Save Our Trains Michigan
Conductor
UTU will not be used and abused
By Paul C. Thompson
UTU International President
The Railway Labor Act (RLA) governs our collective bargaining.
A core objective is to prevent strikes and lockouts.
The law is specific that the "duty" of carriers and their employees is to exert every reasonable effort to "make and maintain agreements."
In this regard, the RLA is one of the most successful laws ever passed by Congress. Since its passage in 1926, almost 98 percent of railroad collective bargaining disputes have been resolved without work stoppages.
When negotiations turn south, the National Mediation Board (NMB) has authority to keep parties at the bargaining table.
Where the NMB declares a bargaining impasse, the law provides for creation of a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB), whose three members make non-binding recommendations for a voluntary settlement.
Where the sides still cannot agree, Congress may use its authority under the Constitution's commerce clause to impose some form of a back-to-work order.
Successful collective bargaining in the railroad industry depends on both parties' faith in the process -- a mutual trust that neither party has its thumb on the scales.
That trust evaporated this round. Rail labor is convinced by the carriers' own words and deeds that the system is being gamed in favor of the carriers.
It is outrageous, reprehensible and shameful that the carriers have enlisted the Bush administration to help them subvert the process.
When this round of negotiations commenced in 2004, carriers told Wall Street analysts that if the UTU refused to agree to reopen locally negotiated crew consist agreements and accept one-person crews, the railroads were confident a carrier-friendly PEB would be appointed; and anti-labor conservatives controlling Congress would ensure those PEB recommendations were enacted into law.
There already is evidence of PEB subversion that is eroding mutual trust in the system. Two PEBs appointed by the Bush administration to investigate disputes on a commuter railroad included a majority of members with no experience in railroad labor-management bargaining or historic relationships between the parties, and with a strong suggestion of management sympathy.
All previous PEBs over the decades -- whether appointed by Democratic or Republican presidents -- were made up of RLA-experienced and neutral arbitrators drawn from an NMB-maintained list.
The carriers assured Wall Street that should their dispute in this round of national handling reach an impasse, a carrier-friendly PEB would be appointed by the White House -- and the railroads' friends controlling Congress would ensure that its pro-carrier recommendations, including one-person crews, are enacted into law.
The carriers' own deeds validate their words. A federal court ordered the carriers to stop demanding single-person crews as part of national handling. But they persist. In June, the carriers issued an ultimatum: Voluntarily negotiate one-person crews or accept a five-year wage freeze for current employees and a permanent 25 percent wage reduction for all new hires. The carriers declined to talk about improved employee training.
For sure, the carriers and rail labor have their eyes on the November congressional elections. If Democrats regain control of the House and/or Senate, the carriers' strategy could well go up in smoke. Although all of labor is exerting every effort to change control of Congress, the UTU is not stopping there.
I have instructed our National Legislative Director James Brunkenhoefer to make alliances with captive shippers, who are seeking legislation to limit railroad monopoly power. The UTU and other unions will work with our many friends in Congress -- Democrats and Republicans -- to append shipper-friendly legislative language to any congressional back-to-work order imposing carrier-friendly PEB recommendations.
The railroads' deceitful actions this round, which produced unprecedented labor solidarity, will have other unanticipated repercussions that the carriers may not expect or enjoy.
It is well documented that there are no effective or safe new technologies, such as positive train control, to permit crew-size reduction without compromising safety and national security. Indeed, the Federal Railroad Administration's Collision Analysis Working Group concluded that a second crew member provides an important second set of eyes and ears.
The carriers' intent -- in the face of record profitability, new-found monopoly pricing-power, and appalling customer-service failures -- is further to increase bottom lines and executive bonuses by going to one-person crews. For this, the railroads are willing to roll the dice on public safety and national security.
It is time for railroads to cease their despicable undermining of 80 years of trust built up under the RLA and its time-honored processes, to drop their demands to reduce crew-size, to return to good-faith bargaining, and give more than lip service to public safety and national security.
