July - December 2003 Meeting Minutes
Here's What Happened at the Meeting on Monday, July 21, 2003
Meeting opened by the President in due form.
Members present: D St John, R. Etienne, R. Balkowitsch, T. Reddish, T. Jacobs.
Minutes of previous meeting were read. Motion to accept as read by Brother Jacobs seconded by Brother Reddish. Motion passed.
Reports of Committees:
Finances: Presentation of current status made by sec/tres. Current membership is 107 plus two trainmen. The current balances of accounts were discussed with questions asked from the floor. The bills due for payment were presented and discussed. Motion to pay the bills by Brother Reddish, seconded by Brother Jacobs. Motion passed.
Brother Reddish presented a power point presentation regarding the Safety Participation half of the Alternative Handling Agreement. It was discussed among the members. Terry is the BLE Safety Coordinator for the NWE Division.
Local Chairman:
0700 am Vacation markup Agreement: Back in 2001, this division voted in an 0700 am vacation markup agreement. Due to the carrier's inability to implement this agreement with the exalted TSS, it was placed on hold. Finally, Crew seems to think they have a handle on it (hah), so, this agreement was modified to a small degree to accommodate some special circumstances in other areas. Therefore, this agreement was sent out to the divisions for another ratification. This agreement was discussed and voted on. The vote was unanimously for ratification. Therefore, this division will send word to the GCA advising them that we have voted to accept the 0700 am vacation markup agreement. We will inform the division of the inception date as soon as we find out. To see a copy of this agreement, click here.
Upcoming safety marathon was discussed.
Topics will include Heat exhaustion; crossed drawbars, industry ops testing;
unsafe condition reports; West Nile Virus; and other items.
New terminal supt:We are in line for a new Vancouver Terminal Supt. Mr. Anderson is going back to
Engineering in Northern California.
New system general order on using PDA's
and Laptops. Please familiarize yourselves and comply.
Empowerment: Remember you have the right to
empower yourselves. Please don't let yourselves be bullied into unsafe acts.
Isolating for HPT: Be sure to do so. The two biggest offenses on BNSF at this time are getting injured and wasting fuel. Please remember that you are being tracked in everything you do, and how you operate.
Missing Calls/Laying off on call: The carrier is holding investigations for these events. Please ensure you are available and ready for work when you are marked up. Don't be one of those cited for this offense. Carrier is getting pretty steamed over the increase in these offenses.
NetSim: Netsims are coming to Vancouver, probably in August. It will go where the old CBT room was.
TVA's: Crew is having problems with TVA capabilities. Please be aware of the A-700 rules, and don't let the carrier buffalo you with erroneous information and their interpretation of the rules. If you are denied a TVA, please document the event and forward to this committee. Remember, without documentation, there can be no recourse. Also, please remember to allow the job to go to the XBD for the first 7 days. Days off don't count unless the layoff occurred prior to the days off.
Ops testing in indursties: The carrier has informed us that they will begin ops testing for rules compliance in industry and stub tracks. Please remember that the ground person is required to stop you at least 150 feet from the end of the track, get down, and precede the movement on foot to protect the shove. Our obligation is to comply with car counts, stopping in 1/2 the range specified. The carrier will not use banners in the yard tracks where crews are kicking and shoving cars, but you may expect them on yard to yard shoves, and industry spots. Please protect yourself. Comply with car signs and don't move without proper car counts.
Rules Test: Please
be sure to take your rules test prior to the due date to ensure payment. There
seems to be a problem getting paid if the test is taken late.
The floor was opened for discussion.
Please list unsafe acts or conditions. If you don't write it up it isn't unsafe. Carrying a camera is in your own best interest. You can document anything with this prior to their cleanup or obstruction of the facts.
Motion to close by Brother Reddish, seconded by Brother Jacobs. Motion passed.
There was no meeting in August 2003.
Here's What Happened at the Meeting on Monday, September 15, 2003
Meeting opened by the President in due form.
Members present: D St John, R. Etienne, R. Balkowitsch, B. Knowles, C. Nibbler, D. Kautz, P. Fahey, R. McCartney, R. Reams, T. Reddish, G. Bryson, H. Bailey, M. Cousineau, D. Green, B. Olmstead, C. Atwood and S. Barnes.
Minutes of the July meeting were read account no meeting was held in August. Several questions were asked from the floor. No corrections were made. Motion to accept as read by Brother Barnes, seconded by Brother Green. Motion approved.
Reports of Committees:
Budget Committee: No report made.
