David P. Estes

David P. Estes is the National Secretary-Treasurer of the 51,500-member Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), a Division of the Rail Conference, International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He was elected by acclamation to serve as the BLET’s top financial officer at the union’s Fifth National Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 12, 2022. Immediately prior to his election to the office of National Secretary-Treasurer, Brother Estes had served two consecutive four-year terms as a National Division Trustee, winning election by acclamation at the BLET’s Third National Convention 2014 and at the Fourth National Convention in 2018. Estes also serves as Head of the BLET’s Education and Training Department.

Brother Estes is an Amtrak locomotive engineer who spent most of his career working the Cascades service between Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. He is a member of Division 60 (Seattle) where he served as both Local Chairman and Secretary-Treasurer for over two decades.

Brother Estes began his railroad career with Amtrak in 1991 at Seattle, Wash. He earned promotion to locomotive engineer in 1997 and joined BLET Division 60 on October 1, 1997. In 2001, he was elected to the offices of Division 60 Local Chairman and Secretary-Treasurer. In 2005, he was elected as the Alternate Secretary-Treasurer of the Amtrak General Committee of Adjustment and ascended to the GCA Secretary-Treasurer position in November 2007. In November 2014, Brother Estes was elected to the office of GCA Vice General Chairman.

Brother Estes represented Division 60 as their delegate to the BLET First National Convention in 2006, Second National Convention 2010, and the Third National Convention 2014. During the 2014 Convention, Brother Estes also served as Chairman of the Salaries Committee.

Throughout his career, Brother Estes has directly participated in most aspects of both Local Division and General Committee of Adjustment membership representation, including time claims, discipline handling, Locomotive Engineer Review Board (LERB) submissions and contract negotiations.

In his role as GCA Secretary-Treasurer, Brother Estes worked closely with the 25 other Division Secretary-Treasurers across the entire Amtrak system, as well as the other railroads that the GCA represents, including Keolis in Boston (BLET Division 57) and Virginia (BLET Division 14), and Transit America Services (TASI) in San Francisco/San Jose (BLET Division 65). In addition, he has attended each of the LM-2 Secretary-Treasurer workshops offered by the BLET Education and Training Department from 2006 to the present.

Finally, while serving as a National Division Trustee, Brother Estes was responsible for auditing the books of the National Division on a monthly basis. This provided him with a better understanding of the complex financial operations of the BLET and stronger foundation to ultimately serve as National Secretary-Treasurer.