In advance of the July 16 implementation date for new hours-of-service regulations, railroads asked a federal district court in Ft. Worth to permit them to violate existing collective bargaining agreements as part of the implementation process. The railroads include BNSF, CSX, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific.

The carriers acknowledged in that lawsuit that they intended to implement the new regulations as they see fit; and, in so doing, would violate existing labor agreements with respect to wage guarantees.

The UTU told the court that such a result would violate the Railway Labor Act; that any changes to collectively bargained agreements that are needed to satisfy the new law must be collectively bargained, as well.

In fact, said UTU International President Mike Futhey, "The Rail Safety Improvement Act provides expressly for collective bargaining on this issue, containing a provision permitting general chairpersons to negotiate a better balance between time off and earnings, while preserving guaranteed time off.

"This lawsuit filed by the carriers is not about assuring the safety of its employees," Futhey said. "The lawsuit is all about protecting the carriers' profits -- an attempt by the carriers to put the entire burden of the new hours-of-service limitations on the backs and the pocketbooks of their employees."

Specifically, the carriers asked the court to declare that any dispute arising out of their unilateral implementation of the new hours-of-service regulations is a "minor" dispute under the Railway Labor Act, requiring binding arbitration.

In its response to the carrier lawsuit, the UTU said:

* Each of the carriers have one or more agreements with the UTU that provide guaranteed levels of compensation for some or all of the trainmen and conductors employed by the carriers.

* None of the agreements between UTU and any of the carriers provides that guaranteed levels of compensation can be reduced in the event of a change in federal law.

* No provision of the Rail Safety Improvement Act preempts, supersedes, or in any way overrides the provisions in the agreements that provide for guaranteed levels of compensation for trainmen and conductors.

* Since enactment of the Rail Safety Improvement Act, none of the carriers has served notice on the UTU to change any provision of its agreements providing for guaranteed levels of compensation for trainmen and conductors.

Therefore, the UTU told the court:

"The disputes are major disputes that must be resolved in accordance with the mandatory bargaining processes of the Railway Labor Act because the Rail Safety Improvement Act does not relieve the carriers of their obligation under the Railway Labor Act to exhaust the bargaining process before taking any action that would change the provisions of the agreements providing for guaranteed levels of compensation for trainmen and conductors represented by the UTU."

The carriers, said the UTU, "must honor their obligation under the Railway Labor Act to maintain their agreements providing for guaranteed levels of compensation for trainmen and conductors represented by the UTU."