be receiving Pfeifer from Wishram. We received a refund from the IRS on the fines they charged us. We are still working on this issue with hopes of more money to be returned. The current balances of accounts were discussed and several questions were asked from the floor. Motion from the floor to waive ($6.00) increase from international due on December 1, by sixty days from Brother Jacobs, seconded by brother Knowles, Motion passed. They local will absorb this increase for the time being. Motion to accept R. Reams as a member, motion by Brother Johnson, seconded by Brother Knowles, motion passed. The bills due for payment were presented and discussed. Motion to pay the bills by Brother Wetherholt , seconded by Brother Reddish. Motion passed.

Local Chairman: The following topics were discussed: 

1. Merger vote; Due to a pending lawsuit by three members of the BLE, the courts have ordered another ballot sent out for ratification of the unification agreement. Ballots have been sent to each BLE member. Please vote. Please get them in the mail by November 30th at least to ensure their arrival by December 10. Remember the mail problems due to the Anthrax scare and other issues. PLEASE VOTE! 
2. Sale of OE; At this time, this is just a rumor. The same rumor that circulates each year at this time. We have been told there are no plans to sell the OE at this time, but who knows what will happen later. 
3. OE agreement; The agreement is being signed as we speak. This probably won't create much of a difference, since the carrier seems to be holding 663 and 664 on Sundays. 
4. PL days returned; A letter of understanding was sent out by BNSF VP Milton Siegele sent out a letter agreeing that anyone who works as a locomotive engineer on the last day of the year will have any unused PL days carrier over for the next year. Available days will be the total BLE PL days that employee earned for the year, minus any taken PL or Holiday days taken for the year. This does not include other carryover days taken.  
5. Consolidation of divisions; We have gone from 22 divisions to 12. Our NW division now consists of the former Oregon, Washington and Pacific Divisions (minus Klamath Falls).  
6. What has the union done for our members? Seems there is some complaining about how the union is not doing anything for the members. I draw your attention to: Increased allocations for vacations, 12 hours rest on the extra board when you work 10 hours or longer; FL miles; 8 hours undisturbed rest in the pools; a doubling of the engineers that are allowed to book advance lay offs per day; An OE agreement; 7-3 extra board agreement; multitudes of claims settled with the carrier, and more. There is no one who is not equally represented by the BLE, regardless of seniority.
7. Vacations; These will be done December 12, and should be sent out by the 15th.
8. Claims conferencing; Due to the re-organization, our DOA is going to Seattle. We will now have a harder time conferencing claims since he won't be here to do it. Please provide documentation with the claim. 
9. Automated crew calling; Going into effect 11-27-01. This will only apply to regular pool assignments at this time. Information has finally been sent out to employees.
10. Digital recordings at crew office and dispatchers; Watch what you say. There have been some instances where inappropriate things have been said, and employees have gotten in trouble. On the plus side, if there is an issue with a crew technician, we can get the "tapes" pulled easier.
11. We need a person to take over the "Mobilization Coordinator" position. This is a non paid position that has a light workload for the most part, but is necessary. No volunteers at this time. Please let us know if you are interested. 

The floor was opened for discussion.

Motion to close by Brother Howard, seconded by Brother Hill. Motion passed.

1. FL:
       Mr. Keene and Mr. Anderson  have decided to pay actual miles. The Organization and Carrier will work together to come up with the actual miles to the outlying areas. Any assistance from crews going to either Rivergate or Albina in obtaining these distances is greatly appreciated
2. Vacations: They are done, and posted on the web site. They have been emailed to those whose email address I have, and for those without, their copy has been left in their mail box. All outlying areas have had a copy faxed to them.
3. Injuries: Several Injuries have occurred recently. Remember, Yes, it was someone else's fault, no, there was nothing else you could do, and yes there was a defect. Make your statements short and sweet. Notify your Dr. that it is a FELA claim, and not workman's comp. Advise Dr. not to give out medical information to anyone except that pertaining to that incident.
4. Peer support/Grief Counseling:  We have a need for volunteers for Peer Support/Grief Counseling. If you are interested please contact this committee  We are gathering names. The carrier has pledged to provide training for those involved. Remember, we need to take care of our own Brothers and Sisters, not leave it up to some one else to provide for them in their time of need.
5. Merger ballot results. 17,251 against, 7,425 for. Now we see what happens.
6. Crew Mismanagement: Lots of mistakes are being made  by the crew desk. We have timeslips flowing Be sure to keep track of your own placements, and calls in order to facilitate claims. Please provide documentation for claims. Note time of phone calls in order to get tapes pulled.
7. OE Agreement: It's been signed. We will implement as soon as UTU gets a "me too" agreement. If that takes too long, it will be after Jan 1.