SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — On a map, the Dakota Minnesota & Eastern Railroad’s intended purchase of the I&M Rail Link is seen as a seamless connection of two railroad systems, the Argus Leader reports.
In life, the purchase brings into close proximity two labor unions that are bitter rivals.
The DM&E is represented by the United Transportation Union, the largest union representing railroad workers with 130,000 members nationwide.
The 59,000-member Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the nation’s oldest union, founded in 1863 and still affiliated with the AFL-CIO, represents the I&M.
“It is no secret the (United Transportation Union) is seeking to represent all of the operating employees on a number of railroads,” said Frank Wilner, UTU public affairs director. “It is just not the appropriate time to comment whether the UTU is looking to represent the I&M Rail Link.”
The United Transportation Union, founded in 1969, dropped out of the AFL-CIO in March 2000.
“It is my understanding that UTU severed its ties with the AFL-CIO for the sole purpose of raiding the BLE,” Teamsters General President James Hoffa wrote in a letter of support to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.
The AFL-CIO – American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations – is a federation of unions in the United States that represents more than 13 million workers.
The Brookings-based DM&E has 342 employees, while I&M, based in Davenport, Iowa, has 700.
The two railroads will operate as sister companies under the common management of a holding company, Cedar American Rail Holdings, according to the purchase plan announced Thursday. The I&M will be reborn as the Iowa Chicago & Eastern Railroad. Cedar American holds 100 percent of the IC&E stock, and it is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the DM&E.
That corporate structure may be a firewall to forestall the aggressive unions from trying to seize each other’s shop.
“There have been lots of talks, and the employees everywhere are pretty comfortable from the standpoint of organization,” said DM&E CEO Kevin Schieffer. “Nobody will be forced together. Nobody will try to force them together. If so, they will be unsuccessful.”
There are employee issues when you try to bring railroads together, he acknowledged.
“There are questions about security, and there are job concerns,” he said. “The I&MRL is an excellent stand-alone railroad with excellent employees, and we are going to need them to make this work.”
Schieffer said the new company hopes to hire I&M employees to run the railroad and expects to develop a wage and benefits package as good or better than most of the employees receive today.
“It is hard to say in an acquisition like this what will happen,” said BLE spokesman John Bentley.
He suggests each union may ultimately cede some control to the other. One union, for example, could represent all the engineers on both lines, and the other could be the bargaining agent for all the conductors.
“It will be interesting to see what happens if it does come to some representation election,” he said. “Workers may want to stay with the AFL-CIO.”
Whoever ends up representing them, the I&M employees’ union affiliation won’t be threatened by the DM&E purchase, Wilner believes.
“There would be a concern if a railroad with a history of union animas had acquired the I&MRL,” he said. “But there is no apparent animas on the part of the owners of the DM&E.”