July 2007
Here's What Happened at the Meeting on Monday, July 16, 2007
Meeting was opened by President in Due Form.
Members Attending – R. Etienne, T. Jacob, , S. Cordes, R. Williams, John Jones, Xavier Wilson, Duane Beckwith, Dave Haney, Terry Reddish, Kevin Baker, Kevin Howard, Brian Bocchi, Kate Ruzsa, Robert Pratt.
Minutes of the June meeting were not read. Voted to suspend. Motion to accept by Brother Jacobs and seconded by Brother Jones. Motion passed.
Finances – We currently have 110 members. Secretary made presentation on current finances. The bills were presented for payment. Motion by Brother Haney to pay the bills, seconded by Brother Jacobs. Motion passed.
Safety Rep – If you have cab issues be sure to report it. It can’t be fixed if you don’t let us know. Be sure to secure all locomotives, isolate, release brakes to ensure that the motors don’t move and then reset the automatic air.
Special Guest - Paul Bovarnick attended today’s meeting and spoke about Accident Reporting – When filling out an Accident Report be sure to first call a union member for support and assistance. In writing, in as few words as possible, indicate what hurts. When you see a doctor be sure to tell the doctor that this is not a Workman’s Comp case.
Statue of limitations for a cumulative trauma is 3 years from the time you notice an injury.
Local Chairman – National Contract – Section 11 will probably go into effect around Sept 1-15, Crew is having more problems than anticipated. Back pay will be issued by Sept 1. Crew has promised that if someone goes on vacation after rest cycles, they will still get the 3 rest days after vacation even if they wind up not being able to hold the board when they get back.
Vacation will be floated for rest cycle to the middle of the week. This means if your cycle is Mon-Wed, vacation will go later in the week, and if your rest days are at the end of the week, the vacation will move up. Example – Vacation scheduled to start on July 23, rest cycle July 22, 23, 24 – vacation will flow back to start July 25. Now vacation scheduled July 23 with your rest days July 27, 28, 29 – your vacation will advance to follow rest days on the 21st, so your vacation will start July 22.
Back pay on Road Switchers – Payroll has been paying NP Road Switchers wrong for sometime. New NP Road Switcher agreement gave pay raise to them last year. Someone cloned an old trip rate and our road switchers and LVJ were paid that rate, an overpayment of about $9.00 per day. This effects overtime, penalties, vacation and PL days, and will also effect the back pay. Carrier is trying to work something out with GCA to minimize effect. They don’t want to have to go through all the records. Hopefully they will just write off everything in the past. More info to come.
Whistle Violations – The carrier is going to make poster children out of those engineers who do not whistle for a crossing. Be sure you make some kind of noise over public crossing at grade. An Ops failure for not blowing long enough is better than getting fired for not whistling. The conductor is equally responsible and if you have a student or qualifying engineer, and they fail to whistle, you may be still held responsible. PROTECT YOUR JOB.
Engine Inspection – Be sure to sign the cards on your engines and upon tie-up. Be sure to fill out the electronic forms. If you won’t be tied up by 2359 and the cards aren’t signed – do the inspection, don’t leave a trap for our brethren.
FRA is going to fine the Carrier: the Carrier will discipline employees. The Feds are ready to rescind waiver granted to BNSF that allows using electronic forms. If rescinded we will have to go back to the paper reports.
Dues Increases – The BLET Constitution has a built-in escalator that automatically raises the national division dues when a pay raise is obtained. This means the National dues will increase $2.32 starting Aug 15th. When the last dues increase for the National happened, the Local absorbed the increase. The Local cannot absorb another increase. This one will have to be passed on.
At the GCA meeting, it was voted for a $1.00 increase in GCA dues. This increase will start in 2008. There has been no increase in GCA dues for 6 years and this increase will keep up with inflation.
The Local is looking to propose a dues increase in the amount of $1.68. This will round out the total increase to $5.00.
This division has been breaking even most every month. This will allow for unexpected expenses.
