June 11, 2008: Members of the United Transportation Union, which represents approximately 45,000 employees of more than 30 freight railroads, have voted to ratify a retroactive collective bargaining agreement that provides a 17 percent wage increase over five years, according to a June 10 announcement by UTU.

The tentative agreement was reached in January between the union and the National Carriers' Conference Committee (NCCC), which represents over 30 freight railroads, after a negotiation process of about three years (16 DLR A-2, 1/25/08).

"In the face of recurring news reports of overall wage declines in American industry, tens of thousands of American job losses, and reductions in health care benefits and pensions for millions of workers, UTU members covered by this agreement gain a 17 percent wage hike, retroactive pay, no change in work rules, an increase in the meal allowance, and a cap on health care contributions with no reduction in health care benefits," UTU International President Mike Futhey said in a statement.

The election was conducted by telephone by the American Arbitration Association, UTU said. According to the union, 15,313 workers, or 85 percent, voted in favor of ratification, while 2,763 voted against ratification of the agreement. The agreement covers conductors, yardmen, brakemen, engineers, firemen, switchers, hostlers, and yardmasters employed by Burlington Northern Santa Fe, CSX, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, and several smaller railroads, UTU said.

The union had urged its members to vote for approval of the agreement. In a May 27 letter to UTU members posted on the union's Web site, the union said that if the agreement was not ratified, a presidential emergency board appointed by President Bush would most likely not be receptive to union concerns.

"We would have preferred--and we deserve--more; but the carriers and their anti-labor friends in the Bush administration, which will name the presidential emergency board if we fail to ratify this agreement, would have preferred we obtain less," the letter said.

The contract is retroactive to July 1, 2005, and becomes amendable January 1, 2010. As Futhey stated, the contract provides for a 17 percent increase in wages over five years. UTU said retroactive wage payments will be made to members within 60 days. Under the Railway Labor Act, collective bargaining agreements become amendable but do not expire.

Health Care Contributions Capped

The agreement caps employee contributions to health care premiums at 15 percent of the employer's cost until Jan. 1, 2010. The monthly employee cost-sharing contribution currently is $166.25, and that rate will remain in effect through 2008. Beginning in 2009, employee contributions will remain at 15 percent of employer cost. In 2010, employee contributions will be capped at $200, unless that amount is exceeded in 2009, in which case the 2009 rate would remain in 2010. Should the 2010 rate be lower than that of the prior year, the lower rate would prevail. In 2011, "the employee cost-sharing contribution will be determined on the same basis as under the past national agreement provisions," UTU said.

Futhey said in his statement that UTU was the only rail union to obtain continuation of a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), beginning in 2010, in the amended contract. "The COLA put some $7 more per day in members' pockets while we were at the negotiating table this round," Futhey said.

In a June 10 statement, NCCC said that with the ratification of the UTU agreement, "nearly 95 percent of all unionized freight rail workers have successfully concluded voluntary agreements in the current bargaining round." Members of the Transportation Communications Union, the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen-TCU, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the Transport Workers Union ratified similar contracts in July 2007 (182 DLR A-13, 9/20/07 ). The International Association of Machinists remains the only union representing freight railroad workers without an agreement, NCCC said.

"We are pleased that the UTU's membership has overwhelmingly endorsed its leadership's efforts to craft mutually beneficial solutions to the challenges that had stymied negotiations for so long," NCCC chairman Robert F. Allen said in the statement. "This demonstrates yet again that voluntary bargaining continues to work well in the railroad industry."

UTU represents nearly one-third of the workforce of the freight railroads in NCCC, according to the conference committee.

By Michael Rose

May 12, 2008: Those of us who work in transportation don’t have to be the victim of the downward spiral of wages and working conditions that is hitting so many of our union brothers and sisters.

Many businesses are adopting “just-in-time” delivery. The idea is to cut down on inventory and get the goods to where they’re going right when they’re needed—be it raw materials or a finished product going to the store.

Employers are using automation in warehouses and transportation to cut down on jobs. But those of us left standing in the transportation industry are in the catbird’s seat. We’re more critical to the smooth flow of goods across the globe than ever before.

Keep in mind that the transportation sector includes all the support groups from clerks to mechanics to waste haulers.

A Fragile System

It’s no accident that the term “fragile” is always used when talking about just-in-time delivery. One delay can lead to many more delays.

That gives us power.

