(The following story by Virginia Baldwin Gilbert was published in the January 13 online issue of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.)
ST. LOUIS — Leaders of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers say they’re outraged at an arbitrator’s decision to award locomotive remote-control jobs to the rival United Transportation Union, which represents switchmen.
Don Hahs, president of the engineers union, on Monday urged the Federal Railroad Administration to impose “enforceable rules” addressing his union’s concerns about safety and training of remote-control operators.
On Friday, an arbitrator ruled that remote-control technology in locomotives replaces the engineer with a computer, and that the remote-control device merely signals the computer what to do.
Since switchmen and other rail yard employees traditionally signal the engineer where to put a locomotive in the switchyard, they should get the jobs operating the remote-control devices, the arbitrator said.
“Trains carrying nuclear waste and other hazardous materials will now be operated – at least in terminal operations – by employees who have as little as 80 hours … of training,” Hahs said in a statement. “To ensure safety, each remote control (crew) should have at least one federally certified locomotive engineer.”
Certified engineers undergo months of training in the classroom and as apprentices on the job, and must pass several exams, said William C. Walpert, general secretary of the engineers union.
The UTU and the National Carriers Conference Committee, which represents the six largest U.S. railroads, negotiated an agreement giving the remote-control jobs to UTU members.
The arbitrator’s decision supports the UTU’s call for “single representation of the operating employees – not for the protection of either organization, but for the betterment and protection of each and every operating employee,” said Byron A. Boyd Jr., the UTU’s international president.
That’s unlikely to happen, Walpert says. Last year, the engineers union voted overwhelmingly not to merge.
As many as 5,000 jobs are at stake, Walpert said. That’s the number of yard crews that could lose one worker each to the remote-control technology.
Both unions agree that engineers won’t be the ones to lose their jobs. The railroads have plenty of openings for engineers operating locomotives between cities. The remote technology would free engineers now working in the yards to take those road jobs, railroad representatives say.
Rail yard employees are required to train to become engineers – and to accept promotion to an engineer’s job once they’re certified.
Under the UTU agreement and the arbitration ruling, the workers with the most training and experience operating a locomotive often will be prevented from seeking the remote-control operator jobs.
Only if there were no road jobs available could an engineer displaced by remote technology be allowed to bid on the remote-operator job – at a possible 10 percent cut in pay – and displace someone with less seniority in the UTU. That’s one issue the engineers union wants to discuss with the carriers.
The most important issue is that “lesser-trained and lesser-qualified operators will be running trains by using questionable remote-control technology,” Hahs said.
The engineers claim that as remote technology is used more widely, more accidents occur. However, the railroads and the manufacturers of the technology say the new technology is safer. Hahs urged an independent review of safety questions.