Finances: Presentation of current status made by sec/tres. Current membership is 110 plus two trainmen. The current balances of accounts were discussed and several questions were asked from the floor. The bills due for payment were presented and discussed. Presentation of International Legislative Board financial report was made and copies made available. Motion to pay the bills by Brother Bryson, seconded by Brother Reddish. Motion passed.
Nominations for Officers:
President - R. Balkowitsch nominated by Brother Nibbler, seconded by Brother Knowles.
Vice President - P. Fahey nominated by Brother Kautz, seconded by Brother Reddish, S. Cordes nominated by Brother Reddish, seconded by Brother Fahey.
Secretary Treasurer - D. St. John nominated by Brother Barnes, seconded by Brother Knowles.
Alt, Secretary -Treasurer - C. Nibbler nominated by Brother St. John, seconded by G Brother Bryson.
Chairman LCA - R. Etienne nominated by Brother Bailey, seconded by Brother Atwood.
Member LCA - D. Haney nominated by Brother Bailey, seconded by Brother Barnes. H. Bailey nominated by Brother Knowles, seconded by Brother Bryson. C. Nibbler nominated by Brother Reams, seconded by Brother Kautz. D. Richardson nominated by Brother Bryson, seconded by Brother McCartney.
Guide - S. Barnes nominated by Brother Nibbler, seconded by Brother Knowles.
Chaplain - D. Lathim nominated by Brother Nibbler, seconded by Brother Green. R. Etienne nominated by Brother McCartney, seconded by Brother Reams. P. Paterson nominated by Brother Etienne, seconded by Brother Knowles.
Delegate to Leg Board - B. Knowles nominated by Brother Reddish, seconded by Brother Fahey. C. Nibbler nominated by Brother Bryson, seconded by Brother Kautz.
Alt leg board. - C. Nibbler nominated by Brother Barnes, seconded by Brother Reddish. B. Knowles nominated by Brother Kautz, seconded by Brother Barnes.
Delegate to ID - R. Etienne nominated by Brother Barnes, seconded by Brother Nibbler.
First alt to ID - R. Balkowitsch nominated by Brother Barnes, seconded by Brother Knowles. H. Bailey nominated by Brother Etienne, seconded by Brother Knowles.
Seconded alt to ID - D. Haney nominated by Brother Bailey, seconded by Brother Kautz. M. Cousineau nominated by Brother Etienne, seconded by Brother Barnes.
Motion to close nominations by Brother Barnes, seconded by Brother Knowles. Motion passed.
Local Chairman: The following topics were discussed:
W&P Railroad - Problems with W+P regarding crews they have banned. It is suggested that we don't use cell phones to copy warrants anymore in order to protect ourselves.. They don't have the ability to record conversations, so we need both crewmembers to hear conversation. Protect yourself. The W&P timetable has a frequency to use to get a dial tone to call them on the radio.
Remotes in Vancouver - Due to grain surge, remotes won't' be until next year. Probably April or May. They are planned for both leads, one at t-6, 305G and 225G.
Vacation Requests - Probably come out 1st of October, Please continue to turn them in to this committee, We don't want to use computer.
Netsim - Is now in and are trying to get them to put Fallbridge on it. Currently, one size fits all as far as the run is concerned. Engineers who have used it seem to like it better than the old 100 question rules test.
Cell Phones - Warning given from to GCA about audits by carrier, The carrier is supposedly calling cell phones of those on duty to see if they answer them. Remember, current rules do not allow phones to be used while train is moving. Again, protect yourselves.
Crew office refusal to do things for Employees - Crew office has told the crew tech. they will be disciplined for helping us do things we should use VRU for. Document and leave note each time they refuse to do something for you. Be sure to document when VRU doesn't allow you to do something. As usual with TSS, quite a lot of the new innovations don't work. If they don't allow you to do something, and it costs you money or restricts your seniority, keep documentation on it and give to this committee. Be thorough with the documentation, however.
Grain Push - First we were told Sept. 1. Now first part of October. There is supposed to be a big rush in grain, lots of trains are expected. We should see an increase in pool turns.
LOC and EMC - Carrier is sending out notices for
employees laying of on call and missed calls when you are first out. There will
be some poster children. Perhaps a good idea to lay off before call rather than
try to save guarantees. It is a System wide problem and the carrier is going to
come down hard. Gotta love it. They caused the problem with their
"attendance policy (oops) guidelines". Now, they are
upset because the troops are trying to beat the system. Guess they want it both
ways.