There is a major shortage of truck drivers in this country. The spiraling cost of fuel is driving a lot of independents under, and the big trucking companies will emerge dominant. The degradation of master freight agreements can be halted and reversed. Union organizers must aggressively exploit this upheaval in the trucking industry.

In rail, we’re in the middle of a five-year cycle during which 50 percent of our entire workforce will reach retirement age. The carriers can’t keep up with new hires—and it seems that the younger generation actually expects to have a life outside the railroad.

Higher fuel rates are fueling higher rail traffic. The Federal Railroad Administration is on the verge of imposing mandatory off days. And customers are demanding scheduled service. This is the perfect storm for major wage and benefit gains!

Sure, we’re in an economic downturn and most Teamsters are not feeling our power right now.

But this is actually a time for optimism for workers in the transportation sector. We are not lucky to have a job—the employers are lucky to have the few of us who are able to meet the demands in this sector. Let’s take our rightful place as the backbone of organized blue-collar labor in the 21st century.

by Hugh Sawyer
Local Chairman
BLET Div. 316
Atlanta

April 1, 2008: Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen have ratified a collective bargaining agreement with Amtrak covering approximately 1,300 locomotive engineers, the union announced March 28.

Representatives of Amtrak and the union signed the tentative agreement Feb. 19, and ratification ballots were due March 28 (43 DLR A-8, 3/5/08) . The contract covers engineers who operate passenger trains throughout the 21,000-mile, 46-state Amtrak system, the union said.

BLET said it counted the ballots March 28, with a final tally of 809-138 in favor of ratification.

Mark Kenny, general chairman of BLET, urged union members in a Feb. 29 letter to vote in favor of ratification. He said the contract "significantly improves hourly rate wages, placing them in proximity of the highest paid passenger/commuter services in the rail industry" and "sets employee cost contributions levels for [health and welfare] benefits consistent with today's industry standards."

The newly ratified contract replaces one that became amendable Jan. 1, 2000, and is based on the recommendations of the presidential emergency board established to resolve collective bargaining disputes between Amtrak and eight other rail unions, BLET said. That contract was ratified March 10 (49 DLR A-7, 3/13/08).

The new contract becomes amendable Jan. 1, 2010. Under the Railway Labor Act, collective bargaining agreements become amendable but do not expire.

The agreement provides for a wage improvement package amounting to a 34.7 percent increase over the hourly rate in effect at the end of the last agreement, 100 percent retroactive pay recovery, and no work-rule changes, BLET said.

The contract provides for retroactive wage increases for all engineers who were on Amtrak's payroll as of Dec. 1, 2007. Those workers are eligible for retroactive pay for all time-based compensation under the previous agreement between July 1, 2002, and the date of the first general wage increase of the new agreement paid in 2008.

The contract also provides that 27 cents per hour of the previous contract's cost-of-living allowance will be rolled into the new basic pay rates. All cost-of-living allowance payments in excess of 27 cents made after July 1, 2002, will be recovered from the retroactive payments.

BLET said 40 percent of the total retroactive amount due to eligible employees will be paid within 60 days of the contract's ratification, with the remaining 60 percent to be paid on or before the first anniversary date of the first payment. Union members who believe Amtrak's retroactive calculation to be incorrect will have the right to challenge the figure, the union said.

The new agreement also sets the monthly rate that employees must pay for employee and dependent health care coverage at $166.25, and requires that employees pay retroactive health premiums for each year of the contract dating back to July 1, 2001. The premium payment scale begins at $33.39 per month and increases to the $166.25 rate for premiums in 2008. These payments will be deducted from the retroactive wages that will be paid to workers.

Cost-sharing contributions for health care will increase over the life of the agreement, but are capped at $200 or the July 1, 2009, cost-sharing contribution amount--calculated as one-twelfth of 15 percent of the per employee cost for health care coverage for the prior calendar year--whichever is greater.

Previously, BLET members rejected a June 20 tentative agreement with Amtrak by a vote of 587-305 (184 DLR A-12, 9/24/07 ).

Representatives of BLET were not immediately available for comment.

An Amtrak spokeswoman told BNA that the railroad company had informed all of its employees of the ratification vote results, and that an implementation schedule would be finalized once the agreement is signed.

The collective bargaining agreement between BLET and Amtrak is available on the Internet at http://www.bletamt.org/contract-08.htm .

March 25, 2008: Don Hahs has been removed from office as head of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET).

A three-member Teamster panel has removed Don Hahs from office and suspended him from Teamster membership for one year for violating his fiduciary duty to the union.