We will announce the increase this month, discuss it at the August meeting and have a secret ballot during the September meeting, needing a 2/3 majority for passage. Please attend for discussion and vote.
Article 11 of On property Agreement. – We have the choice of 2 ways of implementing changes in pools/XBD’s when exercising bumps:
Method 1 – Except as qualified in Section K and Section S (2), the displacing engineer will be assigned to the pool turn previously held by the junior engineer on the involved pool board. If that turn is not at the home terminal, the displacing engineer will be shown waiting until the turn arrives and is tied up at the home terminal and that pool standing will then be assumed by the displacing engineer.
Method 2 – Except as qualified in Section K and Section S (2), the displacing engineer will be assigned to the pool turn previously held by the junior engineer on the involved pool board. If that turn is not at the home terminal, the displacing engineer shall be placed to the foot of the board at the home terminal as it stands at the time of displacement and that pool standing will then be assumed by the displacing engineer. When the displaced engineer returns to the home terminal, that turn shall be extinguished.
The division needs to decide how they want to make the changes.
Car Insurance When Deadheading – There is no law requiring a certain amount of liability on the part of contract drivers. It’s a good idea to have your own car insurance “stacked” with a high amount of insurance to cover yourselves in the event of being hurt in an accident. You can “stack” under-insured and no insurance. The cost is small when compared to not being able to pay your bills when hurt.
FELA is “fault based”, this means you need to show fault. If the accident is caused by the contract company, the carrier can claim they did nothing wrong, this puts the liability on the contract company.
If the accident is caused by some other driver, the contract company can say they did nothing wrong and this then puts the liability on the other driver. What if he/she doesn’t have insurance, or not enough?. Stacking your own insurance would take care of the problem. Check it out with your insurance company. It may be worth it.
Off Track Vehicle Insurance – Currently, past CBA’s include off track vehicle insurance. If you are injured in an off track vehicle (van) you can collect $1000.00 per week for 104 weeks. This amount will have to be paid back by you, the injured party, when a settlement is made.
This is a good way to help with bills if injured off property while on duty, and not in a company vehicle.
Accident Report – It is illegal and against company policy to refuse to fill out an accident form. BE BRIEF in your statement, don’t get wordy in explaining what hurts – “Hurt arm”, “Hurt leg”, never say too much.
Remember how to fill out the 3 boxes.
FML & The Lawsuit – Carrier admits they’ve lost the FML battle. For some reason they keep paying the day to the employee. Hopefully an agreement upon settlement will be forthcoming.
Rail Safety Bill HR 2095 – Some good, some bad. The proposed law will mandate 10 hours uninterrupted rest every 24 hours, this means we would only go to work every 11.5 hours, after allowing for the call. Twenty-four hours would be mandated for every 7 days, unless the XBD 7/3’s were allowed to supersede that, we would lose our 7/3’s.
Carrier would be prohibited from interrupting rest for employees except in emergency. A cap on “non-emergency” limbo time would be 40 hr/mo the 1st year, 30 hr/mo the 2nd year, and 10 hr/mo per year after that. This would prevent DH’s when not rested.
The National is working on allowing CBA’s to have precedence over the law when the CBA offers something better.
Membership – There are currently 55,000 dues paying members in the BLET.
Safety Task Force Hot Line – The National Division Safety Task Force hot line is 800-306-5414.
The floor was opened for discussions. Motion was made by Brother Jacob to vote on Article 11 of the On property Agreement to decide what method be implemented when exercising bumps, seconded by Brother Haney. Vote was taken and it was unanimous for Method 1 (the same way it currently is now).
Motion to close meeting by Brother Haney, seconded by Brother Reddish. Motion passed.
Meeting adjourned at 1430.
