BLE agrees to help Montana Rail Link replace operating employees with remote controls

BLE agrees to help Montana Rail Link replace
operating employees with remote controls

Job losses expected to hurt all workers

CLEVELAND (December 9, 1999) – The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) has agreed to help the Montana Rail Link replace operating employees with remote controls in some switching operations, a letter from the railroad’s president says.

In a December 3 letter to Montana Rail Link employees, Daniel K. Watts, the railroad’s president, said that its "labor organization" (BLE) is working with the carrier and FRA to develop operating plans.

"I realize," Watts wrote, "this decision is of great concern to MRL employees as it could eventually impact our current employment levels."

The use of remote-controlled locomotives in switching operations is expected to lead to the loss of scores of jobs for operating employees. The BLE represents all operating employees on the Montana Rail Link.

"It is absolutely astonishing that the BLE would willingly cooperate with Montana Rail Link management to put operating employees out of work because of dangerous remote control operations," said UTU International President Charles L. Little. "In the face of a possible representation election on the Union Pacific Railroad, the BLE has shown its true colors once again by colluding with Montana Rail Link to put more union employees out of work in favor of unsafe and deadly black-boxes."

About the safety of remote control operations, Little said, "UTU is totally opposed to remote-control operations and we have campaigned actively against them in North America and around the world. Lives have been needlessly lost because of remote controls in switching operations, and they are a danger to every operating employee. The BLE must be deep in management’s pocket to agree that remote controls are safe and good for operating employees."

Montana Rail Link is a spin-off of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad created to cut costs by reducing employment levels.

Little added, "In essence, the BLE is saying that once it has helped the Montana Rail Link implement remote controlled operations, it will then have a precedent to negotiate remote controls one day soon with Class I railroads that will cost thousands of more jobs. This is a preview of coming attractions for the operating employees on Union Pacific to consider if the NMB schedules an election."

At VIA Rail, Canada’s equivalent of Amtrak, the BLE agreed to do away with the craft of conductors. That move cost about 300 jobs, and now engineers can be assigned any duty by VIA management, including operating a locomotive, carrying baggage, or even cleaning toilets.

At the Pacific Harbor Line in California, BLE has also agreed to accept remote controlled operations.