UTU News Digest - Wednesday, March 1, 2000

UTU Daily News Digest

Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees

Wednesday, March 1, 2000

UTU to ask NMB to reconsider application for vote on Union Pacific Railroad

WASHINGTON -- A National Mediation Board arbitration panel has ruled in favor of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers in a bitter dispute with the United Transportation Union over representation of train crew members on the Union Pacific Railroad, the Journal of Commerce reported.

The decision by the three-member panel appointed in January means that train crews on UP will continue to be represented by two unions -- the BLE for engineers and the UTU for conductors, trainmen and brakemen.

(However the UTU will file a petition with the National Mediation Board this week asking it to reconsider the Panel’s decision on a number of grounds. The UTU believes the decision was "terribly flawed.")

The UTU in January, 1998 had asked the mediation board, which administers the Railway Labor Act of 1926, to rule that train crews make up a single class and craft. This would have cleared the way for a representation election, which UTU would have been expected to win because more of its members work on UP than do BLE members. The fight over representation at UP was expected to spread to other railroads if the UTU had won.

The UTU's request for an election came after several years of on-again, off-again talks aimed at merging the two on-train unions. With each failed effort, the dispute has become more bitter.

Upon learning of the arbitrators' ruling, BLE International President Ed Dubroski issued a statement saying, ''I am both relieved and pleased that the panel saw through the UTU's smoke and mirrors.''

The mediation board had asked the two unions to resolve the dispute through mutual negotiations, ruling that the arbitrators would have until March 29 to reach a decision if they did, but would reach a ruling by Feb. 29 if they refused to meet. The BLE declined to meet with the UTU, and the arbitrators made their ruling Tuesday.

The UTU, like the BLE headquartered in Cleveland, said it will ask the NMB to reconsider the decision.

''No one should take comfort with this ruling,'' UTU International President Charles L. Little said. ''On the contrary, this struggle has just begun and our crusade to unify operating employees will now accelerate.

''While we respect the panel of labor professionals' opinion, we believe its recommendation is wrong and its findings are terribly flawed,'' Little said. ''This decision sadly looks to maintain an archaic and splintered union representation system that benefits the carriers and does not benefit union workers in the 21st century.''

WASHINGTON: Rail Safety Advocates Call for Railroad Responsibility

WASHINGTON -- On Wednesday morning, March 1, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that could determine, once and for all, whether railroad companies are responsible for making railroad crossings safe, according to RailWatch Executive Director Sherry Kiesling Fox, a wire service reported.

The case, Norfolk Southern Railway vs. Shanklin, is about whether Norfolk Southern is liable for the unprotected crossing where Eddie Shanklin was killed. The railroad argues it is not liable since a sign called a "crossbuck" was installed using federal money.

RailWatch says that's ridiculous.

"For too long, the railroads have been let off the hook," Fox said. "It's only natural that the railroads should be responsible for lights and gates at these crossings; it's their tracks, their profits, their responsibility."

"Eighty percent of the nation's public railroad crossings are NOT protected by lights and gates," notes Larry Waldron, whose 20-year old daughter, Kelly, was killed at an unprotected crossing in Virginia in 1998. "And according to the National Transportation Safety Board, 60 percent of all crossing fatalities occur at these types of unprotected crossings -- crossings where there is nothing to warn drivers of an oncoming train."

"It's time for the railroad industry, which posts millions of dollars in profits e Angels on Track Foundation. Moore and her husband, Dennis, started the Angels on Track Foundation after their son, Ryan, was killed at an unprotected crossing in Ohio in 1995.

Fox, Moore, and Waldron joined the Shanklin family and others who have lost loved ones at unprotected railroad crossings in a candlelight vigil in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday evening.

"Thousands of people have been killed at unprotected railroad crossings. This candlelight vigil is designed to put names and faces on those statistics," Fox said. "It's time for the railroad industry to step up and take responsibility for its operations and we hope the Supreme Court will come to the same conclusion."

RailWatch, along with the Angels on Track Foundation, joined in an Amicus Brief in support of the Shanklin family. RailWatch is a non-profit organization, dedicated to educating the public about railroad safety.

RailWatch is supported by cities, counties, law enforcement agencies, and families of victims of train accidents, shippers and concerned citizens throughout the country.

WASHINGTON: What's a transportation regulator to do?

WASHINGTON -- Most of the known world plans to testify at next week's Surface Transportation Board hearing on the future structure of the North American Rail Industry, a commentary in the Journal of Commerce says.

Originally scheduled for one day and possibly a second, the hearing attracted so many shippers, legislators, federal, state and local government agencies, unions, financial and other interests that it now will run four days -- from Tuesday, March 7, through Friday, March 10.

