Summer 2006 - International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Protecting BLET WorkThe new agreem ent contains a scope rule that pro tects thework of l ocom o tive en gi n eers and con du ctors .“The new agreem ent provi des pro tecti on from rem o tecon tro l ,” Ma rtin said. “ If the carri er ever introdu ces new techno l ogy, t h en we hold the ri ghts to the work .”The scope rule also prevents the carri er from using contractorsand other out s i de laborers .“ Un der the old con tract , the carri er got around the cl o s eds h op agreem ent because they had the ri ght to use anyone of fthe street ,” Ma rtin said. “Th ey used a lot of con tractors , s e a-s onal help and part - time hel p.”Negotiating the ContractNECR mem bers had rej ected a previous con tract proposal in2 0 0 5 . Nego ti a ti ons on the latest deal began on Febru a ry 7,2 0 0 6 . The BLET went back to the table and su cce s s f u llyfo u ght for improvem ents in the wage sch edule and otherben ef i t s .“We pre s en ted the improved agreem ent to the mem bershipfor a second ra ti f i c a ti on vo te and it was ra ti f i ed by a 2-1m a r gi n ,” said Paul Wi n go, BLET Vi ce Pre s i den t , who hel pedn ego ti a te the con tract .Joining Wi n go on the nego ti a ting team were NECRG en eral Ch a i rman Ben Ma rti n , Local Ch a i rman LarryL a Rocque and Local Ch a i rman Scott Ho l broo k , who arem em bers of BLET Divi s i on 521 in Hawt h orn e , New Jers ey.“We but ted heads with managem ent on a lot of i s su e s , butt h ey were pret ty good to work wi t h ,” Ho l brook said. “As an ew Local Ch a i rm a n , it was a very good learning ex peri en cefor me. Ben , Paul and Larry were great guys to work wi t h .“ For a shortline ra i l road and this being on ly our secon dcon tract , I think we did pret ty good .”Restoring PrideAs part of the agreem en t , the term “tra n s port a ti on spec i a l i s t”was el i m i n a ted from the con tract and the crafts of l ocom o tiveen gi n eer and con du ctor were iden ti f i ed . The title ch a n ge wasi m portant to BLET mem bers .“ It was a matter of pri de ,” Ma rtin said. He noted that thel ocom o tive en gi n eer and con du ctor crafts were properlyn a m ed for ye a rs until Ra i l Tex purch a s ed the ra i l road in 1995.All em p l oyees certi f i ed as locom o tive en gi n eers wi ll receivethe en gi n eer ’s ra te of p ay, rega rdless of what duties they perform.“I get as mu ch work done as I can as safely as I can,” Ho t tes a i d . “The guys I work with do a lot of h a rd work , no matteri f t h ey ’ve been there two days or 15 ye a rs .”Heat and Seat ImprovementsOne major improvem ent for workers is an arti cle of the contractthat calls for all locom o tives to be equ i pped wi t hi m proved seats within the cabs. The new upgraded seats wi llro t a te and must be uph o l s tered , ad ju s t a bl e , and must havea rm re s t s .“Guys were riding around on toad s too l s , n ow we have( a ppropri a te) seats,” Ma rtin said.“The old seats were not great seats,” Hogan said.“ Ma n a gem ent has actu a lly started ch a n ging them out .” E achn ew seat costs approx i m a tely $2,800.The agreem ent also call sfor the carri er to maintainwe a t h er stri pping in thel ocom o tive s , an import a n trule con s i dering the co l dwi n ters in the Nort h e a s twh ere NECR opera te s .“Wh en yo u’re work i n gat 2 a.m. with the wi n dwh i pping thro u gh the cabat 40 miles per hour, it canre a lly cool your jet s ,”Hogan said. “ It’s great thatthe little things are being improved .”The con tract also calls for the carri er to rep l ace and maintainheaters in the locom o tive s .“ It was important to the guys who spend a lot of time inthe cabs,” Ho l brook said. “Wh en you have snow bl owing ina round the door and a heater that doe s n’t work , it makes fora long nigh t .”“The guys I work with doa lot of hard work, no matterif they’ve been theretwo days or 15 years.”–Jesse W. HotteImproved BenefitsMem bers wi ll en j oy va rious other improvem en t s . Provi s i on swithin the con tract call for the carri er to pay for mem bers’work boo t s , and water and ice wi ll also be provi ded .Mem bers wi ll also en j oyi n c re a s ed meal all ow a n ce s ,i m proved vac a ti on andbere avem ent ru l e s . The newbere avem ent rule all ows forf ive paid days of f for the lossof an immed i a te family memberand one paid day of f forex ten ded family. The newvac a ti on rule all ows mem bersto take vac a ti on days in on e -week increm en t s .One of the big sell i n gpoints to mem bers was the abi l i ty to acc u mu l a te sick days / f l exd ays . Mem bers earn six sick days per year and can bank up to1 2 . Th ey can also sell back days to the com p a ny for ex tra pay,s om ething they could never do before .“A lot of the guys around here don’t take sick days , so theyfelt as if t h ey were losing a ben ef i t ,” Ho l brook said. “ Now theyfeel like they are get ting that ben ef i t . A guy can sell them backat the end of the year if he needs a little ex tra mon ey aro u n dCh ri s tm a s .”BLET mem bers wi ll also en j oy a 401(k) savi n gs plan atNECR with a com p a ny match of up to $2,500 per ye a r.A new ei ght-hour basic day rep l aces the old six-hour day,wh i ch means mem bers can earn more mon ey. “ It’s notu n com m on to have a couple of six or six-and-a-half h o u rd ays from time to ti m e ,” Ho l brook said. “ Now the guys get am i n i mum of ei ght hours pay wh et h er they work ei gh t , six oreven three hours . Before , t h ey used to on ly get six hours pay.”About NECRTom my Mi ll er, the BLET’s Di rector of O r ga n i z i n g,h el pedor ga n i ze the workers at NECR, and they vo ted to join BLETin Septem ber 2004.The New England Cen tral Ra i l road (NECR) is aRa i l Am erica property in their 11th year of opera ti on afterCa n adian Na ti onal sold the form er Cen tral Verm ont Ra i l roadto Ra i l Tex in Febru a ry 1995. Ra i l Am erica assu m ed own ers h i pin 2000.The NECR owns and opera tes 330 miles of track fromAl bu r g, Verm ont to New Lon don , Con n ecti c ut , hauling prima ry com m od i ties su ch as fuel oi l , lu m ber, cem ent and gra i n .The NECR interch a n ges with CN, Pan Am erican Ra i lw ays( Gu i l ford ) , C S X , the Verm ont Rail Sys tem , Cl a rem ent andCon cord , and the Provi den ce & Worce s ter Ra i l road .“We do a lot of s wi tch i n g,” Ho t te said. “We’re real bu s yri ght now and all the guys , not just me, a re working hard .”Ho t te ack n owl ed ged the hard work of the BLET nego ti a-tors who worked on this new con tract . “The BLET/Te a m s tersh ave re a lly been there for us,” Ho t te said. “ Everybody workedh a rd to get this con tract don e .”4 | Rail Teamster | Summer 2006 | www.teamster.orgwww.teamster.org | Summer 2006 | Rail Teamster | 5