Summer 2006 - International Brotherhood of Teamsters

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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
Vibration in Locomot ive CabsB a ck and Spinal In ju ries Ta ke To llAll locom o tives have ro t a ting partsand run on rails that som etimes su f ferf rom deferred track mainten a n ce .These con d i ti ons ex pose locom o tivecab occupants to a po ten ti a llyh a z a rdous envi ron m ental stre s s or,wh o l e - body vi bra ti on (W BV) .Degen era tive spinal disorders ,disc hern i a ti on , and ga s troi n te s tinal disorders have been linked tostanding or sitting for pro l on ged peri ods on a vi bra ting su rf ace , as cen a rio ex peri en ced daily by mem bers of the Bro t h erh ood ofLocom o tive Engi n eers and Tra i n m en (BLET) . “Wh o l e - bodyvi bra ti on” refers to mechanical en er gy oscill a ti ons wh i ch aretra n s ferred to the body as a wh o l e , u su a lly thro u gh a vi bra ti n gsu rf ace su ch as a seat or platform . Typical ex po su res may occ u rwhile driving autom obiles and opera ting heavy equ i pm en t ,i n cluding locom o tive s .Vi bra ti on in locom o tive cab envi ron m ents has been stu d i ed inthe U. S . and Finland. S tudies invo lving wh o l e - body vi bra ti ona m ong heavy equ i pm ent opera tors have been con du cted in theU. S . , Ca n ada and In d i a . Most studies invo lving heavy equ i pm en topera tors indicate high levels of both noise and vi bra ti on in thec a b. The studies revi ewed de s c ri be the phys i o l ogical and psych o-l ogical stress placed on heavy equ i pm ent opera tors by W BV. Inad d i ti on to spinal disorders , the studies de s c ri be fati g u e ,h e ad ach e s , nausea and dec re a s ed perform a n ce among heav yequ i pm ent opera tors as a re sult of W BV. Locom o tive en gi n eersm ay ex peri en ce similar adverse health sym ptom s .Locomotive Cab EnvironmentA report to Con gress in Septem ber of 1 9 9 6 , wri t ten by theFederal Ra i l road Ad m i n i s tra ti on , ti t l ed “ Locom o tiveCra s hworthiness and Cab Working Con d i ti on s” s t a tes that vi bration comes from three major source s . Th ey inclu de :■ Rec i proc a ting equ i pm ent (en gi n e s , com pre s s ors , a l tern a tors ,su perch a r gers and the like ) ;■ Su s pen s i on sys tem ; a n d■ Irreg u l a ri ties in the track .Any imbalance in rec i proc a ting equ i pm ent wi ll gen era tevi bra ti ons wh i ch are tra n s ferred direct ly to the veh i cle body.Track wh i ch is not perfect ly level and stra i ght com bines wi t hgravi ty and inertia to cre a te veh i cle body accel era ti ons that re su l tin vi bra ti on . The report state s , “The seat, e s pec i a lly if m o u n ted tothe fra m e , is the pri m a ry means thro u gh wh i chvi bra ti ons are tra n s ferred to cab occ u p a n t s ,a l t h o u gh vi bra ting con trols or su rf ace scan affect hands and arms loc a lly.” Th ereport discusses the ef fect of tra i ns peed on vi bra ti on ex po su re levelsas well .Study ResultsAccording to a Na ti on a lIn s ti tute of O cc u p a ti on a lSa fety and Health (NIOSH),a revi ew of the litera tu rei n d i c a tes a po s i tive assoc i a-ti on bet ween ex po su re toW BV and back pain. Th ereport state s : “ [ l ] a bora torys tudies have dem on s tra tedW BV ef fects on the vertebrae, i n tervertebral discs, and su pporting mu s c u l a tu re . Bo t hex peri m ental and ep i dem i o l ogical evi den ce su ggests that W BVm ay act in com bi n a ti on with other work - rel a ted factors su ch aspro l on ged sitti n g,l i f ti n g,and awk w a rd po s tu res to causei n c re a s ed risk of b ack disorder.” It is well known that locom o tiveen gi n eers and tra i n m en must sit for ex ten ded peri ods of ti m e .Shifts of 12 hours are not uncom m on .A stu dy