CLEVELAND, April 19 — Members representing 20 Divisions of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE), along with members of Teamsters Local 222, conducted informational picketing today in Salt Lake City to educate shareholders of the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) about the potential dangers of using non-qualified workers to operate remote control locomotives in the railroad industry.
The informational campaign began at 8:30 a.m. (MST) outside of the Little America Hotel at the annual meeting of UP’s shareholders. The Union Pacific engineers distributed flyers predicting that the use of the remote control technology by non-qualified ground personnel would reduce productivity by more than 30 percent.
The flyers also indicated that Union Pacific could avoid this and other potential problems by using federally-certified locomotive engineers to operate remote control locomotives. The flyers urge UP shareholders to, “Insist that certified locomotive engineers, the most qualified and experienced personnel, continue to operate locomotives. This will guarantee and insure that everyone’s best interests are served.”
In addition to the flyers, the BLE and Teamster members held large banners and posters with slogans such as, “Safe, productive and proud since 1863… the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.”
The 20 BLE Divisions participating in today’s information picketing were: 349, 846, 55, 136, 222, 374, 681, 713, 888, 794, 228, 766, 236, 362, 676, 193, 366, 415, 44 and 245.