CLEVELAND, June 27 — All members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen are urged to contact their member of Congress and ask them not to support the United Transportation Union’s attempt to amend the Railway Labor Act in order to create a single operating craft.
This backdoor attempt is similar to the “Bosnian Amendment” the UTU attempted to pass in 1997 and the single operating craft idea introduced to the National Mediation Board in 1998.
The single craft and class issue is a tactic by one railroad union, the United Transportation Union (UTU), to attack another union, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET).
The UTU is currently trying to force the single craft issue by two means. First, through language circulating in Congress which would amend the Railway Labor Act and force the National Mediation Board (NMB) to survey the membership for single crafts on major railroads; and second, through an NMB petition it filed on May 27, 2005, which would force a representation election on the Union Pacific Railroad. In both the language and the petition, the UTU claims there is no distinction between the jobs of BLET-represented Locomotive Engineers and UTU-represented operating employees (conductors and trainmen). The UTU further claims that the NMB should establish a single class of “Train and Engine Service Employee,” with the UTU and BLET competing in representation elections.
The BLET has always contended that the crafts are separate and distinct, and this has been thus far upheld by the NMB. Each has its own duties, responsibilities and skills.
The BLET also opposes the single craft idea for several other reasons. For example, a single craft could lead to combined seniority rosters and extra boards. In addition, the BLET believes a single operating craft may possibly lead to job losses for the operating crafts.
By seeking to change the Railway Labor Act, the UTU’s tactics could cause all crafts covered under the Act to be merged. From the railroad industry to the airline industry, all employees could be merged into one organization per industry without a choice of the union that represents them. The BLET believes that workers should be able to choose their representatives, and the Railway Labor Act — as currently written — supports this position.
All of the tactics the UTU has tried before have failed. Its backdoor campaign to take over the BLET’s membership began in 1997, when it proposed a similar bill to the one currently circulating. A similar piece of legislation has been put forth every year since by the UTU leadership.
When legislative tactics did not bring about the desired response, the UTU turned to the NMB, petitioning the board to create a single craft on first the Union Pacific Railroad and later the Kansas City Southern Railroad. Both administrative efforts failed. The Board declined to adopt a single operating craft for engineers and trainmen.
The UTU has also attempted to force a merger between its organization and the then-BLE, which BLE members opposed by a resounding 70 percent margin.
All of the affiliates of the AFL-CIO oppose the UTU’s underhanded tactics. The UTU pulled out of the AFL-CIO in order to avoid sanctions relating to its violation of an anti-raiding article of the federation’s constitution. The AFL-CIO has continually condemned the UTU and has made the discontinuance of its tactics a prerequisite to its rejoining the federation.
The BLET’s position on the single craft issue has always remained the same. We believe that workers should be able to choose the union they want to belong to and believe that tactics, such as those employed by the UTU, undermine this choice.
Please contact your member of Congress (toll-free at (877) 762-8762), and tell them not to support the UTU’s quest for a single craft.