Column by Byron A. Boyd, Jr.
A personal message
As president of your union, I pledge to do my utmost to fulfill the duties of this office and continue to bring pride and honor to the United Transportation Union. To that end, I have the good fortune of being surrounded by the finest union officers in the transportation industry, who understand what needs to be done to meet our goals. -- Full text.

Column by James M. Brunkenhoefer
Beware: "I am just here to help you"
Before you try to be cooperative with railroad management, please recognize that they have no obligation to your family or to you. Be careful. When you are injured on the railroad, and the manager tells you that "I am just here to help you," don't believe it. -- Full text.

Editorial by Frank N. Wilner
Will the UTU prevail in 2001?
It is part of the UTU strategy to achieve a single industry-wide contract for all Class I employees working under the same locomotive cab roof. Conductors and brakemen hired since 1985 must accept promotion to engineer or be washed out of T&ES. Engineers also must flow back to conductor and brakeman when demand for engineers ebbs. -- Full text.

RSAC brings progress
On January 2, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding sanitation standards for toilet and washing facilities in locomotive cabs.

With that notice, the FRA detailed the rules it will likely put into place, and opened a comment period extending through March 5.

The long-overdue rules call for daily inspections and spell out when, where and how specific conditions must be met, and prohibit non-compliant units from being used until repaired or made sanitary.

As is often the case, the story behind the story is as significant as the main event, and in this case, we applaud not only the arrival of the proposed rules, but also the process that produced them.

A product of the Rail Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC) on Locomotive Cab Working Conditions, the rules result from what can be considered "negotiated rulemaking."

In the past, such rules may well have been formulated behind closed doors, with little or no input from those affected.

The result may well have been time-consuming, costly trips to court that, in the long run, serve no one.

With the RSAC approach, the railroads, their employees, affected suppliers and the government have a chance to exchange positions and reach consensus in formulating the rules.

And once consensus is reached, it tends to remove the arguments about implementation.

No one gets everything, but everybody gets something, and measurable, timely progress results.

In the near future, the process is expected to produce rules on such issues as locomotive crashworthiness, cab noise and temperature, and positive train control.

We remain optimistic that RSAC will continue to serve us well.

What's your opinion?
We'd like to hear your thoughts on these topics, and others. Include your name, address, phone number, and (if applicable), your UTU Local number and an e-mail address with items submitted to:

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