Summer 2006 - International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Memphis Rail WorkersVote TeamstersS ch edu l i n g , Wa ges Main Rea s ons to Vo te Un i onorkers that unload con t a i n ers from frei ght ra i lWtrains at the Mem phis rail ya rd vo ted for Te a m s terrepre s en t a ti on in May 2006. The 130 workers tra n s fercon t a i n ers and stack ch a s s i s .One of the main re a s ons for vo ting for theTe a m s ters was the com p a ny ’s favori tism on job assignmen t s .“ Put ting an end to vi o l a ti ons of s en i ori ty ri ghts isi m portant for me,” said Dem etrios Mc Ferren , wh oworks stacking chassis at the Mem phis ya rd . Mc Ferrensaid that even though he is pret ty high on the sen i ori tyl i s t , s om etimes he is passed over for assign m en t s .Bob Ra m s h aw, a Te a m s ter or ga n i zer assign ed to theTe a m s ters Rail Con feren ce , said that in ad d i ti on tos en i ori ty ri ghts vi o l a ti on s , the com p a ny has been forcingem p l oyees to perform more and more work .“Wh en the com p a ny first bid the job they were bi d-ding for one train for a shift, but it got to the poi n twh ere they are unloading two or three trains du ri n gone shift. The increase in frei ght rail traffic has beentrem en do u s .”“At some point this wi ll be at least a 200-250 pers onya rd . Pac Ra i l , the em p l oyer, has bo u ght servi ce stati on s ,re s t a u rants and other business that they plan to te a rdown to make way for a larger ya rd ,” Ra m s h aw said.Respect and Fairness“I was ti red of s eeing us being tre a ted unfairly,” s a i dKerry Dod s on , a Pac Rail em p l oyee for the past twoye a rs , wh en asked abo ut why he vo ted for theTe a m s ters . “Th ey used sen i ori ty wh en it ben ef i ted the com p a-ny. An d , m a n a gem ent talked down to us.”“We vo ted for the Te a m s ters to get re s pect ,” Dod s on said.“We are the lowest paid interm odal tra n s port workers in theMem phis area and we were determ i n ed to do bet ter.“ Ma n a gem ent tri ed to give us mon ey to improve ourw a ge s , but even then , the wages are bel ow the indu s try standa rd for Mem ph i s ,” Dod s on said. “We look forw a rd to bargainingfor our first Te a m s ter con tract .”Pa rt of the su ccess of this or ganizing campaign camea bo ut because rail con feren ce or ga n i zers Ra m s h aw and BobKreu zer were on hand to answer qu e s ti ons and formu l a tes tra tegy with the or ganizing com m i t tee .“Th ey all owed us to take the aut h ori z a ti on cards direct lyto our coworkers . We rel ayed more inform a ti on to each person this way. It was an ad ded punch ,” Dod s on said. “ P lu s ,h aving the two rail divi s i on or ga n i zers gave us an ad dedpush to go and get it don e .”Health CareMa ny of the Pac Rail workers wanted to have bet ter healthc a re so that became a focus of the union vo te proce s s .However, the com p a ny wasn’t providing answers abo utcovera ge or co s t .“We found out what other em p l oyees of this firm werep aying for health care ,” Dod s on said. “And we discoveredthat what they ch a r ge em p l oyees for ben efits wasn’t even —t h ey were ch a r ging different people different pri ces for thesame amount of people in a family.” Now the workers wi llpush to have good health care as part of t h eir co ll ective bargainingagreem en t .“These are dangerous job s ,” said Hen ry Perry,In tern a ti onal Tru s tee and Pre s i dent of Local 667 in Mem ph i s .“We want to make certain that we win good health care andben efits for our new mem bers at Pac Ra i l . Th ey are cri tical tokeeping this busy rail ya rd movi n g — hu n d reds of trains com ein here on a wee k ly basis. We wi ll en su re that our mem berst h ere are pro tected .”Growing IndustryWith more and more goods being imported into the Un i tedS t a te s , the nece s s i ty of f rei ght rail carrying those goods cannotbe undere s ti m a ted . The Mem phis ya rd is one example ofthe ball ooning natu re of the bu s i n e s s .“Our nu m bers in Mem phis could do u ble in the next 10ye a rs ,” said John Mu rphy, In tern a ti onal Vi ce Pre s i dent andDi rector of the Te a m s ters Rail Con feren ce . “The increase ini m ported goods is affecting our nati on’s ports and ra i l road s .As more and more em p l oyees are ad ded to rail carri ers’ ro ll s ,the need for strong union con tracts wi ll incre a s e , too. O u ror ga n i zers , Bob Ra m s h aw and Bob Kreu zer, wi ll con ti nue toassist in rail or ganizing drives to help edu c a te our newly -m er ged locom o tive en gi n eers , tra i n m en and mainten a n ce ofw ay workers abo ut the Te a m s ters Un i on .”“ Here in Mem phis we wi ll fight to win these new membersa con tract they can be proud of ,” Perry said. “G oodhealth care , w a ge s , s en i ori ty ri ghts and pen s i ons are the bre adand but ter of a Te a m s ter con tract . Pac Rail em p l oyees havep ut their trust in us and we wi ll guide them . Th ey ’ve takenthe firs t , co u ra geous step, n ow it’s time to nego ti a te ! ”8 | Rail Teamster | Summer 2006 | www.teamster.orgwww.teamster.org | Summer 2006 | Rail Teamster | 9