INDEPENDENCE, Ohio, April 25 — On Friday, April 22, 2022, the BLET National Division submitted written comments in advance of the upcoming Surface Transportation Board (STB) hearing scheduled for April 26 and 27, 2022. The in-person hearing, titled “Urgent Issues in Freight Rail Service,” will begin at 9:30 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, April 26, and will resume at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 27. The hearing will be open for public observation and a live stream will be available on the STB website.
BLET National Division Vice President Mark Wallace will testify on behalf of BLET’s 33,000 active members. Brother Wallace also serves as Vice President of the Teamsters Rail Conference and is a member of Local Division 267 (Asheville, North Carolina). He comes from a railroad family and holds engineer and trainmen’s seniority on Norfolk Southern. He has served our Union as a Local Chairman, Vice General Chairman, General Chairman, National Division Trustee, and National Division Vice President.
BLET National Secretary-Treasurer Stephen Bruno and Assistant to the National President and Director of Research John Fink will also be attending the hearing on behalf of the BLET membership. Brother Bruno is a member of Local Division 71 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and holds engineer and trainmen’s seniority on SEPTA. He has served our Union as Local Chairman, General Chairman, Directory of Regulatory Affairs, National Division Vice President, and National Secretary-Treasurer. Brother Fink is a member of Local Division 3 (Cleveland, Ohio), and also comes from a railroad family. He holds engineer and trainmen’s seniority on CSX and has served our Union as Local Chairman and Director of Bylaws Administration before becoming the Assistant to the National President and Director of Research.
“The BLET membership will be well represented by Vice President Mark Wallace and our fellow Rail Labor Unions who will also be testifying,” said National President Dennis R. Pierce. “Our team asked for and received comments from across all of the Class I properties that we represent and we are well prepared to show how inept railroad management is destroying America’s supply chain. Their rampant mismanagement and abuse of resources, most importantly their operating crews, has the Nation’s supply chain on the verge of collapse. The Nation’s regulators and legislators must understand that the current situation is nothing short of a powder keg waiting to explode. It will be on the railroads themselves if and when it does.”
Again, the hearing will begin at 9:30 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, April 26, and at 9:00 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 27.
A live stream will be available at the following: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgd2FPpKSpQZ57p771aafNg/live.
A link to the hearing can also be accessed through the Board’s website at www.stb.gov, under “Quick Links” on the homepage, by clicking on “WATCH LIVE HEARINGS HERE.”
The hearing will be recorded, and the link to the recording will be available on the Board’s website at www.stb.gov, under the tab “News & Communications,” by clicking on “Meetings & Hearings.”
BLET’s written comments can be downloaded here (PDF): https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/DCMS_External_PROD/1650658349736/304387.pdf.