UTU News Digest - Wednesday, August 11, 1999

UTU Daily News Digest

Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees

Wednesday, August 11, 1999

CANADA: CN to transfer Okanagan, Lumby subdivisions to Kelowna Pacific Railway

VANCOUVER -- Canadian National Tuesday announced it has reached an agreement in principle with Kelowna Pacific Railway Ltd. for the transfer of 167 kilometers (104 miles) of rail lines in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley.

The transfer agreement includes CN's Okanagan and Lumby subdivisions, which extend from Kelowna and Lumby in south-central B.C. through Vernon to Campbell Creek, near Kamloops.

The rail network transports mostly forest products, grain and industrial products for rail customers in the Okanagan. It handles an average of 12,500 carloads of freight traffic annually.

"The creation of the short line railroad will strengthen the competitiveness of shippers in the Okanagan Valley," said Francois Hebert, assistant vice president, corporate development. "Trillium and KnightHawk are well-respected transportation providers, with an excellent reputation for customer service and on-time performance."

Kelowna Pacific Railway is owned 35 percent by Trillium Railway Company Ltd. of Dunnville, Ont., and 65 percent by KnightHawk Inc. of Toronto. Trillium, a short-line operator with corporate headquarters in Dunnville, Ont., and administrative headquarters in Gowanda, N.Y., is owned by Canadian entrepreneurs and U.S. operators of short lines. KnightHawk (KHA.V) provides domestic and Canada-U.S. contract rail and air cargo freight services for rail and courier customers.

The transfer of the subdivisions will affect 16 CN employees, who have a number of options available to them under their collective agreements. The agreement is expected to be concluded this fall.

GEORGIA: Delta Pilots Union help with organizing airline

ATLANTA -- A drive to bring unions to largely nonunionized Delta Airlines is building momentum and, for the first time, drawing support from a powerful group: Delta's own unionized pilots.

The Air Line Pilots Association, which represents Delta's 9,000 pilots, is actively supporting efforts to organize ramp workers, mechanics, ticket agents and flight attendants at the nation's third-largest airline.

Meanwhile, the Transport Workers Union is preparing to file a petition as early as this fall with the National Mediation Board seeking a vote on unionization for Delta's 10,000 ramp workers, people close to the effort say. The TWU is also working to unionize Delta's 9,000 mechanics, its 20,000 flight attendants and some 15,000 ticket agents, though those campaigns are in earlier stages. A TWU drive to organize Delta's ramp workers failed last fall when the National Mediation Board found that the union hadn't collected enough signatures.

The pilots' activism, which has been growing in recent months along with the group's frustration with management over a standoff over pay rates for the new Boeing 777, is apt to further strain ALPA's ties with Delta management. Still, ALPA leaders say supporting a companywide unionization effort will ultimately benefit the pilots, whose interests dovetail with those of other workers whose career advancement depends on a seniority system. "For some of our goals [at the pilots union] and for the overall health of the corporation, we think the other employees' organizing is a good thing and a positive thing," said Andy Deane, a spokesman for ALPA.

Delta is the least unionized of any major U.S. airline, largely because the airline evolved from a strong southern base in Atlanta, where unions have long been regarded with suspicion. Only the Delta pilots and a handful of its dispatchers have union representation. But a painful downsizing under prior management in the mid-1990s has left many Delta employees worried about job security, even though the carrier has been making record profits. Indeed, many older workers, who have been through the austere cuts and long since declared "the Delta family" dead, say they want a labor contract before they retire to guarantee that their benefits aren't altered after they leave.

Leo F. Mullin, who became chief executive officer two years ago, has said repeatedly that he will work vigorously to defeat further unionization. The absence of unions, he says, gives Delta more flexibility and a competitive edge. "We certainly recognize the rights of our employees to organize, if that's their wishes," says Tom Slocum, Delta's senior vice president of corporate communications. "We feel, however, that there is ample good reason for the Delta work force to remain unorganized."