664 Assigned car - Track work is going to make the PASINB run very early in the AM. Carrier is wondering what to do.. In the meantime, we will keep track of the assigned car. If they don't put them on the INB, and run them before 1201, there is a run-around for the first out rested crew at Pasco.
Advanced Layoffs - Crew is getting lax on advanced layoffs. They don't have any people to let many off. The GCA won't let me send letters to anyone above General Manager of Division level. This committee has not been ignoring it. The situation seems to be better, but will be monitored. We need a heads up when they don't approve them within 48 hours.
Contract - Have not been released from national handling. Don't know when or where this is going to happen, stay tuned. There is a tentative agreement that has been put out but remember, this is only tentative and is subject to change.
Rules tests - Again, make sure and take your rules by the due date.
New Business - A700 rules, why can't we
bid vacancies on extra board?
BLE International has been asked time and time again to allow TVA's on the extra
board. They constantly refuse to open the A-700 rules up for change. They feel
the carrier will make unreasonable demands for changes to the temp vacancy rules
How do you get bumped from temp vacancy?
Since TSS is habitually flawed, no software enhancement they make will really
work. Right not, TSS is unable to tell the difference between someone coming off
vacation going to a layoff, days off, PL day etc. or vice versa. This means TSS
pulls people off rules when they shouldn't be. Each engineer needs to keep track
of their TVA and let this committee know in a timely fashion when they are
displaced in error. There is a difference when an engineer comes back to their
assignment, stays marked up for a day or so, then lays off at the last moment.
Discussion with LC was opened from the floor. The computer is not
capable of recognizing one lay-off code from another.
Cutting of claims for travel days when forced to Klamath Falls. Cutting off and
release to out lying points. Currently, we are working at getting those
claims paid. Should be real soon.
The yardmasters seem to have no control of the yards; there was another
incident in the B yard with the UP50. It is the carrier's opinion that it is
always the crew's responsibility if anything happens. The yardmasters are only
receiving discipline on paper and losing no time if they screw up. Watch
yourself. Currently there is notice published that require trains coming off the
main line into the yard to notify on the yard channel. If this isn't being done,
please turn in an unsafe condition report.
The floor was opened for discussion.
Motion to close by Brother Haney, seconded by Brother Atwood. Motion passed.
Here's What Happened at the Meeting on Monday, October 20, 2003
Meeting opened by the President in due form.
Members present: D St John, R. Etienne, R. Balkowitsch, T. Reddish, P. Patterson, D. Haney, S. Hill and special guest P Bovarnick.
Minutes of the September meeting were read. Several questions were asked from the floor. One correction was made; Brother Haney was not present at that meeting. Change made with no objections. Motion to accept as changed by Brother Haney, seconded by Sister Hill. Motion approved.
Reports of Committees:
Budget Committee: No report made.
Finances: Presentation of current status made by sec/tres. Current membership is 108 plus one trainman. The current balances of accounts were discussed and several questions were asked from the floor. The bills due for payment were presented and discussed. Presentation of International Legislative Board financial report was made and copies made available. Motion to pay the bills by Brother Reddish, seconded by Brother Patterson. Motion passed.
Ballots are printed and will be out by the 30th of October. Please inform us by that time if you have any change in address.
President - RRB meeting will be held on Friday from 0830 to 1230 at Portland Airport, Hilton Garden Inn. Please notify him if you want to attend account this is by invitation only.
We have received a letter from Mr. Ness concerning Alex transportation. Please document all issues you have. They must have specifics to act on the issues you may have.
Discussion followed.
Safety Representative Terry Reddish - Presented a brother's keeper handout. If you are interested in being a mentor, please let him or a union rep know. It is not a paid position but will involve extra pins etc. Remotes are on the way and now they are predicting the end of December. He would also like to ask anyone not giving to the BLE PAC to please do so. We are currently seeing a huge loss in worker protections and labor unions. They have done a great number of things and have helped us and will continue to do so.
Guest Speaker - Paul Bovarnick, designated council for the BLE. Spoke briefly on the Family Medical Leave Act, protections when injured and who to talk to and not. The FMLA is an act to allow you to spend time with someone in your family who is ill. The act does say that you have 12 weeks available. The railroads are trying to limit the time people are taking with this and the time at which they use it. Legally you cannot be punished for using this act. Anyone who feels they have been harassed because of this act. You should remember that this is a Federal Law, just because the railroad says it is so, doesn't make it so. Presented cards explaining to medical personnel why they can't give your records to the railroad. The floor was opened for questions.
