(The International Brotherhood of Teamsters issued the following news release on February 21.)
WASHINGTON — The Indiana House and Senate is performing an important role in ensuring the safety and security of the state’s rail system, rail workers and the community in current deliberations about rail-related legislation.
“Attention to rail security issues and living conditions in maintenance of way camps is long overdue,” said Fred Simpson, president of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED) and Teamsters International Vice President. “Rail lines in the state not only carry Amtrak passengers but thousands of tons of hazardous materials en-route to both the eastern and western sections of the U.S. Indiana is truly the crossroads of railroad transportation, and Indiana citizens and rail workers deserve a safe and secure rail system.”
A bill currently in the Senate, SB0371, will also establish health standards for mobile railroad camps, clean drinking water for example, that will be a result of rules developed by the state department of health. Throughout Indiana, the Norfolk Southern Railroad houses track maintenance workers in mobile “camp cars,” which are nothing more than converted box cars or trailers with nonpotable water, outdoor toilets, and 6-8 workers per room. Two bills currently in the House, HB1033 and HB1344, will require similar health standards in mobile camps as well as require that a weather radio be installed in the camp, similar to the weather radio that would be installed in mobile homes as a result of this bill.
A third House bill under consideration, HB1280, will raise the minimum requirement for financial responsibility of contract carriers that transport railroad employees. The current minimum is $2 million and the proposed minimum will be $5 million.
Securing rail facilities, filing risk assessments, community protection plans and whistleblower protections are the main points of House bill 1100. The ability for rail workers to know and understand security plans without concern for retaliation, should those plans be criticized, have been central focal points for the Teamsters Rail Conference. This bill passed the Indiana House by a vote of 56 to 39 yesterday.
“Passage of these bills by both houses will allow our members to get up to speed on the railroads’ emergency plans,” said Jeff Bainter, BMWED State Legislative Director for Indiana. “It will go a ways toward improving the quality of life of rail workers who work far away from home and stay in mobile camps. “
The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes (BMWED) and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) are divisions in the Teamsters Rail Conference. The Teamsters Union was established in 1903 and represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States and Canada.