The Association of Flight Attendants is mailing out a letter written by Capt. Charles Giambusso, chairman of the pilots union at Delta. Capt. Giambusso writes in the letter, dated Aug. 2: "Our top managers have their employment agreements in writing. Shouldn't you?"

To be sure, the unions face a long, uphill battle, and their success is far from certain. Under the Railway Labor Act, which governs airline labor relations, a specific worker group, such as mechanics, must petition the National Mediation Board to hold an election for representation by presenting signature cards from at least 35% of the group. If the petition is found to be valid despite the expected company challenges, the National Mediation Board holds a ballot on union representation; a majority must support the effort for it to prevail.

Delta management has been facing off with an increasingly militant pilots group. Capt. Giambusso says ALPA will be looking for substantial pay increases when talks on an overall new labor contract begin in September to help pilots recover from years of setbacks.

In June, Delta indefinitely deferred delivery of all 11 Boeing 777-2000 jets it ordered and put up for sale the two Boeing 777s already in its fleet. The airline said it couldn't risk the disruption of service that would occur if the pilots union exercised its contractual right to refuse to fly the planes if no contract was reached for that plane by November. Delta is offering $238.66 an hour for the jet, or a base annual salary of $223,385 -- about 5% over the industry's top wages for the jet. The pilots, however, are seeking $318.96 an hour, or about $298,546 a year.

CANADA: Canada rail freight down 1.4% in week to July 21

OTTAWA -- Canadian rail freight volume, excluding intermodal traffic, totaled 4.2 million metric tons in the week ended July 21, down 1.4% from a year earlier, Statistics Canada said.

The number of rail cars loaded during the week rose 0.8% from a year earlier.

Intermodal (piggyback) volume totaled 379,000 tons in the week, up 13.8% from a year earlier.

Total traffic in the week, including carloadings of freight and intermodal traffic, declined 0.3% from a year earlier. For the year to date, traffic totaled 139.7 million tons, down 2.1% from a year earlier.

INDIA: Train attacked in Northeastern India

GAUHATI -- Suspected militants blew up a railroad track and damaged a train engine in India's remote northeast, wounding at least two people, officials said today.

A land mine exploded on the tracks late Tuesday, damaging an engine without coaches that was running ahead of an express train carrying nearly 400 people, 90 miles north of Gauhati, the capital of Assam state.

Advance engines escort express trains in the insurgency-wracked northeast to protect them from hidden explosives.

"Just as the engine was crossing a bridge, the militants detonated the explosive,'' said local police chief P.B. Bhattacharya. The engine caught fire and the driver and a railroad worker were injured.

The attack was the third on rail property in the region in the past four days. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Police blamed tribal and ethnic rebels, and said they were timed to coincide with the run-up to India's Independence Day celebrations on Sunday.

Police suspect rebels from the Bodo tribe fighting for greater autonomy in what they say is their traditional tribal land.

CALIFORNIA: Man electrocuted at bus stop

SAN DIEGO -- A man was electrocuted while sitting on a metal bench in a bus stop shelter, leading San Diego County to close its 475 shelters until authorities can determine why he died.

Brian Williams, 20, of San Diego, was electrocuted Sunday night.

Glenn Newman tried to pry Williams loose from the metal grate, but the estimated 5,000-volt current was too great.

"I thought it was a car on fire so I ran to see if I could help, and I saw him,'' said Newman. "He was up against the fence, he was shaking, smoke was pouring out of him.''

Newman, an electrician for the California Air National Guard, said he briefly examined the electrical system at the shelter and found it lacked a circuit breaker that would have cut off the current after a short.

"For $50 worth of parts, whoever owns it could have saved this guy's life,'' Newman said.

The city's preliminary analysis confirms Newman's observation, Deputy City Manager George Loveland said.

Outdoor Systems Advertising, one of the largest transit shelter providers in the country, began shutting off electricity to the lighted bus stop shelters Tuesday.