Julie Young - Running for Vancouver city council was allowed to address the meeting shortly and asked us for our support. Her brother (Craddock) is a LC on the UP and she briefly discussed the remote control issue and asked for information and our concerns. There was a brief discussion with questions asked from the floor. There were several excellent questions with good response to each.
Local Chairman: The following topics were discussed:
W&P Railroad - Again, you need to protect yourselves if you are working this territory. They will not record conversations between crews and dispatcher this year.
Vacation Requests - These are due back by November 15th. Please continue to turn them in to this committee. We don't want to use the computer.
Problems with Crew Office - Be sure to document any problems with crew. Note the time of day you call for having tapes pulled. Be sure to document when VRU doesn't allow you to do something. If you are forced to do something against our agreements, document and notify this committee.
Grain Push - We should be strong with this into December and maybe into January.
LOC and EMC - They are citing employees for Laying off on Call and Employees missing calls, watch yourselves.
664 assigned car - Carrier is pushing for changes in the assigned car agreement. Each time we agree in principle, they change things. Push seems to be to get rid of assigned cars. They are focusing on one specific train and not making the effort to fix their problems. Term supt. in Pasco is not helping, we have asked for a meeting with all the appropriate officers but it has not happened yet.
7am Markup - When will it happen and should it.
Gates and derails - Too many gates have been hit. Many gates don't have stops to keep them open. Make sure you ask your crew if they secured the gate. Derails and wheel stops are also being shoved over. Make sure crews walk shoves in to stub tracks. Also too many red flags (8) in 8 track have been shoved over. Please make sure you communicate with your crews.
Winter Action Plan - We are still waiting for the carrier to submit their plan. Be very careful with the vans, check them very carefully and make sure they have appropriate tires etc. Make sure and check you insurance to insure that they have 1million dollars limits on uninsured and underinsured liability and coverage at work. This is the only way to cover yourself at the present time.
Operation Stop - Discussed at the safety meeting, do we want to restart this program. The carrier has curtailed this program at this time and we need to decide if we want to get it going again. Let Rick or Ron know if you have interest in this program. This program could be of help to many of our members.
Rules tests are due by your due date. Make sure you get them in.
New Business - What is the plan for running the Z trains through Pasco? Nothing happening at this time. Will let you know if there are any other changes. Why are we getting a clear block going east at Eavan on main 2? Have been told this is a valid signal but will look into closer. Why did we not get better information on the changes to the Eavan signals? Will look into it. Twice have seen the same guy in Pasco yard in the engineer's seat. They have gotten a board award that allows them to occupy the cab but not operate any of the controls. Safety issue brought up concerning flat cars with steel plates on them. Noise levels in the older engines seems extreme, can we measure this and track it. Discussion of decibel level and monitoring occurred.
The floor was opened for discussion.
Motion to close by Brother Haney, seconded by Brother Hill. Motion passed.
Here's What Happened at the Meeting on Monday, November 17, 2003
Meeting opened by the President in due form.
Members present: Brother's D. Haney, D. St. John, R. Etienne, C. Nibbler, T. Reddish, Sister C. Ruzsa, Brothers Pratt, T. Jones, D. Green, T. Jacobs, R. McCartney, B. Knowles, Atwood, Bailey, Kautz and Sister Taylor.
Minutes of the October meeting were read. Motion to accept as by Brother Haney, seconded by Brother Nibbler. Motion approved.
Reports of Committees:
Budget Committee: No report made. Will attempt to have a budget completed for next meeting.
Finances: Presentation of current status made by sec/treas. Current membership is 108 plus one trainman. The current balances of accounts were discussed and several questions were asked from the floor. The bills due for payment were presented and discussed. Motion to pay the bills by Brother Haney, seconded by Brother Reddish. Motion passed.
Legislative Report- Brother Nibbler talked about what is happening on the Legislative front. Fatigue and lineups are a problem and we are trying to get information about bad lineups. Several incidents have happened recently and we need documentation for it.
Safety Representative Terry Reddish - Flue shots are available. Please make use of this option. Discussion followed. There have been several incidents with people actually running RCO's from the cab. We need to document this as all these will be used in the future. Discussion followed.
Local Chairman: The following topics were discussed:
Workplace violence bulletin was discussed. Please be aware that the company is taking this seriously. It would be to everyone's advantage not to joke around about those sort of things. Nasty reactions by the carrier would ensue.
