INDEPENDENCE, Ohio, April 12 — On March 8, 2022, BLET National President Dennis R. Pierce testified before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials.
Following the hearing, President Pierce received questions for the hearing record from Rep. Jesús “Chuy” Garcia and Rep. Rick Crawford. President Pierce’s answers were submitted to Congress on April 12, and are posted on the BLET National Division website (PDF).
President Pierce’s answers are in regards to harmful carrier attendance policies and reciprocal switching. He warned that draconian attendance policies continue to have a negative impact on BLET members and the rail carriers’ ability to hire new employees, writing: “Policies like these have led to thousands of rail workers either resigning or being terminated just to have some quality of life outside of work. Compounding the rail carriers’ inability to hire new employees is the fact that the Unionized employees of Class I rail carriers have not had a negotiated wage increase since July 1, 2019, almost three years ago.”
President Pierce thanked Rep. Peter A. DeFazio, Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for the opportunity to testify on behalf of BLET and its members. In a letter to Rep. DeFazio, President Pierce wrote: “It takes great people like those on your committee and yourself to work to solve America’s complex rail transportation challenges. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to share the perspectives of locomotive engineers at the hearing.”