UTU News Digest - Tuesday, March 30, 1999

UTU Daily News Digest

Information of interest to operating railroad and transportation employees

Tuesday, March 30, 1999

WASHINGTON: UTU pressures FRA to move on Conrail safety

WASHINGTON – The Journal of Commerce reported today that the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), in the wake of another high-visibility accident at Conrail Inc., is tightening safety oversight of the railroad after prodding from the United Transportation Union.

The agency's move followed a collision last week between a Conrail train and a Union Pacific train in northern Illinois.

The UTU's call for tighter safety oversight comes as the agency prepares to release its first comprehensive assessment of Conrail safety as it relates to the impending June 1 breakup of that carrier between Norfolk Southern Corp. and CSX Corp.

Post-merger safety integration at Conrail case has been a high-profile issue because of a series of 1997 accidents on UP in the months after UP's merger with Southern Pacific the year before. The FRA and the Surface Transportation Board required NS and CSX to file detailed safety plans during the STB review of the Conrail purchase.

Earlier this year, the UTU also pushed for an intensified safety review at Conrail after four train crew workers were killed in three accidents.

"Since January, we have been pressing FRA to keep a closer safety watch on Conrail," UTU President Charles Little said.

Pam Barry, an FRA spokeswoman, said, "The union and the railroad management are important partners to the FRA. With all that is going on with the merger, this (tighter oversight) is a proactive exercise to ensure that the operating crews and the supervisors stay focused on the safety of rail operations and that their attention does not divert to merger issues."

Mr. Little charged that worker safety is being jeopardized on Conrail's Dearborn Division, which covers much of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana due to a supposed shortage of crews. Last week's accident and a three-way collision 50 miles west of Toledo that killed two train crew workers occurred on that division. The cause of the Conrail-UP accident, which occurred near the site of an Amtrak wreck two weeks ago that killed 11 persons, has not been determined.

The FRA still is expected this week to give a broader assessment of the safety-integration process in a letter to the Surface Transportation Board. NS and CSX have said that process is going smoothly, but the FRA has refused to disclose either interim reports that the carriers have filed about that process or some of the agency's working papers about those safety issues.

The FRA's only public statement about Conrail safety conditions since early 1998 followed the January accidents. The FRA convened a meeting of safety officials at all three railroads involved in the Conrail breakup to determine whether there was a connection between the fatal accidents. Agency officials said subsequently that the early 1999 fatalities were not merger-related.

"Employees shouldn't have to work under unsafe conditions just because a railroad finds itself in limbo. We want to make sure that Conrail operates in the safest manner possible while it still exists," UTU assistant President Byron Boyd said.

WASHINGTON: Hutchinson offers another STB bill

WASHINGTON -- The third bill in the current Congressional session that deals with re-authorization of the Surface Transportation Board and rail competition issues was introduced by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.).

The two other bills include a carrier-backed bill offered by Sen. John McCain, (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, with the support of Senate leadership. That legislation would fund STB for four years without changing its current policy. Shippers support legislation introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) and three colleagues that backers say is meant to increase rail competition and spur improved service.

Sen. Hutchison, who chairs the Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Subcommittee, said in a statement introducing her bill that it "provides some ability for shippers to obtain improved service and rates, while maintaining the ability of railroads to make a return (on investment) and indeed, grow."

Among the key features of Sen. Hutchison's bill are:

-- focusing STB policy on encouraging rail competition

-- discouraging artificial service barriers between large and small railroads

-- faster handling of rate cases for small shippers and simplified dispute resolution mechanisms

-- establishment of a mechanism for shippers to obtain a competitive rate over tracks served by a single carrier that refuses to allow competition for a particular shipment

-- broadens STB's power to grant temporary relief for shippers affected by service problems.

The Senator also urged colleagues to "work with me toward the common purpose of re-authorizing the board and making some common sense improvements."

WASHINGTON: AAR opposes Hutchinson bill

WASHINGTON -- The following is a statement by Edward R. Hamberger, President and CEO of the Association of American Railroads in response to STB Reauthorization and Improvement Act of 1999:

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) is disappointed with S. 747 introduced on Thursday, March 25th. The bill contains a number of troubling provisions, which would, if enacted, substantially reregulate the rail industry.

