Summer 2006 - International Brotherhood of Teamsters

■ Sets standards for the infrastructure protection program,for a program to protect community facilities, and forcommunication between rail operators and state and locallaw enforcement and emergency officials.■ Provi des that the Dep a rtm ent of Tra n s port a ti on has aut h ority to fine any rail opera tor or any other pers on covered bythe act up to $50,000 per day for certain vi o l a ti on s . Pro h i bi t sp u n i tive acti on against any em p l oyee reporting a vi o l a ti on ofthe act , i n cluding em p l oyees of con tractors , su bcon tractorsand others performing work on rail fac i l i ti e s .This legislation would also require the railroads to describethe communication procedures with state and local officials,law enforcement officers, and emergency responders in theevent of an act of terrorism or other crime. Also, the railroadswould be required to train railroad crews as first responders.“Our members need to have training on whom to contactand what to do in case of a security threat,” said Bill Verdeyen,Chairman of the BLET’s Indiana State Legislative Board.“There was also language dealing with unattended locomotivesneeding to be locked, securing locomotives from unauthorizedentry, and background checks for contractors or subcontractorsof the rail operator. This is a great bill that willproduce a safer work environment for our members.”Under intense lobbying from the rail corporations, however,many of the Community Rail Security bills have notpassed. Nevertheless, the BLET and BMWED legislative officialswill continue their efforts in the upcoming term.“Rail security along the nation’s 230,000miles of track is a perilous vulnerabilityin the security of our homeland.”–Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General PresidentLack of Security Cited in HearingsDuring a recent hearing of the Transportation Committee inNebraska, Spence Morrissey, BMWED’s Nebraska StateLegislative Director, provided personal and member observationson lack of training and security in Burlington NorthernSanta Fe (BNSF) yards. He also provided observations aboutthe Union Pacific Bailey Yard during the same hearing. Thehearing was the result of the Local Community Rail SecurityAct introduced in the Nebraska legislature.He reported on several recent incidents that occurredthroughout his inspection territory. One incident occurred sixdays prior to the hearing and involved the derailment of twotrains containing hazardous materials (one with six cars ofchlorine). The trains were unmanned and unsecured for 12hours in the neighborhoods of Lincoln, Nebraska.Morrissey reported that, in discussing the legislation withthe Senators after they killed the bill, they were consistent intheir response. They said that the railroads were doing everythingthat could and should be done and to expose their planswould be counterproductive. Three senators all said, “They aredoing it, you employees just don’t see it.”Passage of Rail Security Bills a PriorityMembers of the Rail Conference plan to aggressively pursuethe passage of the Community Rail Security bills in the comingyear. BMWED Illinois Assistant State Legislative DirectorJohnny Oeth III said there was value in pushing for the legislation.“What has come out of this bill is thatrail labor now has a voice in the securityof the railroads,” Oeth said. “We sure gotthe attention of all the railroads.”Teamsters, Congress BlastBush on Rail SecurityThe Rail Conference and members of theU.S. House of Representatives expressedoutrage over the Department ofHomeland Security’s announcement onMarch 31 that it was issuing voluntarysecurity guidelines, as opposed tomandatory regulations, for railroad companiesthat transport the most hazardouschemicals in the United States.“Rail security along the nation’s230,000 miles of track is a perilous vulnerabilityin the security of our homeland,”said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President. “For theBush administration to allow their own department ofHomeland Security to issue security guidelines which are onlyvoluntary is insensitive to both public and worker safety onthe rails.”While the sec u ri ty guidelines issu ed by the Bush ad m i n i s-tra ti on note that many hazardous materials carri ed by rail havethe po ten tial of causing significant nu m bers of f a t a l i ties andi n ju ries if i n ten ti on a lly rel e a s ed in an urban envi ron m en t , t h edoc u m ent also states that “All measu res are vo lu n t a ry.”Rep. Markey: Security Not an ‘April Fools’ JokeRep. E dw a rd Ma rkey (D-MA) is the aut h or of l egi s l a ti onthat would requ i re the Dep a rtm ent of Hom eland Sec u ri ty toi m pose ad d i ti onal sec u ri ty requ i rem ents for shipm ents ofex trem ely hazardous materi a l s , i n cluding re - ro uting of su chs h i pm ents around areas that raise particular sec u ri ty con cern swh en ever po s s i bl e . The legi s l a ti on was recen t ly adopted as ana m en d m ent to H.R. 4 4 3 9 , a bi ll to reor ga n i ze the Tra n s port a-ti on Sec u ri ty Ad m i n i s tra ti on , du ring a Hom eland Sec u ri tyAP/Wide WorldSu bcom m i t tee mark u p.“ Un fortu n a tely, this joke of a proposal has de adly seri o u scon s equ en ces for the sec u ri ty of toxic ch emicals tra n s portedac ross our nati on’s rail net work . The Bush ad m i n i s tra ti onm o t to con ti nues to be ‘ In In du s try We Tru s t ,’ and (the Ma rch31) noti ce is the latest example of the Bush ad m i n i s tra ti on lettingcompanies dec i de just what sec u ri ty prec a uti ons should bet a ken . This ad m i n i s tra ti on is doing nothing more than askingi n du s try to do us a favor and please pro tect the public—this isan abdicati on of its re s pon s i bi l i ty to the Am erican peop l e .”The RisksE ach day hu n d reds of thousands of s h i pm ents of ex trem ely hazardous materials travel thro u gh den s ely pop u l a ted areas and nearc ri tical infra s tru ctu re su ch as bri d ges and power plants. E n o u ghch l orine to kill 100,000 people in half an hour is ro uti n ely conta i n ed in a single rail tanker car that ro lls ri ght thro u gh crowdedu rban cen ters wi t h o ut adequ a te sec u ri ty pro tecti on .In 2003, an Ohio-based Al Qaeda operative was arrested forplotting to collapse a bridge in New York City or derail a trainAP/Wide World14 | Rail Teamster | Summer 2006 | www.teamster.orgwww.teamster.org | Summer 2006 | Rail Teamster | 15