Summer 2006 - International Brotherhood of Teamsters

in the com mu n i ties in wh i ch ra i l roads opera te .R e - regulation has been mentioned by severals o u rces. What is your take on the post-Staggers era?Twen ty-six years ago, Con gress vo ted to dereg u l a te then a ti on’s ra i l road indu s try and en acted the Staggers Act . T h era i l road indu s try at that time was in dire stra i t s . Years of l owp rof i t s , deferred mainten a n ce and ill - con ceived reg u l a torypolicies had re su l ted in a very sick indu s try. Con gress wasa s su red that en actm ent of the Staggers Act was the cure . Wewere told that econ omic reg u l a ti on had out l ived its usef u l n e s s ,and that it was preven ting the indu s try from com peting ef fectivelywith tru ck s , b a rges and pipel i n e s . We were told that ra i l-road earn i n gs were the lowest of a ny tra n s port a ti on mode andi n su f f i c i ent to gen era te funds for nece s s a ry capital improvemen t s , and that failu re to ach i eve incre a s ed earn i n gs thro u ghs tru ct u ral reforms would re sult in ei t h er furt h er deteri ora ti onof the rail sys tem or the nece s s i ty for ad d i ti onal federal su b s i dy.So we en acted the Staggers Act . It was a su ccess for the ra i l-roads in terms of p rof i t s . Twen ty-six years later, t h ere is moredemand for rail tra n s port a ti on than the ra i l roads can sati s f yand revenues are at record high level s . While the Staggers Actre su l ted in a rebi rth of the frei ght rail indu s try, it did haveu n i n ten ded con s equ en ce s , wh i ch can best be su m m ed up wi t hone word : con s o l i d a ti on . Si n ce 1980, 63 Class I ra i l roads havecon s o l i d a ted into just four major Class I frei ght ra i l roads servingthe en ti re Un i ted State s — t wo in the East and two in theWe s t — wh i ch con trol more than 95 percent of the ra i l roadbu s i n e s s .At the same ti m e , the rail net work was con s o l i d a ted . T h eS t a ggers Act reforms as well as su b s equ ent In ter s t a teCom m erce Com m i s s i on policies and reg u l a ti ons made it easierfor the Class I ra i l roads to shed unprodu ctive lines (andel i m i n a te the jobs of ra i l road em p l oyees who worked thosel i n e s ) . As a re su l t , the rail net work deteri ora ted from 252,845ro ute-miles to almost half of what it is tod ay: 141,000 ro ute -m i l e s . And ra i l road em p l oym ent is abo ut one qu a rter of wh a tit was pre - S t a gger s .This unpreceden ted con s o l i d a ti on has re su l ted in en ti res t a te s , regi ons and indu s tries becoming captive to a singl eClass I ra i l road . Sh i ppers and manu f act u rers who have nocom peti tive opti ons for shipping their produ cts to marketp ay an avera ge of 20.9 percent high er rail ra tes than others h i pper s . Some captive shippers say they would be wi lling top ay incre a s ed ra tes if t h ey felt they were get ting adequ a te service from the ra i l road s . But in fact servi ce and rel i a bi l i tyh ave decl i n ed . This can have an adverse impact on Te a m s term em bers as some of these captive shippers have had to shutdown plants because of su ch high tra n s port a ti on co s t s . T h ePortland Cem ent As s oc i a ti on recen t ly te s ti f i ed before theRa i l road Su bcom m i t tee that rail ra tes are so high for som eU. S . - b a s ed cem ent manu f act u rers that con s tru cti on com p a-nies are importing cem ent from China to redu ce con s tru c-ti on co s t s . Those lost shipments mean less revenue for thera i l road s .The ra i l roads claim that a 25 percent infra s tru ct u re taxc redit wi ll help re s o lve the con cerns of c a ptive shipper s . I amrevi ewing that propo s a l . In the meanti m e , we can en act legi s l a-ti on now — H . R . 