Their referring to the Brother Hood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, which is part of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters now.
Prior to the merger, it was just the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.
anyway, Me personally, I am not anti-union. My future brother in law is a business rep for Local 97, which, among other things, represents Anheiser-Bush, Robert Wood Johnson Hospital, etc.
I see the work and hours he puts in, and he really gives a damned about "his guys".
But, the problem I do have is two-fold.
1.) Bragging that your part of a Union, and then threatening legal recourse by way of the Union is exactly the attitude which turns society AGAINST organized labor.
The idea is to get the average citizen, who is not part of organized labor, to turn around and support your efforts, either through a donation to the worker's comp fund, or through a boycott of a certain company's product, or even just bringing coffee to a line of employees who are locked out.
Part of the reason organized labor is on the decline in this country is because for years, many unions had this attitude which Mr TR-00 displays, and if they don't get their way, they'll bully you into submission. The public in general is turned off by this, (evidence is all the anti-bullying laws in schools now).
Of course, there are other reasons as well (exporting jobs, facility reductions, automation, etc.) but public support of organized labor is the worst its ever been nation wide.
2.) Face it, New Jersey Transit will never run trains on the Beesley's Point Secondary. For them, they're just flat broke. This is where the BLE&T can really shine in the eyes of the public if they wanted to.
Instead of holding out with threats about legal recourse, while waiting for the goose to lay the golden egg, which will NEVER happen, they should be throwing their support behind the idea of supporting the CMSL's efforts.
To put it another way, its like this. either:
A.) Screw the local residents in that part of the state, tie up any chances of passenger services on that line, get bad press in area newspapers (cause the media loves making organized labor look like crap), piss off the general public, and not gain any increase in membership because there was no increase in Job Positions.
or
B.) support the sale of the line (or lease) to CMSL, get the project off the ground, get good press in area newspapers for a change, show the public that organized labor works to help benefit transportation in the state, and increase membership by a dozen or so because once trains can connect with the AC line, ridership will increase, and along with it, the need to operate more trains.
Waiting for the big membership increase win-fall will never happen. NJT is broke, its obvious the politicians, both democrat and republican don't care. Since the politicos in NJ don't care, the labor unions need to get the general public to support them.
I don't know if the CMSL is represented, and if so, by who, but figure this, if their operation expands, their membership will rise too. If their not organized, they can be, and if they are organized, eventually, they'll be merged into a larger division or local. Either way, you'l get the membership in the long term.
Diplomacy and Publicity is a double edged sword. Used wisely, it can advance your efforts. Used carelessly, and it only hurts you.