August 2007
Here's What Happened at the Meeting on Monday, August 20, 2007
Meeting was opened by Acting President in Due Form. Harvey Bailey was acting president due to the absence of President Cordes
Members Attending – R. Etienne, T. Jacob, , Harvey Bailey, Skip Barnes, Jeff McHenry, Rich Ross, Andy Ortmayer, Ryan Burns, Cecil Jasso & Ron Moore
Minutes of the July meeting were read. Motion to accept the minutes as amended by Brother Jacobs and seconded by Brother McHenry. Motion passed.
Finances – Due to the Sec/Treas not being in attendance, the finances weren’t discussed. Motion was made to pay the bills incidental to the running of the division by Brother Jacobs, seconded by Brother McHenry. Motion passed.
Special Guest – Richard Ross, of Rossi, Cox Vulcinovich Inc. attended today’s meeting and spoke about knowing your rights and protecting yourselves – There was some discussion about members checking with their insurance carriers to see about increasing their uninsured and under insured motorist riders on their own insurance. The reason for this is in case you are injured in a van, and none of the fault falls on the van driver or company. For example, a drunk driver or speeder etc. This way you will be covered in all instances, and your income will continue if you are incapacitated.
Harvey Bailey & Todd Jacobs talked about Hazardous Radiation Shipping. Both brothers attended a Haz Shipping course at the Meany Campus in Maryland. The three day course taught them all about the issues involved in transporting radioactive waste. In the coming years, these shipments will be increasing. If you have any questions, see Harvey or Todd.
Local Chairman – National Contract – Section 11 will go into effect Sept 16, Crew says they will be ready to roll it out then. Back pay will be issued on Aug. 30. Back profit sharing will be issued September 13.
Vacation will be floated for rest cycle to the middle of the week. This means if your cycle is Mon-Wed, vacation will go later in the week, and if your rest days are at the end of the week, the vacation will move up.
Back pay on Road Switchers – Payroll has been paying NP Road Switchers wrong for sometime. New NP Road Switcher agreement gave pay raise to them last year. Someone cloned an old trip rate and our road switchers and LVJ were paid that rate, an overpayment of about $9.00 per day. This effects overtime, penalties, vacation and PL days, and will also effect the back pay. Carrier is trying to work something out with GCA to minimize effect. They don’t want to have to go through all the records. Hopefully they will just write off everything in the past. More info to come.
Whistle Violations – The carrier is going to make poster children out of those engineers who do not whistle for a crossing. Be sure you make some kind of noise over public crossing at grade. An Ops failure for not blowing long enough is better than getting fired for not whistling. The conductor is equally responsible and if you have a student or qualifying engineer, and they fail to whistle, you may be still held responsible. PROTECT YOUR JOB.
Engine Inspection – Be sure to sign the cards on your engines and upon tie-up. Be sure to fill out the electronic forms. If you won’t be tied up by 2359 and the cards aren’t signed – do the inspection, don’t leave a trap for our brethren.
FRA is going to fine the Carrier: the Carrier will discipline employees. The Feds are ready to rescind waiver granted to BNSF that allows using electronic forms. If rescinded we will have to go back to the paper reports.
Dues Increases – Discussion was held about a dues increase. Currently the National Division’s dues have gone u9 42.32, and the GCA dues have gone up $1.00. We have to make a choice on what we do. The division cannot absorb any more dues increases, as we have done so since 2003. Because of a future wage increase in July 2008 of 4%, the National Division dues will go up again, approximately $1.40, and the GCA dues will go up another $1.00. The Local was looking to propose a dues increase in the amount of $1.68, to round out the total increase to $5.00. However, the Division needs to decide whether or not to include the future 2008 dues increase. If we decide to go that route, the proposed increase will be $8.00 instead of $5.00.
This division has been breaking even most every month. This will allow for unexpected expenses.
We will have a secret ballot vote during the September meeting. The division will need a 2/3 majority for passage. Failure to pass one or the other will cause financial hardship to the division. Please attend for discussion and vote.
At the July meeting, the members voted to keep the method now currently in use for adding or subtracting turns in the pool and XBD. This also applies to bumping. This method may be reviewed again next year and changed if so voted.
