UNION MEMBERSHIP

Hello everyone,
I am currently in my 3rd week of Conductor Training at the REDI. I am looking for opinions on the United Transportation Union vs the Brotherhood Of Locomotive Engineers And Trainmen unions. Which one is better if any? Advantages and disadvantages to each. Any insight or suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I am new to the whole union thing. Thanks in advance.

I would go with the one which holds your contract. If you join the BLE, but work as a conductor, and UTU holds the contract, you will have no vote.

Some base the decision on the ability of the local leadership. No matter what you decide, it is also about what YOU put into it. It is similar to Kennedy's Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

I agree with Spike. Go with the union that holds the contract for your craft (UTU for conductor, BLET for engineer). If you go to an investigation (railroad lingo for deposition/court hearing by the railroad to determine if one should be suspended or allowed to go back to work for a rule infraction, etc.) you'll be represented by your local chairman of the UTU or BLET. You can join either union, but if you get in trouble the union that holds the contract will represent you. Kind of gets sticky when you are a conductor and belong to the BLET. It does not make sense right now, but just stick to the union for your craft. It is not a matter of which is better but which represents you and the contract signed by the carrier (railroad).

Your instructor will not mention either one as they are being an impartial body to the decision.

LIke the others belong to the union that holds the contract for the craft. Get involved with your UTU local/BLET division everyone should be able to go to 4-6 unions meetings a year when at home it's not asking much to give up 1-2 hours a month. To many people like to complain about the unions most have never been to a meeting. I was active held office in the BLE(T) for over 25 years. The monthly meetings are important they deal with issues that affect your terminal wether road or yard service. To many times I've witnessed 6-8 people make change for over 100 people. There will always be a percentage that didn't agee with it but if they didn't take the time to show up they're to blame. Nothing is changed at one meeting, a motion is made it's not voted on till the next monthly meeting. In that regard when people say there's nothing I can do, I firmly disagree.

Thanks for your reply's gents. I will go with the UTU and try to be involved as much as possible.

So if a person new hires into a brakeman/switchman job and joins UTU can they change over to BLET after they promote to engineer, or are they stuck in UTU for their career?
Thanks

catfish63755 wrote:So if a person new hires into a brakeman/switchman job and joins UTU can they change over to BLET after they promote to engineer, or are they stuck in UTU for their career?
Thanks

I believe you can change, or hold both memberships. I think that is what my friend from Conrail told me.

catfish63755 wrote:So if a person new hires into a brakeman/switchman job and joins UTU can they change over to BLET after they promote to engineer, or are they stuck in UTU for their career?
Thanks

You can hold both or change if you want. I heard its kind of a pain to switch but only cause you are in one and switching to another, basically paying dues to both during the transfer but it can be done I know a couple of guys who have switched. You can switch even if your craft hasn't changed. I swore I was going to the BLE until crunch time then a good friend who had switched as a conductor from UTU to the BLE said go with who holds your contract to start out. Basically being at the bottom with a chance of being furloughed ( which in my case happened) you want to be on the side of the guy who is going to fight to get your job back!

You can belong to either one. Its not hard to switch just fill out the application which you can get from the local chair. If you are a conductor the UTU holds your contract and you are in the BLET you cant vote on the contract when it come up for a vote. I'm a conductor now and would go to the BLET but I want to vote on the contract when it comes up. Also I don't know why you would want to pay union dues twice by belonging to both.

I was in UTU until shortly after I finished engineer training. The BLE division was recruiting members. At the same time, my uncle was after me to switch. He was a retired engineer and BLE member. His advice was that my future was as an engineer.

At that time, I was getting set up and back. I was working with a conductor who was a UTU official. He wanted to know who twisted my arm to join BLE. Some could say that I was still working frequently as conductor. The switch was just filling out the application, and the authorization for the company to deduct dues from my pay.

I know some "double head", which means to belong to both unions. The BLE does not allow doubleheaders to hold office.