UTU tells FRA that BNSF "availability policy" forces union to drop out of SACP, RSAC programs

UTU tells FRA that BNSF "availability policy"
forces union to drop out of SACP, RSAC programs

BNSF at center of escalating labor relations crisis

CLEVELAND (October 4) – United Transportation Union (UTU) International President Charles L. Little told the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) that North America’s largest rail and transportation union will no longer participate with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railroad in vital labor-management programs important to the agency.

The reason: BNSF has created an escalating labor relations firestorm by trying to impose an onerous "availability policy" in direct contradiction to a landmark agreement it was party to earlier this year, along with other Class 1 railroads, on work/rest principles.

Little informed FRA Administrator Jolene Molitoris that the UTU would no longer participate in SACP and RSAC programs with BNSF and the agency unless the agreement on work/rest principles was honored.

"Both the SACP and RSAC programs are valuable," said Little, "but unless BNSF and its management comes to its senses and permanently withdraws this ill-conceived policy, we will not work with them on major industry issues. We can not work with a railroad that broke it’s word so quickly and so badly. People who are employed on the BNSF railroad deserve normal work lives like everyone else in this country."

The BNSF Availability Policy could force some employees to work up to 360 hours per month, or 30 twelve-hour days. The policy allows these employees only one day off per month, which may be denied by BNSF for any reason. If the employee then takes time off due to fatigue, the employee is subject to discipline.

A hearing on the BNSF policy is scheduled on October 14 at the National Mediation Board (NMB) in Washington, D.C., and a decision is expected by November 1. UTU required BNSF to suspend implementing the onerous policy until at least November 1 as a condition to agreeing to change the expedited arbitration date to mid-October.

UTU has called BNSF’s new "availability policy" a "breach of faith with the breakthrough work/rest principles" agreed to last spring at the National Wage & Rules Panel. Little has said that the carrier "has picked the worst possible time to break its word to railroad workers" because national contract talks will be beginning soon. He has said that BNSF’s "unilateral action jeopardizes rail labor relations everywhere" and could affect the entire industry.

UTU Assistant President Byron A. Boyd, Jr. said, "BNSF could not have picked a worse time to break its word to rail workers who deserve a better quality of life for themselves and their families. Its action is endangering labor stability in the entire U.S. rail industry, and has cast a serious pall over national contract talks. Nobody wants to see this issue spin out of control."