CLEVELAND, June 13 — Dennis R. Pierce, National President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) issued the following statement today in connection with this morning’s cancellation of several Metra trains that operate over the UP West Line:
“Contrary to the claims of Metra and the Union Pacific Railroad, this morning’s disruptions were in no way caused by the locomotive engineers represented by the BLET. There is an ongoing general crew shortage on the UP because of Midwest flooding, which has resulted in UP trains and crews in the Rochelle area being detoured over BNSF lines.
“This past weekend, there was a signal cutover on UP’s Geneva Subdivision on Saturday and Sunday in connection with a new control point being placed into service just west of Elmhurst. Four of the five extra board engineers who protect the Metra commuter service were required to work on Sunday in connection with this project. Of these, only one had the federally-required off duty time to work this morning.
“It should be noted that, until late this morning, only five engineers were assigned to this extra board, despite consistent complaints by the local BLET representative that ten engineers were required in order to adequately protect the service. Three additional engineers were added to the extra board within the past couple of hours.
“Regarding UP’s claim that this service disruption was the fault of engineers on vacation and being ill, the following should be noted. A total of six engineers are on vacation today. Those engineers on vacation for this entire week were assigned that vacation last year. Engineers on a single-day vacation today were granted permission to be off by the railroad, which makes the sole determination how many single-day vacations may be taken. And our local representative has informed us that one engineer working in the UP West Line Metra commuter service marked off sick today.
“It is unfortunate that UP and Metra have chosen to attempt to shift the blame for their own poor workforce management to the shoulders of the men and women dedicated to transporting Chicago commuters safely, consistently and on time.”