publ i s h ed in the AIHA Jo u rn a l 1 eva lu a ted W BVex po su re among locom o tive en gi n eers and com p a red differen tl ocom o tive s , s e a t s , and opera ting con d i ti on s . The stu dy con clu d-ed that locom o tive en gi n eers are ex po s ed to rel a tively high level sof vi bra ti on and that current locom o tive cab seats appear inadequa te to redu ce po ten ti a lly harmful vi bra ti ons and shocks thattra n s fer to the seated cab occ u p a n t . Ol der seats were found tol ack basic er gon omic fe a tu res rega rding ad ju s t a bi l i ty and su pportto maintain good po s tu re . The stu dy, wh i ch was su pported bys a fety repre s en t a tives of the BLET and U. S . ra i l road com p a n i e s ,was con du cted using state - of - t h e - a rt vi bra ti on - m e a su rem en tequ i pm ent and accepted measu rem ent guidel i n e s .According to the stu dy, “Th ere are abo ut 7 mill i on workers inthe Un i ted States ex po s ed to wh o l e - body vi bra ti on , wh i ch maycause discom fort , dec re a s ed perform a n ce and vi gi l a n ce , and present a health and safety ri s k . In gen era l , l ong term ex po su re towh o l e - body vi bra ti on has been assoc i a ted with low - b ack painand back disorders , accel era ted spinal degen era ti on ef fect s , d i s ch ern i a ti on , and nerve root damage [sciati c a ] .” Ot h er studiesh ave dem on s tra ted po s i tive assoc i a ti ons bet ween W BV and otherp s ych o l ogical and phys i o l ogical con d i ti on s .Need for ActionW BV in locom o tive cabs remains a pri ori ty of the Federa lRa i l road Ad m i n i s tra ti on (FRA ) . The Rail Sa fety Advi s oryCom m i t tee (RSAC) on Cab Working Con d i ti ons has inve s ti ga teds everal cab con d i ti on health and safety probl em s , but has notad d re s s ed W BV. The FRA asserts in a Septem ber 2005 reg u l a toryreport to the RSAC that “the Cab Working Group is ex pected tocon s i der ad d i ti onal issues (su ch as vi bra ti on) in the futu re .”BLET safety repre s en t a tives are convi n ced that the evi den cesu pports a more aggre s s ive approach by the ra i l road indu s try toad d ress W BV. The current In tern a ti onal Standard (ISO 2631-4)(2001) on W BV may provi de useable guidelines for the eva lu a-ti on of vi bra ti on ex po su res and pred i cted health ef fect s , h oweverit doe s n’t com pel the indu s try to proactively ad d ress the issu e .Equ i pping locom o tives with bet ter seating that is based on there sults of c u rrent re s e a rch on seat de s i gn may help to redu ceex po su res ex peri en ced by locom o tive en gi n eers .Recom m en d a ti ons for the improvem ent of cab con d i ti on ssu gge s ted in the AIHA stu dy inclu de the eva lu a ti on of con tro lh a n dle po s i ti on , d i s p l ay panel s , com mu n i c a ti on equ i pm ent andseat attach m en t . Con founding factors for back pain and inju rysu ch as working po s tu re s , repe a ted lifti n g, smoking ands tre s s - rel a ted job factors should also be inve s ti ga ted . “The FRAcould take a big step forw a rd by inve s ti ga ting these issues andpromu l ga ting a standard for improved cab de s i gn ,” said TomPon to l i ll o, BLET Legi s l a tive and Reg u l a tory As s i s t a n t .1 W h ol e - Body Vi b ra tion Expo su re Stu dy in U. S . Ra i l road Lo co m otive — AnErgonomic Risk As se s s m en t , E ck a rdt Jo h a n n i n g, Si ef ri ed Fisch er, E berh a rd Ch ri s t ,Benno Gore s , Paul Landsber gi s , Am erican In du s trial Hygi ene As s oc i a ti on Jo u rn a l63:439-466 (2002)10 | Rail Teamster | Summer 2006 | www.teamster.orgwww.teamster.org | Summer 2006 | Rail Teamster | 11
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Summer 2006 - International Brotherhood of Teamsters

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