UTU pushes Union Pacific to fix labor woes

Top-level Houston ‘summit meeting’ brings immediate pledges
to solve payroll problems, hours of service and others

HOUSTON – At an unprecedented "summit meeting" between the top two International officers of the United Transportation Union (UTU) and the top officials of the troubled Union Pacific Railroad here last week, the carrier promised to immediately correct serious labor issues plaguing its operations.

"We told the Union Pacific that we are damn tired of our people suffering on the job because of problems caused by its merger with the Southern Pacific," said UTU International President Charles L. Little.

"We are damn tired of our people not getting properly and promptly paid. We are tired of our people being awakened at all hours of the night and being intimidated. We will no longer tolerate our members being stranded on trains when their hours of service are up. We told the UP it has to stop here and now. We believe we are now on the road to making order out of chaos. We need to work together to fix these problems for everyone’s sake. There is no other rational choice," he said.

Little said the UP agreed to a series of changes that will benefit all operating employees. They include immediate, on-the-spot payment of any payroll shortages, fixing the crew-calling system and hours of service problems, as well as several agreement compliance issues. The UTU represents approximately 14,000 union employees on the UP.

"Only the UTU has the ability and strength to effect these positive changes for its operating members," said Little. "Now, we will shine the spotlight on UP to make sure it lives up to the agreements we made in Houston this week. Only actions will count from now on."

Additionally, Little made it clear that UTU members need stability in their jobs and lives. "We will not tolerate another repeat of the disruption our members have put up with because of the merger," said Little.

Attending the multi-day Houston "summit meeting" from the UTU were Little and Assistant International President Byron A.Boyd, Jr. The UP contingent included Chairman Dick Davidson, President Jerry Davis, Executive Vice President/Operations Brad King, Vice President/Labor Relations Tom Watts, Vice President/Labor Relations John Marchant, and Houston-area General Manager Ed Handley. On Tuesday, March 3, Linda Morgan, a member of the Surface Transportation Board, joined the labor-management group when the operational understandings were reached.

The UTU-UP Houston Summit includes these items:

All UTU members who discover a pay shortage in their paychecks will be immediately paid the difference on the job. When a UTU member discovers a pay discrepancy, he or she should immediately notify their UP supervisor who will assign an appropriate UP officer to issue a check on the spot.

UP has agreed "to do whatever it takes" to immediately solve the hours of service issue. UTU members are too often stranded on trains sometimes for hours when their hours of service have expired.

UP acknowledges it has a serious problem with its crew calling system and has agreed to make immediate changes so it will no longer be disruptive to UTU members and add to stress and fatigue.

UP acknowledges it has a problem with the attitude of many company managers and will immediately implement a large-scale program to retrain managers and change their attitude towards employees.

UP has agreed to increase its workforce to help relieve the burden on current employees. UP said it is committed to hiring up to 4,400 new workers, most for train and engine service, this year. UP said it also intends to maintain the same hiring pace over the next 10 years.

UP has agreed to furnish all former Southern Pacific employees with copies of the National Agreements, and other agreements, so they have knowledge of contract provisions.

UP has agreed to reenergize its Operation Redblock employee assistance program to help those employees with alcohol and/or drug problems.

The UTU International will monitor the progress and success of the Houston Summit by establishing a special UTU-UP Task Force with the assistance and cooperation of UP General Committees. The UTU will set up a hotline for members to immediately report any problems. An appropriate UTU official will be immediately assigned to investigate and resolve the issue.

"We will make sure the Union Pacific lives up to its word," said Little. "We are asking all UP UTU members to immediately inform the union of any breaches or lapses in these agreements so we can act quickly to resolve them."

Little said that the UTU and UP also came to terms on agreement compliance issues in several cases and rectified a number of grievances. Little said the UP will no longer send threatening letters to workers with personal injuries directing them to report back to work at the risk of loss of seniority or discipline if they fail to report.

"That practice is done with here and now," said Little.

Little also said that a number of initiatives are being taken to improve the quality of line-ups, including the establishment of an equal-TL update position around the clock in the Harriman Center. This position is staffed by locomotive engineers and trainmen from the Omaha/Council Bluffs area who have received special computer training and are developing a new process for updating line-ups on the Northern Region. UP top management has reinforced the urgent necessity of updating line-ups and making the information available daily through its website and TV network.

"We emphasized how important quality line-ups are to our members," said Assistant President Boyd. "This will go a long way to solving the fatigue issue."

The UTU, with 75,000 active members and 150,00 total members, is the largest rail labor union in North America. It represents locomotive engineers (including firemen and hostlers), conductors, brakemen, switchmen, yardmen, yardmasters, clerks, as well as professionals in other transportation trades. Its headquarters is in Cleveland, Ohio.