Last year, Hahs was charged with embezzling over $58,000 in members’ money for basketball tickets, fishing trips, hotel-room movies, and unauthorized travel for his wife.

Hahs is barred from holding any BLET office until the end of his current term in 2010, suspended from Teamster membership until March 20, 2009, and must pay a fine of $44,963. Hoffa has approved the decision of the panel.

The panel, which included one BLET official and two Teamster officials, refused to convict Hahs of embezzlement. But they did agree that his spending was a serious misuse of members’ money.

Even after his suspension ends, Hahs won’t be able to run again for office. The next BLET elections are in 2010, but the Teamster constitution requires that a member must be in continuous good standing for 24 months to be eligible to run—that would be 2011 for Hahs. His career in the union is finished.

Ed Rodzwicz has taken over as president of the BLET. Hahs has appealed the decision, but he is unlikely to prevail.

Throughout this case, Hahs has claimed that he was only doing what BLET presidents before him did. “Hahs says ‘everybody did this,’” said Hugh Sawyer, the local chairman of BLET Div. 316. “That’s no excuse. It’s never OK to steal from our members. This is a union. Not a corporation. Union dues must be spent on union matters.”

February 15, 2008: Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd's train operating crews in Canada have ratified a new five-year contract, the union said on Wednesday.

Read more at Reuters.com

January 30, 2008: A new study from Labor Notes magazine shows the power transportation workers have in the new economy.

Truck drivers at HUDD Distribution walked off the job December 17 at the company’s facilities in South Gate and Mira Loma, California.

The Cargo ChainThe drivers, primarily Latino immigrants known as troqueros, shuttle goods between the massive port of Los Angeles/Long Beach and the company’s inland warehouses.

Drivers were protesting a company move to unilaterally modify their contracts, cutting wages in tandem with reducing freight insurance. Port truckers, while often tied to a single company, are classified as independent contractors rather than employees, making it impossible to form a union under existing labor law.

HUDD drivers stayed off the job for almost two weeks, but quickly found themselves in the crosshairs. Within days the terminal operator APM, another division of A.P. Moller-Maersk, had contracted with a different trucking company to move the idle shipping containers inland. Then on December 28 the drivers’ bid for solidarity from local longshore workers was quashed when an arbitrator ordered dockworkers back to work just hours after they refused to cross the truckers’ picket line.

Global Network

The situation for the troqueros is just the latest example of workers squeezed by the titans of the global economy. A.P. Moller-Maersk is the world’s largest shipper, moving close to 15 percent of cargo in and out of the United States. A majority of the containers HUDD transports are for Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer.

The Cargo Chain explores the ever-expanding network of ship hands, longshore workers, truck drivers, railroad operators, and warehouse workers that make the global marketplace possible. To the average consumer, these workers are practically invisible, but they are at the crossroads of today’s economy, moving billions of dollars of goods daily.

And their importance is growing, judging by the surge of goods moving in and out of the country. Just one example is the number of containers—the 40-foot steel boxes that hold everything from flat-panel televisions to scrap metal—that enter and leave the United States, a figure that has doubled in the past 10 years.

Just In Time Leverage

This growth is the result of a strategy by retailers like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Target to create a seamless supply chain, slashing inventories and delivering goods “just in time” to the customer. Ships, intermodal yards, and trucks have been transformed into mobile warehouses.

While adding to the corporate bottom line, this has put tremendous pressure on an already over-stretched transportation network, increasing the risk of disruption—and the costs that go with it—as well as amplifying the potential power of workers.

One recent flash point was last year’s strike by conductors at Canadian National, Canada’s largest rail carrier. The two-week walkout cut container traffic in half at the Port of Vancouver and caused major disruptions across Canada’s grain, forest products, chemical, plastics, gas, and auto industries. The stakes were so high that a week into the strike federal legislators ratified back-to-work legislation, strengthening the company’s hand in bargaining.

Employers on the Move

Companies also recognize the potential power for workers in the cargo chain, and are taking steps today to protect tomorrow’s profit. A key goal is to expand shipping options so cargo isn’t bottlenecked by a strike, storm, or natural disaster. As the HUDD drivers quickly discovered, shippers already can effectively pit non-union short-haul drivers against one another.

But employers are also searching for more ways to route cargo through ports or overland, a move that will temper the power of unionized workers on the docks, the railroads, and the highways. APM is building a new $250 million terminal in Mobile, Alabama, at the same time that terminals in Houston, Norfolk, Virginia, and Savannah, Georgia, are being greatly expanded.

