UTU and National Carriers' Tentative agreement.

UPRR engineer wrote:

thebigc wrote: You sound like the perfect candidate for the job! Bring plenty of Kool-Aid for the new guys to guzzle and don't forget your BLE pom-poms!

That kinda looks like what the UTU's been putting out sence i hired on. "YIPPY....we're gonna strap a box on to our newest members." Guess you've never had any of that fun. Maybe the UTU could negotiate Asimo to do your job in the future. Im sure they could turn it around some way to make it look like it was a victory for them. "We Saved The Yard Work At NJT For Our Members"

On NJT, it's the mighty BLE that signs the sweetheart company deals and gives the arbs away with every contract. I can't speak for the utopian UP however...

(if ya dont mind me asking there buddy)
Is there really anything over there to speak of dude? as far as work rules go? How does that affect you, some of that good Pattern Bargaining? I say that because only starting out in 1983, i wouldnt think there would be much of any of those old arbitraries like there was over here.

Care to enlighten us or is that just some of that good old UTU "Blame it on the hogs" stuff the UTU throws out there?

UPRR engineer wrote:(if ya dont mind me asking there buddy)
Is there really anything over there to speak of dude? as far as work rules go? How does that affect you, some of that good Pattern Bargaining? I say that because only starting out in 1983, i wouldnt think there would be much of any of those old arbitraries like there was over here.

Care to enlighten us or is that just some of that good old UTU "Blame it on the hogs" stuff the UTU throws out there?

Yeah, buddy, exactly pattern bargaining! Your exalted BLE swallowed the first bait fish that the Board of Directors threw in the water! It may have still been in the air! And without going into too much detail, the BLE ushered in the six month raise increments as opposed to the traditional yearly ones. Which cost their members some not-so-negligible money in the long run. But not to worry, my UTU fixed that with the extension we just signed. And your BLE had no problem with a 50% increase in the weekly medical expense. And they had no problem with a whopping 1% raise for 2005.

And if you happen along a NJT engineer with as much time as me, ask them what happened to the 22+1/2 hour rule. Ask them where their clothing allowance went. And ask them where 15 minutes of their prep time went. Ask them why they let the carrier dictate the time of the rollover.

Consider yourself enlightened.

Oh yeah, and have a nice day.

Dup Post

UPRR engineer wrote:A union meeting wouldnt change anything buddy, we're here if a guy wants to come over. Thats as far as it goes. I guess its not bad that way. When i guy figures out that the UTU's not everything they claim to be, VS. coaxing a guy to come over. We'd rather have the ones that see it for themselves???? ... i guess.

The UTU does a good job of moving the focus off them and on to the BLE and the railroads. Once ya dig a bit deeper, it doesnt look all that good, even more so when you look at the future. Crew reductions, RCL, utility jobs...ect. ect. turns out to be short sided bogus UTU victory, throw all that on the future, and the new guys and it doesnt look that great. It's sad alot of the newer guys dont see it that way.

Enjoy the raise.

Well UPRR, when I hired out, there was an organized meeting that we were told about IN CLASS by our instructor, to go sign up with the UTU and hey, they might buy ya dinner... No BLE Option


I would love to switch to the BLE I HATE the UTU, and all of this propaganda I get in the mail from them. The only reason I havent is for the simple fact that I See no benefit to being a member of a union that doesnt hold my contract. Things seem to be getting better since they got retard Thompson ousted and the SMART Merger halted.

Looking forward IMO We need legislation to keep 2 people on a road crew as we have already lost 2 person yard crews, Thanks to the UTU.

This means the BLE Needs to STOP trying to negotiate Engineer only road pools.

Thanks there C-Man, i see why you hate the BLE now. Same kinda problems over here but its the UTU who's the evil one. I see your side there buddy, do ya finally see mine? Hopefully we're on level ground.... after all these years dude.

Burn wrote:Looking forward IMO We need legislation to keep 2 people on a road crew as we have already lost 2 person yard crews, Thanks to the UTU.

This means the BLE Needs to STOP trying to negotiate Engineer only road pools.