Special Meeting in December - we would like to have a special meeting in December to take a vote on the proposed on property agreement. Would like to be able to have an all day meeting combined with the regular meeting on December 15th. There was discussion on this and no objections were noted. It was determined that the next regular monthly meeting on Dec. 15 would be adequate for the business at hand.
BLE-IBT Merger - Ballots need to be in by Dec.4, please make sure these get in.
Vacation Requests - Should be in by now. They are having a big fight now with allocations and believe they are going to cut two to three slots for all weeks. The GCAs are fighting this now and we will let you know. Currently, the carrier has blinked, and new allocations will be negotiated.
Problems with Crew calling - Be sure to document any problems with crew. Note the time of day you call for having tapes pulled. Be sure to document when VRU doesn't allow you to do something. If you are forced to do something against our agreements, document and notify this committee.
7am Vacation Markups - should be in effect now, this only applies to the pools and extra boards. This agreement will not apply to the following:
Unsafe condition Reports - Many complaints about the vans - no unsafe reports have been received. We can't prove or process these reports without documentation. OE Interchange - unsafe, again we are not getting any reports on this but we have been in discussions with the carrier on this. At this time best course is to stop short and determine the position of the switch.
National Agreement - The tentative national agreement is out and handouts were provided. The LC led everyone through this agreement and explained each section. Discussion followed. Please be aware that the national agreement and the Alternative Compensation agreement have ballots that require mailing back by December 22, 2003. The on property agreement is a divisional vote, and this division will be taking the vote of the members at the regular monthly meeting on December 15, 2003. Please plan to attend. They are in html format and pdf format for downloading. You will also get them in the mail. Please VOTE!!!!
Motion to close by Brother Jones, seconded by Knowles. Motion passed.
Here's What Happened at the Meeting on Monday, December 15, 2003
Meeting opened by the President
in due form.
Members present: Brother's D.
Haney, D. St. John, R. Etienne, R. Balkowitsch, C. Nibler, M. Taylor, Sister K.
Taylor, Brothers R. Collins, J. Bennett, R. Pratt,
Minutes of the November meeting
were read. Motion to accept as by Brother Nibbler, seconded by Brother Pellham.
Motion approved.
Brother's Reams and Knowles
were dispatched to collect the ballots from the post office. Board of tellers
appointed to count ballots. Brother's Reams, Jacobs and Kautz agreed to serve.
Counting of ballots begin.
Reports
of Committees:
Finances:
Presentation of current status made by sec/tres. Current membership is
109 plus one trainman. The current balances of accounts were discussed. The
bills due for payment were presented. Motion to pay the bills by Brother Haney,
seconded by Sister Ruzsa. Motion passed.
Legislative
Report- Discussed several issues then the floor open for discussion
on topic of safety concerns anyone may have. Vans and RCO's were the main topics
of discussion. If you have any problems with these issues please document them;
we cannot process these with out paperwork! There is a new ops testing program
from the NOC and there has been a crew from
Local
Chairman:
The following topics were
discussed:
·
National Agreement - Alternate Compensation, the
votes need to be in today. We should
know the results soon.
·
BLE-IBT Merger - Passed. Now we wait to see what
happens.
·
Vacation Requests - they will be worked on Tuesday
and Thursday. Should have them out by next week. They have tried to cut all
allotments but we saved all but one week in the summers.
·
Whistling for roadway workers - Again the feds
have threatened to fine individual engineers. Whistle both before and through
the limits. Only stop after you have passed all the workers.
·
FMLA - carrier has served notice of intent to use
PL and vacation days for when employees lay off FMLA. This is a federal thing
and there is nothing the union can do about it this is not an agreement but
federal determination.
·
On Property agreement. The agreement was read
again by the LC. The floor was opened for discussion. Question put to the
members - Should we vote for or against the current on property agreement.
Yes - 21, No - 2. Based on
the vote this division will vote in favor.
| Total ballots received - 81 | Total ballots counted - 73 | Ballots rejected - 8 |
|
Winners are as follows: President - RE Balkowitsch |
V. President - SA Cordes | Secretary-Treasurer - DL St. John |
| Alt Sec Treas -CM Nibler | Guide -WC Barnes | Chaplain -PG Patterson |
| Legislative Rep -WM Knowles | Alt Leg -CM Nibler | Rep to ID - RE Etienne |
| 1st Alt to ID - RE Balkowitsch | 2nd Alt to ID -MS Cousineau | LC - RE Etienne |
| Vice Local Committee - - - - - - - - - - | DL Haney | HS Bailey |
Report accepted.