Meeting opened by the President in due form.

Minutes of previous meeting read. No corrections made. Motion to accept by Brother Boomgaarden, seconded by Brother Bennett. Motion passed.

Reports of Committees:

Budget Committee: Budget for May to December was presented by Brother Barnes and floor opened for discussion. The committee will continue to meet and revise the budget as needed. Motion to accept budget as presented by Brother Howard, seconded by Brother Cordes. Motion passed.

Finances: Presentation of current status made by sec/treas. The current balances of accounts were discussed with several questions from the floor. The bills due for payment were presented and discussed. Motion to pay the bills by Brother Barnes, seconded by Brother Haney. Motion passed.

Local Chairman -

Resolutions for the GCA meeting were presented and discussed. A motion instructing our representative to the GCA to implore them to send information and proposals in a timelier manner, made by Brother Barnes, seconded by Brother Bailey. Motion passed.

Recent discipline events were discussed. This committee will continue to make every effort to reduce or eliminate any discipline for all members.
It was discussed how it was not the position nor responsibility of this committee to pick and choose who will get a break or not. If the carrier chooses to give an individual a break regarding discipline for an infraction of the rules, that is their business, and this committee will not advise the carrier that a stronger discipline is mandated. 

Locomotive Shutdown Policy is in effect. Make sure to comply with these instructions.
Ops testing is being done, and the shutdown policy is in effect.

The following topics were also discussed: 

Efficiency testing.
The carrier is on a push for detector recalls. Investigations are being called for violation. BE SURE to pay attention to the detectors, and use the call back feature if no message is heard.

 The new Terminal Superintendent. 
Still taking a wait and see approach.

Extra board regulation.
The carrier continues to hold the right to regulate the extra boards as they see fit. Our only recourse is to require an addition to be made in the event the mileage ceiling is met.

 Final LITE miles at Pasco. 
The carrier is paying final lite miles at Pasco. Refer to the chart for the correct mileage.

FTD. 
Be accurate on your departure times. Do not round off to the nearest 5 minute. Use the correct time.

CD’s of our agreements are available for anyone wanting them. The floor was opened for discussion.

Motion to close by Brother Wetherholt, seconded by Brother Bryson. Motion passed unanimously.

Meeting opened by the President in due form.

Members present: W Knowles, R Etienne, R Balkowitsch, R Jacobs, W Barnes, H Bailey, D Haney, D St. John. Guests attending: J Bonnin, P Bean, A Bailey

Minutes of previous meeting read. No corrections made. Motion to accept by Brother Barnes , seconded by Brother Knowles. Motion passed.

Reports of Committees:

Budget Committee: Report made by Brother Barnes, Brother Atwood has resigned from the committee. The President asked for a volunteer to replace him. Brother Jacobs accepted an appointment by the president to the position.

Finances: Presentation of current status made by sec/tres. 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 Barnes. Motion passed.

Legislative Rep: Attended a meeting at which Stefan Morrissey spoke on accumulative muscular/skeletal injuries. Short presentation given and the floor was opened for questions. It was determined that the resonating vibration of most locomotives is the same frequency that causes back muscles to relax. This can cause injuries and damage if care is not taken. Currently the carrier seems to be ignoring the issue. More later

Local Chairman -

Timeslips/Tie-ups; A crew has been cited for stealing time. Justification for time is important. Be diligent on tie up times. The carrier has the right to question duties performed after completion of trip. Remember when you are dead on hours, you are not supposed to be doing any work related business other than tying up. Updating your rule book, etc. is not a valid issue while DHOS.
Remember there currently is no job insurance payment available when dismissed for this offense. BE CAREFUL! The computer is watching!

Ops testing-detectors: Failures keep occurring. The carrier is starting to get irritated. Remember to listen for the detector message, and key them up if no message is received.
A SIAP was held on 6-19-01 regarding this issue. Factors for the failures were: Hours on duty. The immediate proximity to both a form B and a form A; Changing the radio channel to the terminal channel; Having the detectors on the back of the signal awareness form, rather than integrated into the form in their proper milepost location; A longer delay in the announcement, and end of trip focus.

The SAP (safety action plan) adopted for the purpose of eliminating future failures are:

1.  Employees should call out an acknowledgement before and after going by a detector.
2. Change the format of the signal awareness form to integrate the detector locations into their proper milepost location.
3. Look into creating a 2-3 second tone from the detector upon entering the circuit as a reminder/verification of proper working.
4. Check with the UP to see if they have the same problems, and what they are doing about it.
5. Shorten up the delay in the announcement of the detector at mp 37.6
6. Crews to decide among themselves as to their personal preferences for reminders.
7. This issue will be discussed at organization monthly meeting in July.
8. The issue will be posted on the organization web site.
9. An article addressing the issue will be in the next Dope Bucket.
10. System SACP will be addressed about adding a software update to the detectors to provide a tone.

Clearances-Hi-Wides: Another SIAP was held on 6-19-01 regarding a crew taking a train from one location to another without a hi-wide clearance on a car. The clearance was for another direction.