New Deadhead Symbol when deadheading to or from Wishram in short turn service.
Please use code 90010 when deadheading short turn.
Information for Payroll
When you work an assigned job, you need to do an “FE” and explain what job you are working. The timekeeper doesn’t get any of that info, and unless you tell them, they won’t know, and you won’t get paid properly. The same applies on a flip to Wishram- if you don’t tell him, he won’t know, and you won’t be paid properly. Remember, you need to run off the miles of your job before you can go on OT. Depending on where your train is on a short turn flip, those miles must be run off unless the run is under 130 miles. Overtime cannot commence until those miles are run off. There cannot be any picking or choosing on how you’ll claim it.
Car Insurance When Deadheading – You never know who will plow into your vehicle when under transport. That person may not be insured, or only have the minimum. It’s a good idea to have your own car insurance “stacked” with a high amount of insurance to cover yourselves in the event of being hurt in an accident. You can “stack” under-insured and no insurance. The cost is small when compared to not being able to pay your bills when hurt.
FELA is “fault based”, this means you need to show fault. If the accident is caused by the contract company, the carrier can claim they did nothing wrong, this puts the liability on the contract company.
If the accident is caused by some other driver, the contract company can say they did nothing wrong and this then puts the liability on the other driver. What if he/she doesn’t have insurance, or not enough?. Stacking your own insurance would take care of the problem. Check it out with your insurance company. It may be worth it.
Off Track Vehicle Insurance – Currently, past CBA’s include off track vehicle insurance. If you are injured in an off track vehicle (van) you can collect $1000.00 per week for 104 weeks. This amount will have to be paid back by you, the injured party, when a settlement is made.
This is a good way to help with bills if injured off property while on duty, and not in a company vehicle.
FML & The Lawsuit – Carrier is still docking a compensated day for taking FML. It appears they have filed an appeal with the Supreme Court. In the meantime, keep turning in those penalty time slips for each time they pay you a compensated day for an FML day.
Rail Safety Bill HR 2095 – Some good, some bad. The proposed law will mandate 10 hours uninterrupted rest every 24 hours, this means we would only go to work every 11.5 hours, after allowing for the call. Twenty-four hours would be mandated for every 7 days, unless the XBD 7/3’s were allowed to supersede that, we would lose our 7/3’s.
Carrier would be prohibited from interrupting rest for employees except in emergency. A cap on “non-emergency” limbo time would be 40 hr/mo the 1st year, 30 hr/mo the 2nd year, and 10 hr/mo per year after that. This would prevent DH’s when not rested.
The National is working on allowing CBA’s to have precedence over the law when the CBA offers something better.
Safety Task Force Hot Line – The National Division Safety Task Force hot line is 800-306-5414.
RCO Committee
Harvey Bailey is spearheading an RCO committee. The purpose is to make sure everyone knows exactly what RCO jobs can and cannot do. Harvey reports that no RCO crew member may sit in the engineers seat at any time while working.
WPO’s
We’ve been presented with several presentations on how WPO’s work in other areas. There are definitely benefits associated with doing these. First, we are assured there will be no punitive actions on the part of the carrier while WPO’s are being conducted. We can believe this because it would only take one time in any place on the system to shut the whole program down. The carrier doesn’t want that.
WPO’s are designed to spot trends and possible bad work habits before they cause injuries or death. All data gathered is completely free of any identification methods other than was it day or night. No locations, job #’s, dates or times (other than day or night) are used. These are done by the members as they go about their regular duties, using sight or radio to observe things being done around them. No ops testing in the category chosen for observation will be done while these are going on. The members will be the beneficiaries, because we will be heading off problems before they can cause an injury or accident. Each month, marathons will be crafted to discuss areas that WPO’s show need improvement in work practices. We can only improve our work environment and offer training and guidance for those who may have developed poor work habits.
The floor was opened for discussions.
Motion to close meeting by Brother Jasso, seconded by Brother Jacobs. Motion passed.
Meeting adjourned at 1510.