July 20, 2006
By Paul C. Thompson
UTU International President
The Railway Labor Act (RLA) governs our collective bargaining.
A core objective is to prevent strikes and lockouts.
The law is specific that the "duty" of carriers and their employees is to exert every reasonable effort to "make and maintain agreements."
In this regard, the RLA is one of the most successful laws ever passed by Congress. Since its passage in 1926, almost 98 percent of railroad collective bargaining disputes have been resolved without work stoppages.
When negotiations turn south, the National Mediation Board (NMB) has authority to keep parties at the bargaining table.
Where the NMB declares a bargaining impasse, the law provides for creation of a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB), whose three members make non-binding recommendations for a voluntary settlement.
Where the sides still cannot agree, Congress may use its authority under the Constitution's commerce clause to impose some form of a back-to-work order.
Successful collective bargaining in the railroad industry depends on both parties' faith in the process -- a mutual trust that neither party has its thumb on the scales.
That trust evaporated this round. Rail labor is convinced by the carriers' own words and deeds that the system is being gamed in favor of the carriers.
It is outrageous, reprehensible and shameful that the carriers have enlisted the Bush administration to help them subvert the process.
When this round of negotiations commenced in 2004, carriers told Wall Street analysts that if the UTU refused to agree to reopen locally negotiated crew consist agreements and accept one-person crews, the railroads were confident a carrier-friendly PEB would be appointed; and anti-labor conservatives controlling Congress would ensure those PEB recommendations were enacted into law.
There already is evidence of PEB subversion that is eroding mutual trust in the system. Two PEBs appointed by the Bush administration to investigate disputes on a commuter railroad included a majority of members with no experience in railroad labor-management bargaining or historic relationships between the parties, and with a strong suggestion of management sympathy.
All previous PEBs over the decades -- whether appointed by Democratic or Republican presidents -- were made up of RLA-experienced and neutral arbitrators drawn from an NMB-maintained list.
The carriers assured Wall Street that should their dispute in this round of national handling reach an impasse, a carrier-friendly PEB would be appointed by the White House -- and the railroads' friends controlling Congress would ensure that its pro-carrier recommendations, including one-person crews, are enacted into law.
The carriers' own deeds validate their words. A federal court ordered the carriers to stop demanding single-person crews as part of national handling. But they persist. In June, the carriers issued an ultimatum: Voluntarily negotiate one-person crews or accept a five-year wage freeze for current employees and a permanent 25 percent wage reduction for all new hires. The carriers declined to talk about improved employee training.
For sure, the carriers and rail labor have their eyes on the November congressional elections. If Democrats regain control of the House and/or Senate, the carriers' strategy could well go up in smoke. Although all of labor is exerting every effort to change control of Congress, the UTU is not stopping there.
I have instructed our National Legislative Director James Brunkenhoefer to make alliances with captive shippers, who are seeking legislation to limit railroad monopoly power. The UTU and other unions will work with our many friends in Congress -- Democrats and Republicans -- to append shipper-friendly legislative language to any congressional back-to-work order imposing carrier-friendly PEB recommendations.
The railroads' deceitful actions this round, which produced unprecedented labor solidarity, will have other unanticipated repercussions that the carriers may not expect or enjoy.
It is well documented that there are no effective or safe new technologies, such as positive train control, to permit crew-size reduction without compromising safety and national security. Indeed, the Federal Railroad Administration's Collision Analysis Working Group concluded that a second crew member provides an important second set of eyes and ears.
The carriers' intent -- in the face of record profitability, new-found monopoly pricing-power, and appalling customer-service failures -- is further to increase bottom lines and executive bonuses by going to one-person crews. For this, the railroads are willing to roll the dice on public safety and national security.
It is time for railroads to cease their despicable undermining of 80 years of trust built up under the RLA and its time-honored processes, to drop their demands to reduce crew-size, to return to good-faith bargaining, and give more than lip service to public safety and national security.
July 20, 2006