The contributing factors for this were:

1. No proper training in reading Hi-wide clearances
2. Didn't notice the direction of the clearance.
3. Field support failed to flag the car when the direction was changed.

The root cause for this failure was:

1. Lack of training for the crew- no familiarization with the format for hi-wide clearances.
2. Insufficient process in place to correctly route restricted cars with the restriction/clearance.

The SAP (safety action plan) for addressing future problems has been decided as:

1. Bob Hillstrom (manager of safety and rules) will see if any training aids are available for instructions in hi-wide clearances.
2. Safety marathons will be scheduled later to held educate crews in reading/recognizing hi-wide clearances.
3. The carrier will check with the TSS group to see what can be done to tie in the routing of cars and restriction/clearance forms.
4. The issue will be sent to System SACP for handling on a system level.

A-700 rules, discussion of and clarification:
It was determined that the A-700 rules allow a force assigned engineer  to another terminal to exercise their job selection sheets one time at that location to place themselves on a job. Any future job selections at that location will remove the engineer from a forced status. This does not mean a force assigned engineer may exercise their job selection sheet for any other location.
Any engineer that is set up as an engineer may rule at any location in the seniority district where no senior demoted engineers are working. This means if an engineer is force assigned to Klamath Falls, and a vacancy exists at Albany that is available for rule, and there are no senior demoted engineers at Albany, that force assigned engineer may rule the vacancy in Albany, regardless if senior demoted engineers are at Vancouver. 

Vacation changes: Any and all changes must be done through this committee so we can keep database current. No changes will be allowed by direct dealing through the crew desk.

Code PV-GCA has withdrawn claims, only good on 4^th pickup to not exceed 1.5 hrs,

FMLA: Company form has blanket release for medical information on it, don't use it. Use the government form.

GCA meeting:

UTU Merger - Talks are back on. More to follow

NS Merger - rumors are untrue at this time.

Dispute on holiday/PL days resolved.

A-card vote on KCS was not approved by the Intl.

Attendance Guidelines appeals are heading for a board soon.

Bylaw changes and resolutions and appeals at the GCA. Discussed. The following resolutions were addressed:

1. A position for Alternate Secretary/Treasurer was created
2. 3% COLA raise passed for General Chairman and Vice Chairmen.
3. Delegates pay raised 3%. A roll call vote was asked for and defeated. This delegate voted against this issue.
4. GCA dues increase of $5.00 per month to cover rising expenses. A roll call vote was called for and again defeated. This delegate voted against.
5. Allow the GCA meeting to be held at Las Vegas next meeting. Passed. (It was shown that hotel rooms are less expensive, unionized, and air fare is less than to other locations.)
6. Informal letters to be sent out 150 days in advance of future GCA triennial meetings to allow divisions more time to formulate resolutions. Passed.
7. Address the carrier to change the A-700 rules to allow for immediate markup on vacation vacancies. Passed. This delegate voted against the proposal.
8. Ask the carrier to change the A-700 rules to require the carrier to increase the extra board each time a demoted engineer is used. Passed. This delegate voted against. This would allow the carrier to change the boards whenever they pleased.
9. Seek a change to prohibit a demoted engineer from being used at an outlying location. Passed. This delegate voted against the proposal.
10. Seek a change to reduce the mileage for extra boards from 2400 to 2000 before requiring the carrier to increase the boards. Passed. This delegate voted against the proposal since it would reduce the guarantee, and not guarantee the increases requested.
11. Modify the transfer agreement to make the privilege portion of the 1990 transfer agreement more restrictive. Failed. This delegate voted for.
12. Provide system wide seniority on both BN and SF. FAILED!
13. There were many other resolutions passed that are more of a wish list than anything else. Remember, the carrier has to agree to these changes, and that is not likely.

There were 2 appeals that were addressed.

1. An appeal of the seniority order for the Lake Superior District for several engineers that transferred under the 1990 transfer agreement. These engineers were ranked in one order at their original district, but the ranking was changed when they all came to the Lakes District. The reason is the 1990 agreement requires employees with the same seniority date (11-1-90 in this case) to be ranked according to their original hire date, and if those are the same, by their birth date. This caused a formerly junior man to go ahead of a formerly senior man because he originally hired out as a trainman first. The appeal was denied.
2. Appeal the ruling that did not allow former WCRC demoted engineers from being force assigned as engineers in the Pacific 5th. This issue passed. It was decided that these demoted WCRC engineers would not be exercising (and forfeiting their seniority on the WCRC) by being force assigned to another terminal, as long as they returned to the WCRC property upon being released from force status. This will require them to protect just as all of us are required.

New business: Brother Barnes suggested we talk to a labor attorney concerning the way this division has been handled with respect to the Oregon Legislative board and the Internationals jurisdiction over it. Discussion. Brother Barnes authorized by the president at no cost to the division to pursue this issue and contact the appropriate individuals.

The floor was opened for discussion.

Motion to close by Brother Knowles, seconded by Brother Bailey. Motion passed unanimously.