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FOURTH QUARTER 2010
ALL LOCAL UNIONS
SYSTEM COUNCIL NO. 2
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
Due
to the recent retirement of Brother Pat Perry and pursuant
to the
System Council No. 2 bylaws, I appointed Brother Dave Starkjohann
( Omaha Local 618) to fill the System Council No. 2 Executive Board
position vacated by Brother Perry. In December 2010, the System
Council Executive Board unanimously approved this appointment. We
welcome Brother Starkjohann and look forward to working with him in
the future.
During the October, November, and December mediation
sessions, the Carriers represented by the NCCC presented the Nat-
ional Bargaining Coalition consisting of the IBEW, IAM, TCU, TWU
and ATDA with their initial Health and Welfare proposals, which
would ultimately increase and shift health care costs to the employees,
while providing no significant wage increases. The Bargaining coalition
concluded that additional mediation sessions would be futile and merely
delay the process of reaching an agreement. Therefore, based on the
parties’ fundamentally opposite positions, the Bargaining Coalition
unions agreed to request the National Mediation Board (NMB) to
immediately proffer arbitration. Once a proffer of arbitration is issued
by
the NMB, either side may reject the proffer and the dispute will then
move to the next stage of handling, at which point the unions and the
railroads will be able to take additional measures to resolve the dispute
(such as “self-help”). At this point, the NMB has not advised as to
whether they will release the Bargaining Coalition from Mediation and
proffer arbitration. The next mediation session is currently scheduled for
the dates of January 25th and 26th in Washington DC.
I will continue to
keep you advised with any updates. (See attached – IBEW Rail
Department “National Freight Railroads Bargaining Update
November 19, 2010”)
On November 9, 2010, the Rio Grande Employees Hospital
Association (RGEHA) served notice advising the membership of its
intent to cease operations and merge with Union Pacific Rail
Employees Health Systems (UPREHS) effective January 1, 2011. The
participating membership of the RGEHA included those IBEW
members working for the Union Pacific Mechanical department in
Denver, Colorado, Local Union 708. Following numerous discussions
between this office, Union Pacific Railroad, United Health Care, and
IBEW Rail Director Bohne’, it was agreed that the membership may
opt-out as a group from Hospital Association coverage into the
Railroad Employees National Health and Welfare Plan administered by
United Health Care. The membership was provided a comparison
between the UPREHS and the National Plan and instructed to conduct a
vote to elect coverage between one of the two plans by no later than
December 10th. On the date of December 8th, this
office was notified
that the membership concluded a secret ballot vote and by a large
majority elected coverage under the National Plan. Concurrently, this
office finalized an agreement with the Carrier to transfer the Denver
membership into the National Plan effective January 1, 2011.
On the date of October 8, 2010, this office
together with Assistant
General Chairman Don Tortorice, served notice and commenced
negotiations with Progress Rail Services with the intent to modify the
collective Bargaining Agreement covering the membership of Local
Union 800 at the Rocklin, California Traction Motor facility. During our
many discussions over the past three months, each party exchanged its
various proposals and dialog in an effort to resolve our differences. On
December 16, 2010, System Council No. 2 reached a tentative
agreement with Progress Rail. This agreement, covers all IBEW Local
800 members working for Progress Rail at the Rocklin, California
facility. This agreement was time consuming and took some time to
attain. Initially, the company wanted to provide minimal wage increases
and wanted major work rule changes. While it should be understood that
negotiations are a give and take process, we were able to limit the
Company to minimal changes with increased wages and improvements
to the agreement. On December 21st, I was notified by Local 800
President John Angland that the tentative agreement had been ratified
by a large margin. Therefore, the agreement was fully executed on
December 29, 2010, and covers the period of January 1, 2011 through
December 31, 2014. I would like to thank Local Union 800 and their
committee for the input and assistance with the negotiating process.
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)
recently amended
the Federal Register to reflect adjustment of the FRA monetary reporting
threshold from $9,200 to $9,4000 effective January 1, 2011. (See
Attachment) Also attached is the updated FRA post-accident testing
flow chart for 2011 with the updated monetary threshold.
October
2010
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**On
October 7th & 8th, VGC Shell
attended a Labor Management class covering issues with
Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and Amercans with
Disabilities Act (ADA).
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**On the date of October 12th the System
Council staff and I attended a Non-Operating Crafts
Union Leadership meeting with various Union Pacific
personnel. During this meeting, various presentations
were provided concerning Company financial and business
overview; safety in the mechanical and engineering
departments; work standardization for locomotive and car
departments; Friend-to Friend Network; Positive Train
Control update; DOT regulations and compliance; and,
Drug & Alcohol Testing procedures.
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**On the dates of October 13th & 14th,
the System Council staff and I attended the Union
Pacific General Chairman’s Association meeting with
presentations by OSHA, FRA & the RRB.
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**During the week of October 18th, I attended
the National Freight Railroad Bargaining session between
the Bargaining Coalition and the NCCC.
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**On October 28th, I attended the annual
retiree dinner of Fort Worth Local 942.
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**On October 28th, VGC Shell attended a Union
Pacific General Chairman’s update and a tour of mining
and rail operations near Bill, Wyoming.
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