(The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division issued the following on June 25, 2009.)
TULSA, Okla. — The governing bodies of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Federation and the Frisco Federation of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division convened today and finalized a merger between the two federations. The name of the newly formed federation will be the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Frisco System Federation.
The AT&SFF System Federation will now represent more than 3000 members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and will maintain offices in Newton, Kansas and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Richard Sandlin was elected to head the new federation as General Chairman and offered, “Our officers and board members worked hard to make this happen because of a deep belief that the best way to represent our members is through strength and unity. I am humbled by the faith placed in me to lead this new federation and look forward to working with the new officers in order to earn the trust of our newly combined membership.”
“After a long hard look at the benefits of merging our federations Rick and I came to the same conclusion – our members will be much better served with a larger, more efficient organization,” said former AT&SF General Chairman Mark Hemphill. “It has taken a lot of preparation and hard work but the end result is that our members will be better served.”
“I would like to extend my congratulations to the officers and members of both the Frisco and the AT&SF Federations,” said BMWED National Division President Freddie Simpson. “AT&SF General Chairman Mark Hemphill and Frisco General Chairman Rick Sandlin have illustrated once again that the leadership of this union places their membership’s interest first. Both federations have done a great job representing their members and I expect that working together they can achieve even more.”
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Frisco System Federation represents maintenance of way workers who build, construct, inspect and maintain railroad tracks, bridges, buildings and equipment for BNSF and a number of short line railroads operating in states from coast to coast.