January 2003 Meeting

Here's What Happened at the Meeting on Monday, January 20, 2003

Meeting opened by the President due form.

Members present: D St John, R Etienne, D. Haney, R. Balkowitsch, C. Nibbler, E. Taylor, W. Pelham, S. Cordes, C. Boomgaarden, J. McHenry, G. Bryson, M. Montgomery, S. Barnes, C. Ruzsa.

Minutes of previous meeting not read account unavailable.

New membership received for J. Zozosky, motion to accept by Brother Nibbler, seconded by Brother Bryson. Motion passed.

Reports of Committees:

Budget Committee: Brother Barnes reports we had no meeting and will meat after receiving paperwork for LM-3.

Finances: Presentation of current status made by sec/tres. Current membership is 106 plus one trainman. The current balances of accounts were discussed and several questions were asked from the floor. The bills due for payment were presented and discussed. Motion to pay the bills by Brother Haney, seconded by Brother Pelham.

Motion passed.

Local Chairman: The following topics were discussed:

  1. Remote control - what we are doing. Discussion was held with questions from the floor.
  2. Safety Committee - The following members of Division 758 are now attending the carrier monthly safety meetings: C. Nibler, R. Wuitschick, T. Reddish and R. Etienne. This committee meets third Thursday of each month. Please address your concerns with these individuals. The floor was opened for discussion with examples of unsafe conditions. Several different scenarios were discussed. The use of unsafe condition reports was emphasized. Please be sure to fill out unsafe condition reports for all your safety concerns. It will not be the venue of the division safety committee to come to meetings with a shopping list of safety items unless these have not already been addressed. The carrier has been demanding that we take them serious about safety and empowerment. This committee feels now is the time to put them to the test. The talk has been given, now to see if the walk will be walked. Please be sure to empower yourself before you do something that is considered unsafe or may injure you.
  3. Colt Radios - Old SF style radios should not be on the point. Be sure to report it if they are. Currently there is a memo out requiring the carrier not to use these style radios on the point unless there are no other engines available with different style radios. Remember to empower yourself.
  4. Dash-8 Locomotives - Carrier is saying these old type war bonnet units should not be on the point. Report this to the proper authority. They have a severe lateral motion and could cause injuries.
  5. Locomotive Defect Log - Please make sure to use the online log if possible. Several agencies have been accessing this log. This is the only way we can keep track of the defects in locomotives, and if and when they are repaired.
  6. Air Brake Rules - Be sure to update your rulebooks. The carrier officers are checking. If you don't use a PDA (and it has been updated), you are required to make notations in your rule books when changes are made. These notations are yours to make to ensure you know what changes have occurred, and where you will be able to find them in your book.
  7. Palm updates - bulletin updates are available, let Rick know if you want to be on the e-mail list for them.
  8. OE pickups - Be sure to document any problems with getting your train at Albany, Minto. Air tests are a big issue, please document any problems or instance's you see. Remember that air tests must be performed from the direction that the head end of the train is located. Stories have it that the P & W is lax in this aspect of air tests.
  9. Setting out and wyeing power in Wishram. There was a short discussion on authority and procedure. 
  10. Yardmaster problems - There have been several problems with yardmasters. Please document any problems, past problems have not been able to be persuaded account lack of documentation.
  11. Hi-Risk Employees - If you are asked to come in for an interview, call your local chairman. DO NOT ATTEND BY YOURSELF. Past experience has shown a distinct lack of discretionary tact by some officers. You will only strengthen any issue they may have with you later. You have the right to check your hard card at anytime. You have to ask Sandy. You should check this several times per year for errors.
  12. Extraboard Cycles - due to the current cutting some people may be losing their cycle positions. It does not have any linkage with seniority! They are cut by the on-off cycle. The TSS cycle is still not able to fix this. Let this committee know if you have any problems. If your cycle changes, and you are assigned a cycle that is currently on days off, the TSS will automatically lay you off retroactive to the first day of the cycle. Call the crew desk to get back in the position you were in, since you had no way to elect to work the cycle when you didn't own it prior to the cycle change. Notify this committee of any problems

There were discussions and several questions from the floor.

Motion to close by Brother Haney, seconded by Brother Bryson. Motion passed.

February 2003

Here's What Happened at the Meeting on Monday, February 17, 2003

Meeting opened by the President due form.

Members present: D St John, R Etienne, D. Haney, R. Balkowitsch, B. Knowles, C. Marsh, A. Ashkannejhad, M. Montgomery, J. Blau, T. Jones, .

Minutes of previous meeting were read. Motion to accept as read by Brother Barnes, seconded by Brother Haney. Motion passed.

Reports of Committees:

Budget Committee: Brother Barnes reports we had no meeting and will meat after receiving paperwork for LM-3.

Finances: Presentation of current status made by sec/tres. Current membership is 106 plus one trainman. The current balances of accounts were discussed and several questions were asked from the floor. The bills due for payment were presented and discussed. Motion to pay the bills by Brother Haney, seconded by Brother Knowles. Motion passed. Discussion was held about current condition of computer equipment and if replacements are needed.

Safety committee: Terry Reddish has attended several local neighborhood meetings to discuss remote control. Letters to WUTC are out and need to be sent in. Please have friends and neighbors do so also. Please continue to use unsafe condition reports. This is the main way of tracking issues at Vancouver. We can only test the carrier with your help. The first actual meeting will be held this week and more will follow.

Local Chairman: The following topics were discussed:

Discussion was held concerning the recent accident in Nebraska in which a coal train hit a local. There is an issue with inside switches not being wired to the main line. Please report any point in which you are aware of these switches. At this time, no switches on our division have been found to be not wired. Concerns about the inside switch on the NP side (south end), and the inside switch at Whitcomb Pit were raised, but this committee has been informed that these switches are properly wired.

OE, the STB has ruled against the BNSF concerning some aspects of the lease. Anyone who was forced out of the valley needs to be putting in paperwork for lost wages. Contact Rick if you have any questions.

Reroutes on baretable trains. They are going to continue until the middle of the march. This is due to maintenance on the UP down south.

Colt Radios - This is still an issue, do not take these on the point. These are the old Santa Fe style radios with the push buttons.

Dash 8 locomotives - again this is an issue please be aware these are not to be used on the point. These engines have been found to have severe lateral motion, and can cause injuries.

Locomotive defect log. Please be sure to use this, it is the only way to track defects. The link to this log is: http://jaysworks.com/419/. This is our only weapon to keep track of engine defects in case something terrible happens down the road. Please take those few moments to fill out the form.

Crew calling log - We have a site available to track crew calling problems. http://jaysworks.com/tes/. Please use this to report problems you are having with the crew desk.

Roundhouse problems - discussion was held over the continuing problems of locomotive problems, headlights etc. It was determined that the carmen cannot do work on locomotives while they are attached to a train while any part of it is on the main line without blue flagging it. The solutions may be to detach the locomotive, and pull forward; take the locomotive to the roundhouse, or switch out the power. Please remember to empower yourselves.

Automatic downloads - Please remember that all the computer locomotives are being downloaded on the fly at most locations. Flags are automatically raised on Heavy reduction (15lbs above 20 mph), stalls, air not set at stops, loss of comm. with Fred, power braking, hpt, independent brake above 10 mph, etc.

Setting out/backing up. Another issue of a crew making a set out without watching the shove occurred. The derail was gone over. Be sure to protect your shoves. Don't allow ground man to be lax. Verify protection provided.

The floor was opened for discussion.

Motion to close by Brother Haney, seconded by Brother Jones. Motion passed.