What's likely to come out of this proceeding? The answer depends on whom you ask. The STB has a lot of latitude and numerous options, and it certainly isn't talking, so none of the early-bet answers has the ring of authority.

One camp believes the board will use the hearing record to change its procedure for dealing with the proposed consolidation of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. and Canadian National Railway Co.

The board, these interests say, would be reflecting the desires of Rep. Bud Shuster, R-Pa., Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman, and Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., ranking member of the committee, who wrote STB Chairman Linda Morgan, saying, "We share your concerns about the potential effects of such a transaction and encourage you to proceed cautiously in reviewing this proposal."

"In this regard," Shuster and Oberstar wrote, "we heartily approve the board's looking at the 'downstream' effects of the proposed transaction. We urge you to promptly explore all options to ensure an early and vigorous debate on whether those effects are in the public interest."

They didn't have to urge too much. The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has jurisdiction over the reauthorization of the STB, which has been pending without action for more than a year.

If the STB quickly comes up with new merger guidelines, it could cause grief for BNSF and CN. They plan to file their application on March 20, less than two weeks after the hearing. A change in policy or procedure would force them to delay filing while they redo the mammoth, multivolume application because an application that does not follow the STB's guidelines precisely could be rejected as incomplete.

Merger opponents want the STB to reject the application out of hand, but any action not based on an evidentiary record would trigger a foot race between BNSF and CN lawyers to the nearest appeals court.

It's a safe bet that many hearing participants, particularly those representing shippers, will argue against any further rail mergers. They won't object to the BNSF-CN combination on its merits, but will oppose it on the grounds that this transaction will trigger other mergers. And that's what they really fear.

STB Chairman Linda Morgan is, if nothing else, consistent. She has the same interpretation today of the law she administers as she did yesterday and will tomorrow. So my crystal ball leads to the following speculation.

Let's assume the agency makes no change in its required procedures or the material BNSF and CN must include in their application. The board will process the application under the same rules as other recent rail mergers. In this scenario, BNSF-CN is likely to be approved some time in mid-2001, with or without significant conditions (my crystal ball is a bit hazy).

But political reality and equity for customers and other stakeholders suggest that the STB will react to the outpouring of merger opposition at its hearing into the future structure of the railroad industry.

Like King Canute trying to turn back the tide, government agencies are doomed to failure when they try to tamper with economic principles or the inexorable tides of time and free markets. There is a North American economy and it is growing rapidly -- faster than the domestic U.S. or Canadian economies. Neither the STB nor any other government agency can change that.

Capital-intensive, mature industries are undergoing consolidation. Railroads, steel, aluminum, chemicals -- you name it -- are under pressure to use their capital more efficiently.

A merger that increases the density of traffic on rail lines is one way of accomplishing that. Neither the STB nor any other government agency can change that for long.

Oh, they can reject a merger, but the long-term trend, like the ocean tides, cannot be stopped.

The most likely outcome of next week's STB marathon hearing is that the BNSF-CN transaction will be examined under current rules and procedures because there will be no valid reason to do otherwise.

And, for those who argue that the BNSF-CN consolidation inevitably must lead to other, perhaps less desirable mergers, watch for the STB to send a clear message.

Whether by comment, rule making or perhaps legislation tied to STB reauthorization, look for something to this effect: The BNSF-CN transaction needn't lead to another or final round of mergers. If it does, however, the public interest is clear that the parties had better not try to get another merger approved until they can demonstrate unequivocally that they have their own houses in order.

CALIFORNIA: Bridge to Be Built Where MTA Train Killed Youth

SOUTH LOS ANGELES--Design work has begun on a pedestrian bridge over the Blue Line light rail tracks at the site where a 13-year-old boy was struck by a train and killed last summer, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The bridge, to be built at the intersection of 55th Street and Long Beach Avenue, will be funded by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the rail line.

The MTA proposed the project in 1996, but plans for a bridge gained new urgency when Gilberto Reynaga was struck by a train last July 17 as he and a friend darted across the tracks while heading home from playing basketball.

After the accident, City Councilwoman Rita Walters, who has been pressing for the bridge for years, got the city to station a crossing guard at the intersection.

Construction of the bridge is scheduled to begin in November and completion is expected in June 2001.

PENNSYLVANIA: SEPTA's new routes are proving a success

PHILADELPHIA -- Despite the multiple transfers and long commutes of a city-to-suburbs job trek, new and expanded SEPTA transit routes are proving popular with riders, early figures show, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

For example, the new Route 80 SEPTA bus - begun three weeks ago to provide a direct link between North Philadelphia and Willow Grove office parks - is already reporting about 170 riders a day.