Railroads, shippers, and the American public have benefited from the trend of less government intervention in the free market since the passage of the Staggers Act in 1980. The proposed legislation would upset the balance established by the Staggers Act between the needs of the shipper community and the rail industry's need for earnings sufficient to justify future investments to meet the demands of a burgeoning economy.

The AAR continues to support S. 98, the STB Reauthorization Act of 1999, introduced by Senators McCain, Hollings and Lott, which preserves the regulatory structure that has led to the world's greatest privately owned and financed rail system.

WASHINGTON: Amtrak Supporting Safety

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Amtrak says it's behind Congressional efforts to improve rail safety. The company says recent events have focused attention on the need for drivers, particularly truck drivers, to obey signals at grade crossings.

Amtrak says it's working with the Federal Railroad Administration to push for tougher penalties for those who disobey crossing laws.

LOUISIANA: Railroad crossings targeted

BATON ROUGE, La. -- A Baton Rouge newspaper reports that 18 out of 3,000 railroad crossings in Louisiana are being targeted for shutdowns. State lawmakers ordered the transportation department to find unsafe crossings. The DOTD says the 18 on the list either don't have lights or bars or else they are unnecessary. However, local governments will have to approve each closing first.

SOUTH DAKOTA: Pierre officials oppose rail expansion

PIERRE, S.D. -- Pierre and Fort Pierre officials are asking Governor Bill Janklow for help in preventing plans to route more high-speed trains through the two cities. The Dakota, Minnesota, and Eastern Railroad rejected a request from Pierre Mayor Gay Drewes to reroute the train tracks around the cities. The company wants to expand and upgrade its South Dakota tracks, but local officials say the trains would endanger citizens and tie-up traffic.

NORTH CAROLINA: US Airways fleet workers begin contract vote

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- US Airways Group Inc. fleet service workers on Monday began voting on a tentative labor agreement that had been renegotiated after a previous pact was voted down last September, union officials said.

Officials with the International Association of Machinists were optimistic the proposed contract, which includes a 12 percent wage increase, would be ratified during voting by 6,000 fleet service workers set to close on Wednesday.

But rank-and-file members at US Air's Charlotte, N.C., hub criticized a lack of job security and provisions they said would allow the Arlington, Va.-based airline to increase its use of part-time workers to 35 percent from the current 28 percent.

"The last contract in September was rejected by 85 percent of the workers here. Right now, I think 65 percent will turn this one down,'' said Michael Pruitt, a 12-year baggage handler and shop steward for Charlotte's 1,000 IAM workers.

The shop steward also said he had not been told how many years the proposed contract covers.

A final tally was expected by late Wednesday or early Thursday, union officials said. US Air declined comment on the voting. The airline's fleet service workers were organized by the union in 1994.

AFRICA: Train drivers dispute 'brake failure' theory

Nairobi -- Twenty-three Kenya Railway locomotive drivers yesterday discounted "experts' theories" that faulty brakes caused last week's train crash on the Nairobi-Mombasa line. At the same time, a goods train jumped the track as it approached Mombasa yesterday.

Passengers travelling in the A02 train, which left Nairobi on Saturday at 7 p.m., were delayed for two-and-half hours at the Mazeras station as Kenya Railway's crews frantically worked to clear the track.

Twenty-three drivers assembled in Kisumu, led by Messrs B. Onzeri, M. Nyariago, Charles Dede, Sospheter Achoki and Chepkwony Towet, and dismissed the theories blaming brake failure as inaccurate and misleading. The crash left 32 dead and hundreds injured. The drivers said the many train accidents in Kenya had not been caused by mechanical problems. Low morale among junior staff was the main cause.

"Low morale as a result of low salaries and poor working conditions, negligence by the Railways management and lack of co-operation between the unionized workers and the supervisory staff are chiefly considered as the causes of these accidents," said the drivers.

They said the recent retrenchment of workers had considerably worsened the situation as those remaining were over-worked with no compensation. They said a senior locomotive driver earned $9,000 a month without allowances.

They spoke of an Industrial Court award to locomotive drivers a year ago, which had not yet been effected. They claimed that most KR locomotives and tracks were poorly maintained.

"The answer to this disaster is for the KR management to change its attitude towards junior staff, particularly operators of the locomotives," said the workers.