2 0 4 7 , the Ra i l road Com peti ti on Im p rovem en tand Re a ut h ori z a ti on Act—that wi ll provi de rel i ef to the state s ,l ocal com mu n i ties and captive rail shipper s . Su ch rel i ef c a n n o tbe accom p l i s h ed alone thro u gh capital improvem en t s . Som ereforms to redu ce imped i m ents to com peti ti on wi ll also needto be en acted .What do you think will be the key legislativeissues for rail labor moving into the future?One issue that is on the minds of Te a m s ter rail mem bersis the rail carri er s’ p roposal to redu ce the size of opera ti n gc rews on a train from two per s ons to one per s on .I have serious con cerns abo ut this proposal and its po tentialto impact the safety of our nati on’s frei ght ra i lw ays .Po s i tive train con trol and other el ectronic managem ents ys tem s , i f a pp rop ri a tely implem en ted , m ay help redu ce thenu m ber of train acc i den t s , f a t a l i ties and inju ries over ti m e .However, reducing crew size on a train from two per s ons toone per s on may act u a lly nega te any safety improvem entsthese tech n o l ogies ach i eve .I com mu n i c a ted my con cerns in a Decem ber 16 let ter tothe Pre s i dent of the As s oc i a ti on of Am erican Ra i l roads and theCh a i rman of the Na ti onal Ra i lw ay La bor Con feren ce , and Itold them that I would oppose any ef fort to move their propo s a lforw a rd unless I am fully convi n ced that no safety issues exist.The issue of long-term funding for Amtrak hasbeen largely unresolved. What do you believe isthe future for the carrier?Am trak plays a key role in fulfilling Am eri c a’s tra n s port a ti onn eed s . Con ge s ti on dom i n a tes our airports and highw ays , a n ddel ays are ra m p a n t . With fuel pri ces soa ring to more than $3per ga ll on , we a ry drivers are turning to passen ger rail for rel i ef .In s te ad of s t a rving Am tra k , we ought to be inve s ting in it.Ra i l roads thro u gh o ut the world receive some govern m en tsu pport to su pp l em ent the revenues paid by passen ger s . Ch i n ai nvests $16 to $20 bi ll i on annu a lly in passen ger ra i l . Japan andG erm a ny devo te 20 percent of t h eir total annual tra n s port a ti onbu d get to passen ger ra i l , totaling $3 to $4 bi ll i on each . A host ofo t h er nati ons also invest heavi ly in passen ger ra i l — Fra n ce , fore x a m p l e . Wh en I was a gradu a te student at the Co ll ege ofEu rope in Bel giu m , p a rt of our work was to travel to vari o u sp a rts of Eu rope to see different econ omic sys tem s . I travel edf rom Pa ris to Lyon , almost 300 miles. It was a fo u r- a n d - a - h a l f -hour tri p. I went back in 1989 as chair of the Avi a ti onSu bcom m i t tee . We were fo ll owing the trail of Pan Am 103. Ijust wanted to experi en ce the TGV [Fra n ce’s high - s peed ra i ln et work ] . The same trip took just over two hours. At one poi n t ,the train passed a small airf i eld wh ere a twi n - en gine airc ra f th ad taken of f , and the train passed the plane at 180 mph .We can do the same here in the Un i ted State s . The federa lgovern m ent just needs to step up and take ch a rge with as trong program to su pport passen ger ra i l .a strong program tosu pport passen ger ra i l .How could railroad union members better workto achieve their goals legislatively?First comes edu c a ti on . Workers need to stay inform ed .T h ey need to know what legi s l a ti on is pending in Wa s h i n g tonand how it wi ll affect them , t h eir families and their livel i h ood s .T h ey also need to fo ll ow su ch bi lls thro u gh each step of t h el egi s l a tive proce s s .T h en comes activ a ti on . T h ey need to let their mem bers ofCon gress know their feel i n gs on the legi s l a ti on . Let ter s , e - m a i l sand ph one calls are ef fective . Face - to - f ace lobbying is evenm ore ef fective . T h ey should attend their Sen a tor s’ a n dRep re s en t a tive s’ town meeti n gs and speak up. If po s s i bl e , t h eyshould visit Con gre s s i onal of f i ces and make their case. T h eyshould work toget h er so many can speak with one voi ce . T h i sis the essen ce of dem oc rac y.www.teamster.org | Summer 2006 | Rail Teamster | 21