That type of new start "is extremely encouraging," Wendy Stern, SEPTA's chief officer for service planning, said yesterday. "The bottom line is, any time we add service, it provides more opportunities for people to get to jobs."

Increased state and federal funding - much of it triggered by the need to help an estimated 50,000 people on welfare in Southeastern Pennsylvania find jobs within the next two to three years - is fueling SEPTA's service expansion.

Frustrated with the wait for $1.3 million in promised federal Job Access reverse-commute grants, SEPTA bankrolled six new or expanded routes on its own last fall. Early this month, extra state subsidies launched 24 new or expanded routes, half specifically geared to the reverse commute from city to suburb.

"This is our largest service expansion in decades," SEPTA Chairman John K. Leary told the authority's board at a recent meeting. "The demand is there."

Since fall, when SEPTA added extra peak service to the Route 1 bus serving Northeast Philadelphia commuters going to Bucks County business parks, ridership has grown by 225 people a day.

Noting the popularity of more Route 1 service, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.) pledged to speed up the federal $1.3 million grant promised last spring to pay for it and other new services, including new bus and Regional Rail service to jobs at Philadelphia International Airport.

"Ridership is turning around because there are a great many jobs in the suburbs, and a lot of people who are unemployed in the city need jobs," Specter said yesterday at a news conference at the Wissahickon transfer station in Manayunk.

"When we provide the transportation, we can save taxpayers a great deal of money on welfare."

Studies have shown that for the unemployed, getting to a job can be more difficult than finding a job.

Though the early ridership figures are cause for optimism, SEPTA officials cautioned that new routes can take up to a year to become well established. It can take even longer, they say, before the routes can return between 30 and 40 percent of costs - the standard for much of SEPTA's suburban transit routes.

NEBRASKA: U.P. Museum Move to Bluffs Gels

OMAHA -- The Council Bluffs City Council signed off Monday on a nonbinding proposal that would allow Union Pacific Railroad to move its museum to the now-vacant Carnegie Library Building, the Omaha World Herald reported.

Under the memo of understanding, the city and the railroad would draw up formal terms of responsibility once the money for the project has been raised. A citizens group, Friends of the Carnegie Library, will lead the fund-raising drive.

About $1.4 million is needed to refurbish the old library, which was built in 1904. It has stood vacant at 200 Pearl St. since the Bluffs opened its new library two years ago.

The memo agreed to Monday allows the Friends of the Carnegie Library to begin applying for grants. The city already has helped apply for a grant from the Iowa West Foundation and one from the state historical society. Other federal and state grants are being considered as possible revenue sources.

"You look at some of these grants, and it's like they were written for this project," said Michael Sciortino, an attorney working with Friends of the Carnegie Library.

Neither the railroad nor the city is committed to contributing any money. Under the proposal, if the museum project did proceed, the city would agree to rent the building for $1 per year, and the railroad would help staff the museum.

Council member Scott Belt said the city will back the project as much possible, but he was concerned that the memo would be held up as a binding contract, preventing explorations into other uses for the building if the museum idea were to fall flat.

Railroad officials agreed with the city attorney that it is not a contract, and the council decided to check back on the fund-raising efforts by March 1, 2001 - in case it appeared the money could not be raised and a new use for the building would have to be found.

"I think the city will commit to help and support the project," Belt said. "We think it's an outstanding project."

WASHINGTON STATE: Commuter trains get a federal jump-start

SEATTLE -- A regional planning agency has come up with $60 million to jump-start Sound Transit's blue, green and teal commuter trains in September, the Seattle Post Intelligencer reported.

The Puget Sound Regional Council Thursday divided $109.5 million in federal funds among eight transportation projects in King, Pierce, Snohomish and Kitsap counties.

The largest amount went to Sound Transit to make up for a critical financial void in its commuter rail program.

Passage of Initiative 695 last November eliminated the state's motor vehicle excise tax, and revenues needed to cover its share of track improvements between Seattle and Tacoma, and eventually Everett.

"We had a couple of alternatives, none of which were good," Paul Matsuoka, Sound Transit deputy executive director, said yesterday.

Matsuoka said Sound Transit must still wrap up contract negotiations with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad for track and signal improvements, as well as operation of the diesel-powered trains.

Three daily Seattle-Tacoma round-trips are scheduled to begin in September, eventually expanding in number and followed by commuter service from Everett to Lakewood.

Construction has already begun on commuter rail stations at Kent, Auburn, Puyallup, Sumner and Tacoma, with platform work under way at Seattle's King Street Station.