(The following report appeared on the Houston Chronicle website on January 31.)
HOUSTON — Union Pacific and other freight railroads want to cut standard train crews to one person from two, unions that oppose the proposal said. A Morgan Stanley analyst said the companies might save $1 billion a year.
Don Hahs, head of the Teamsters unit that represents locomotive engineers, and United Transportation Union President Paul Thompson said they rejected separate offers to represent all crew workers in exchange for backing the reduction. The union said Monday that one-person crews could cost thousands of jobs and increase accident risks.
The unions represent 67,000 rail workers. The companies are testing collision-avoidance technology that Hahs and Thompson said may be used by the railroads to justify running trains with one person in the locomotive.