OPERATING CRAFT UNIONS JOIN FORCES 
ON REMOTE CONTROL

CLEVELAND (July 18) - In light of the Federal Railroad Administration's upcoming technical conference with respect to remote control operation of locomotives, the United Transportation Union (UTU) and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) have committed themselves to work together in developing a joint position before the railroad industry and the federal government.

To that end, they agreed today to jointly develop a proposal on substantive provisions designed to ensure the safety of employees represented by both unions, and to limit the use of remote control to those operations currently existing.

The parties intend to share all available data, research, and other work already done individually in developing a common position through consensus.

The BLE, North America's oldest labor organization, has 58,000 members and is the certified bargaining representative for, among others, locomotive engineers on U.S. Class I and Canadian railroads, Canadian rail traffic controllers and, through its American Train Dispatchers Department, U. S. train dispatchers.

The UTU represents 135,000 transportation employees, and is the certified bargaining representative for, among others, conductors, trainmen, switchmen, firemen, hostlers, hostler helpers and yardmasters on U. S. Class I and Canadian railroads.

Both unions are headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.

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