Railroad companies are working with the Department of Transportation to create massive rail yards, renovate track, and raise overpasses to make way for rail cars that carry two containers stacked on top of each other. Norfolk Southern now has a direct line from the Virginia ports to Chicago and the Midwest since overpasses were raised to make way for “double stack” rail cars.

Companies are also using new technology to cut jobs and shift control of the work from people onto machines. At a newly expanded terminal in Norfolk, for example, yard cranes run without an operator, using GPS technology, cameras, and computers. Rubber-tire gantry and rail-mounted gantry cranes can stack containers seven high and six wide, delivering containers to trucks or rail cars. Six cranes can be operated at once from a computer booth inside the terminal.

Underscoring Solidarity

These developments only deepen the need for solidarity among workers in the cargo chain, union and non-union alike.

One key test will be the fight to defend standards on the docks at the bargaining table. In July the contract for West Coast longshore workers expires, and the memory of the 10-day employer lockout in 2002 is lingering over current talks. East Coast longshore workers face an equally important contract deadline in 2010, which will either reverse or reinforce the two-tier wage system put in place during the last round of negotiations.

An even more daunting question is whether unionized workers in the freight network will be able to harness their power to organize non-union workers like the HUDD troqueros.

by Mark Brenner, Labor Notes Magazine

Editor’s Note: Labor Notes is pleased to announce the release of The Cargo Chain — a joint project with the Longshore Workers’ Coalition and the Center for Urban Pedagogy. This pamphlet examines the network of workers and machines that move goods across the globe, the potential power this system creates for labor, and what companies are doing to undermine this power.

Click here to download a map of the US cargo chain.

December 17, 2007: Charged with embezzling members’ money, Don Hahs faces harsher punishment now that the Independent Review Board has rejected a proposed settlement as too light.

In September, the IRB charged Hahs, the president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), with embezzling over $58,000 in members’ money.

The IRB instructed Hoffa to conduct an internal hearing to hear the charges against Hahs. Instead Hahs cut a deal with Hoffa to repay about $40,000 and take a six-month suspension.

The IRB called the deal insufficient, and told Hoffa to re-convene the three-member panel.

From 2004 to 2006, the IRB Chief Investigator charged that Hahs spent $47,880 on tickets to Cleveland Cavs basketball games for his personal use.

The IRB charges also include:

• A three-day fishing trip in Alaska. Hahs was in Alaska for one day for a meeting then cut out for a fishing trip.
• Taking his wife on union trips. Since 2004, Hahs charged the union $7,951.97 for his wife’s tickets and meals.
• A week-long trip to Las Vegas with his wife that cost $1,677.77. Hahs and the union have no record of the reason for his trip.
• $923 in hotel room movies. Hahs says his grandson enjoyed them; Hahs often brought his grandson along at union expense.

If Hahs is found guilty, he will face a harsher penalty, up to possible expulsion from the union.

Click here to read more in the BNA Daily Labor Report.

December 17, 2007: The Independent Review Board Dec. 13 rejected an agreement between International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa and Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers President Don Hahs for disciplinary action against Hahs on charges of financial misconduct.

John J. Cronin, Jr., administrator of the IRB, the court-supervised panel that oversees anticorruption efforts at the Teamsters, told BNA late Dec. 13 that the review board had rejected the plan as insufficient, but did not elaborate. However, Cronin said board members were clearly disappointed that Hoffa had not followed the board's Sept. 13 recommendation that he convene an internal union panel to hear evidence against Hahs, and recommend its own disciplinary action.

Instead of convening the internal union panel, Hoffa reached an agreement with Hahs in which Hahs agreed to accept a six-month suspension from union office and to pay restitution for improper expenses charged to the BLE treasury between 2004 and 2006, IBT spokesman Galen Munroe said Dec. 13. The plan was submitted to the IRB for its approval around Dec. 1, Munroe said.

In its Sept. 13 investigative report and recommendation, the board charged that Hahs caused the Cleveland-based BLE--which merged with the Teamsters in 2004-- to purchase professional basketball tickets for his own personal use, and that Hahs improperly charged his wife's travel expenses to the union (184 DLR A-5, 9/24/07 ). The report characterized these expenditures, which totaled about $57,000, as "embezzling union funds."

Cronin said he was unaware of the full terms of Hoffa-Hahs agreement, other than that Hahs would return to union office at end of the six-month suspension, and that the amount of the restitution would total approximately $40,000.

