Among honorable people, a deal's a deal. You honor your promises. You don't welsh.

Nowhere is integrity and credibility more important than at the bargaining table.

Railroad executives, however, look upon their promises as flexible -- to be broken when convenient.

Beginning in the 1980s, when railroads were struggling to survive and trucks were siphoning huge quantities of freight from the rails, UTU members ratified crew-consist agreements permitting carriers to reduce crew size -- through attrition -- to become more competitive.

The parties pledged neither side would serve notice to force changes in those agreements so long as there was a protected employee working.

But in 1991, the carriers used their considerable economic and political muscle to gain a carrier-friendly Presidential Emergency Board (PEB 219), whose recommendations to reopen those agreements were embraced by Congress.

UTU general committees of adjustment renegotiated crew-consist agreements on a property-by-property basis. Once again, the carriers solemnly promised the crew-consist agreements would not be reopened so long as there was a protected employee working.

The local crew-consist agreements provided for at least one conductor assigned to every through-freight train; and, on some properties, a brakeman on some assignments.

By reducing crew size through attrition, freight revenue ton-miles per employee-hour soared more than three-fold -- from 1,200 in 1985 to almost 4,000 today. The railroads, citing data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, said railroads "are near the top of all industries in terms of labor-productivity gains over the past two decades." The president of the Association of American Railroads said, "Business is booming," and Wall Street analysts tell of a "railroad renaissance" and "soaring profits."

Yet, the carriers, once more, want to welsh. Counting again on their considerable economic and political clout, they are demanding another reopening of crew-consist agreements they twice previously solemnly promised would not be reopened so long as there was a protected employee working.

BNSF General Chairperson Robert Kerley (GO-001) likens the carriers' actions to "that kid back in grade school, who could look you straight in the eye, raise his right hand and swear he would never break the promise he just made. Then, later, you learn he had his left hand behind his back with his fingers crossed, so when he broke the promise he just shrugged his shoulders and said, 'Hey, it didn't count!'"

The UTU is determined not to permit the carriers to reopen crew-consist agreements. We have asked a federal court to halt the carriers' unlawful attempt to reopen those agreements. If the UTU succeeds in court, as expected, the issue of crew-consist will never make it to a carrier-friendly PEB or a carrier-friendly Congress for resolution as hoped by the carriers.

Moreover, it is time for the carriers to pay a price for their welshing and shameful greed.

In Montana, the UTU is helping shippers educate the legislature as to carrier economic gains. Lawmakers responded with a proposed tax hike on growing rail profits.

In Minnesota, the UTU is providing federal investigators evidence that train crews are not being provided proper information about the dangerous contents of some trains -- information that would be essential to law enforcement and fire departments in the event of an accident or terrorist attack.

The UTU has been working with The New York Times to help it understand railroad safety problems and the cozy relationship between railroads and those who regulate rail safety. The Times recently won a Pulitzer Prize for its rail-safety series. The UTU intends to work with other major media outlets on this issue.

The UTU will work to educate the Federal Railroad Administration and Congress that the railroads' alleged safety plan against terrorist attacks is a sham. On trains carrying deadly chlorine, nuclear waste and even nuclear weapons, train crews have received no training on how to respond to a terrorist threat or attack. In April, a passenger-train conductor sought to report to dispatchers a suspicious package. As newspapers reported, the railroad had no procedures to notify law enforcement.

The UTU also will work with the new federal railroad administrator to ensure that the previous cozy relationship between railroads and regulators does not continue. One area the UTU will be focusing on is the past practice of FRA negotiating-down safety violations to where carriers pay pennies on the dollar and view such fines as a minor cost of doing business.

Also, the UTU will be educating rail shippers as to how railroads behave after making solemn promises.

The carriers take the same approach to labor relations as the former Soviet Union took to statecraft: What's mine is mine and what's yours is negotiable.

The United Transportation Union will not be intimidated by railroads or their friends in powerful places. The UTU must and will convince this current crop of railroad CEOs and labor negotiators that we make a better friend than an enemy.