(The International Brotherhood of Teamsters issued the following on April 29, 2010.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A majority of the 277 maintenance of way workers employed by the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad (DM&E) voted this week to become members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED), part of the Teamsters Rail Conference.
“We are proud that the employees of the DM&E have chosen the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes as their union representative,” said Freddie N. Simpson, President of the BMWED and Teamsters Vice President. “Our new brothers and sisters on this railroad will be an integral part of the railroad’s project to expand, rebuild and maintain their line.”
The maintenance of way employees will be represented by the BMWED’s Unifed System Division which represents more than 5,000 railroad workers at the Union Pacific Railroad, a number of short line railroads and the Wyoming Nortrak Plant. The locomotive engineers and conductors on the DM&E are already represented by Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, also part of the Teamsters Rail Conference.
The DM&E is owned by the Canadian Pacific Railroad and operates through the states of Wyoming to Illinois and are headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.