CLEVELAND, December 10 — By a vote of 17,251 – 7,425, members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers have said no to a proposed merger with the United Transportation Union.
“The members have spoken and I accept their decision,” said BLE International President Don M. Hahs. “They have made it clear that this is not the right time and these are not the right conditions for a merger with the UTU.
“However, the BLE is prepared to continue working together with UTU members and leaders to improve working conditions for all operating crafts. I urge UTU President Byron Boyd to accept the membership’s decision and to move forward in a progressive manner to build a relationship of trust, so that our members may dispose of the stigma of the last three years.”
The on-again, off-again merger of the nation’s two largest rail operating unions began on April 9, 1998, when — at the request of AFL-CIO President John Sweeney — the BLE and UTU began good faith discussions to resolve the matters dividing the two organizations. These original merger discussions broke off on May 8, 1999, when the BLE Advisory Board, the Brotherhood’s top governing body, voted to end the unification bid due to questions regarding the UTU’s financial situation.
After a two-year hiatus, however, members of the BLE Advisory Board voted to renew unification talks with the UTU on June 11, 2001.
The 24,676 votes represents 62% of active BLE membership. President Hahs credits the high-level of voter turnout to the importance of the vote, and the hard work of the BLE’s Department of Internal Organizing, Mobilizing and Strategic Planning.
“I commend the efforts of General Secretary-Treasurer Bill Walpert, whose department spearheaded the get out the vote drive, and all Special Representatives and National Mobilization Team members who spent countless hours making sure BLE members made their voices heard in this all-important vote,” President Hahs
said.
The BLE, founded on May 8, 1863, is the oldest national labor union in North America.
The BLE represents approximately 60,000 active and retired members in the United States and Canada, while the UTU represents approximately 125,000 active and retired members.