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Conrail probe CLEVELAND -- An audit of a major Conrail productivity trust fund by the UTU means that hundreds of former Conrail trainmen will split an additional $3 million later this year. An investigation instigated by GO-687 General Chairperson Delbert Strunk into the total payments to a Conrail Productivity Savings and Sharing Trust Fund, now administered by Norfolk Southern Railroad, revealed a shortfall of approximately $3 million due to be paid to UTU-represented trainmen. In December, Strunk's committee noticed productivity payments to the fund lower than they believed should have been made. Strunk appointed Associate Chairperson F.R. Pickell and Local 601 Chairperson D.E. Myers to audit the fund. "The bottom line," said Pickell, "is that there should be a large increase based on the productivity shares, and from this day forward the inclusion of 722 more trainmen contributing to the trust fund at no cost to them will also increase payments significantly." An audit conducted in April with NS's Manager of Payroll Accounting M.W. Greene in Norfolk, Va., showed that the contributions of 722 trainmen were not paid into the fund, which caused it to be $2.97-million short. Pickell and Myers reviewed more than 1,000 trainmen's work records and hundreds of pages of train operating records. With interest, they discovered, hundreds of UTU trainmen who formerly had worked at Conrail had an extra $3,022,177.05 coming to them. It is expected, according to Pickell, that Norfolk Southern will make the $3-million shortfall payment in either May's or June's monthly contribution and it will be dispersed with this year's annual productivity disbursement in December. "Sometimes you have to fight the carrier over a dollar," said Pickell. "But this time, Norfolk Southern and Mr. Greene were very helpful and worked with us to make sure we received what we were due in productivity fund payments. When labor and management cooperate on issues like this, in a fair and open manner, we all win. In this case, former Conrail UTU members 'won' $3 million with interest." Recipients of the trust fund include protected former Conrail trainmen who hired on prior to the effective date of the crew consist agreement (amended). Under the trust fund agreement, trainmen can receive up to 40% of their annual salary. |
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