It's gonna happen there buddy, dont let engine service go by. I dont know if you know the whole RCL story, but i dont think the BLE is gonna let something like that happen again. They came to us first, we were gonna make it hard on them. I dont know what the switching lead would have looked like, id guess probibly a hoghead with the box and formen on the ground or something like that. Theres some good and some bad with that. The good things i can think of are, insted of two brand new guys out there trying not to get fired or killed there would at least be someone out there still with more experance. That was one of the good things back then, if you were unsure you could always ask your hog. But we were gonna make it hard on them so they turned to the UTU and they jumped right on it. A little belt pack pay (which brings them up to yard hog rate) move everyone up to %100 at that time... while claiming a victory saying they put one to the BLE while making it harder on there own members. There was no UTU vote on that contract, they just did it. Some say it was a pay back for the failed hostile takeover on the Union Pacific???

The technology is already in those new motors. All those blinking lights and black boxes and cable strung all over. The automatic down loaders pulling tapes looking for those perfect runs so they can add them to the Positive Train Control program so in the future the computer in the locomotive will warn the engineer when he's over running the train. When that time comes here from the railroad, looking back at the RCL thing, i dont think we are gonna tell them no and give them a chance to approach the UTU with it. It sucks.... but we already saw what will happen. You'll see those utility jobs kick then big time. We had a safety feed here a while back, the UTU local chairmen was OS to help out. I was chowing down on some pizza while her and MTO's were talking about the end of the UTU crew consist agreement, hog only jobs, PTC, how past contracts are playing right into there hands.... they were all laughing about it. I was the only other agreement guy in there, made me sick to my stomach thinking how she suckers those new guys into giving her all that money for this and that.

That crew consist agreement is the real scary part, the odd part is the UTU keeps talking unity and craft separation but that will all go away when the last protected guy leaves. By that time all of the hogheads will be trained on the ground, and i dont know if the railroad will be able to then hand a box to every engineer to use if theres any problems along the way or work enroute. The UTU doing away with the firemen and then throwing in that they must pull engineers from train service played right into grouping us all into "Transportation Employees" in the future. Getting us all down to one union will only make it that much easier for them to do away with craft separation. They also said about that same thing while i was sitting there eating my pizza. I wanted you guys to hear that from someone elses mouth, one of your union guys. I loose a little sleep over it when i think about it.... sucks dont it??? Ponder on that stuff awhile and spred it around.

Read threw this: http://www.utu.org/worksite/PDFs/NCCC_section6.pdf
Yesterday when i read threw it i believe i saw in there some where they wanted the right to make special assignments for certain people but they couldnt take more then 10%. Alot of talk of consolidation which the UTU says is a good thing, its a bummer.... I might say some more here later.

Heres some stuff about the UTU take over on the UP from the National Mediation Board. You'll find it interesting on how they want to erase craft separation, even more how the Union Pacific has no comment on the subject sence they probibly asked them to try it.

Have a look: http://www.nmb.gov/publicinfo/pr022900.html

Look at the past, present, and future.

With Positive Train Control in the future and the lose of the conductor, heres the UTU's take on RCL's back when they jump on it.

From: http://www.utu.org/WorkSite/detail_news ... cleID=5570
"UTU, on the other hand, had a more logical position. It recognized early on that it couldn’t stand in the way of technological progress. Accepting that railroads would purchase and use remote control technology and that it would cost railroad worker jobs, the UTU leadership decided to do the best for its members. It seems to have succeeded."

With the railroads now soon to put that same tech blade in our hand, the BLE could say the same thing. What a crap deal.

You seem to expend quite a bit of effort to bash the UTU. Sour grapes, somehow? Or is someone else packing the snowballs for you to throw?

I'd strongly suggest you get back on topic.

on topic...


yeah UPRR, why do you even care about the conductors contract? You already got your pattern contract, we're gonna pass ours

Thats just where we sit on the Union Pacific there C-man. That wasnt bashing, thats the truth on the matter bud.

What got me interested in this whole deal was the thought of you guys voting it down and making them push for the 100% there Burner.

thebigc wrote: Or is someone else packing the snowballs for you to throw?

Come on now, D! I'm sure you're more than aware that thinking for themselves isn't always easy, or PC.

Yep.... attack me, anything to get off the facts. Paint me as a guy that hates trainmen, which is quite the opposite.

UPRR engineer wrote:Thats just where we sit on the Union Pacific there C-man. That wasnt bashing, thats the truth on the matter bud.

What got me interested in this whole deal was the thought of you guys voting it down and making them push for the 100% there Burner.

Well, I just voted TO APPROVE the contract yesterday...