John Bentley, a spokesman for BLE, told BNA Dec. 13 that the Hoffa-Hahs agreement went into effect Dec. 1, and that Hahs is suspended without pay until May 31, 2008.

"In accordance with an agreement reached with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, National President D.M. Hahs has agreed to accept a six-month suspension," the union said in a statement.

"In accordance with [BLE's] Section 8(a)-National Division Rules, E. [Edward] W. Rodzwicz will assume the duties of and serve as National President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers," according to the BLE statement.

Bentley declined further comment.

Independent Review Board

The next step in the case is up to IBT and BLE, Cronin told BNA. The review board is not empowered to order the union to impose any specific remedy, he said, but does have broad authority to accept or reject any disciplinary action taken by the union.

The three-member board--made up of former Attorney General Benjamin R. Civiletti, former U.S. Attorney Joseph E. diGenova, and former FBI Director William H. Webster--does have the power to impose punishment on its own, Cronin said, but this step is rarely taken and is subject to approval by Judge Loretta A. Preska of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

BLE comes under the jurisdiction of the board, which was established in a 1989 consent decree settling corruption charges brought by the government against IBT, because of the Jan. 1, 2004, merger of the rail union with the Teamsters (235 DLR A-11, 12/8/03 ), according to the board's Sept. 13 investigative report. The merger established the 59,000-member BLE as a division within IBT's Rail Conference.

December 11, 2007: Charged with embezzling $58,000 in members’ money, BLET president Don Hahs has made a settlement with the International Union for a six-month suspension. This deal, however, has not yet been finally approved.

In September, the Independent Review Board (IRB) charged Hahs, the president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, with embezzling union funds.

Hahs admits that he spent the money on everything from Cleveland Cavalier season tickets to a fishing expedition to Alaska. His excuse—former BLET presidents have done the same for years.

On Nov. 28, Hahs signed a deal with Hoffa to take a six-month suspension from his office, and to repay all the embezzled funds. Hahs was supposed to have his case heard by a Teamster panel on Dec. 3.

The case is not closed yet. The IRB still has to approve or reject Hahs’ deal. The IRB can send the deal back to the Teamsters for a harsher sentence.

From 2004 to 2006, the IRB Chief Investigator charged that Hahs spent $47,880 on tickets to Cleveland Cavs basketball games. Hahs kept the tickets in his desk, and he only gave them out to other BLET employees “at the last minute when he could not use the tickets himself,” according to the IRB.

The IRB charges also include:

• A three-day fishing trip in Alaska. Hahs was in Alaska for one day for a meeting then cut out for a fishing trip.
• Taking his wife on union trips. Since 2004, Hahs charged the union $7,951.97 for his wife’s tickets and meals.
• A week-long trip to Las Vegas with his wife that cost $1,677.77. Hahs and the union have no record of the reason for his trip.
• $923 in hotel room movies. Hahs says his grandson enjoyed them; Hahs often brought his grandson along at union expense.

Whatever the final outcome, it appears that Hahs has a problem with misusing the members’ money.

Click here to read more in Traffic World.

December 11, 2007: Teamster engineers have voted down an early deal in a close vote on the Norfolk Southern.

BLET negotiators asked members to accept a new contract that would last until 2014, but rank-and-file Teamsters voted down the proposed deal by 1,143 votes No to 1,050 votes Yes. The current on-property agreement does not expire until 2009.

The proposed agreement would have continued a controversial bonus pay system, but reduced the bonus after 2009. Under the bonus system, members are paid a bonus in lieu of wage increases, based on financial goals set by the company. One engineer complained on the web: “We assume all the risk and the NS risks ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.”

The proposed agreement also contained language that could take away vacations from some engineers off work for illness or disability. Plus, the agreement failed to guarantee the work of yard engineers. Yard Teamsters voted heavily against the agreement.

BLET officials campaigned hard for a big Yes vote. In a letter supporting the deal, BLET Vice President Marcus Reuf called members who opposed the contract “haters.”

In the end, enough BLET members decided to hold out for a better deal.

With this deal rejected, will the General Chairmen reach out to the members to find out what they want? Many members want a more secure wage structure, and they are worried about the rising cost of insurance premiums. Working conditions were once again completely ignored in this agreement.

It’s not clear if the BLET will return to the table right away, or if they will wait until the expiration is closer.

One thing is for sure: if Norfolk Southern wants an early deal, we need to use that leverage to win gains in our new contract—not to bargain away our hard-fought standards.

Click here to get rail updates from Teamsters for a Democratic Union.