ALL LOCAL UNIONS
SYSTEM COUNCIL NO. 2

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

Effective August 1, 2007, I assumed the position of General Chairman of System Council Two following the retirement of General Chairman Vic Janecek. Brother Janecek served the membership as General Chairman for a total of twenty-six (26) years. His tireless effort and dedication to the membership and Labor Movement will not be forgotten. As a result of a unanimously approved referendum by the System Council Executive Board, a Resolution was adopted on August 1, 2007 honoring Brother Janecek as General Chairman Emeritus (hereto enclosed).

Throughout July and August, I have been in the process of relocating the System Council office to North Richland Hills, Texas where I will reside as General Chairman. As pointed out in my letter of August 8, 2007, the System Council territory will be divided into three regions which VGC Pat Perry, AGC Don Tortorice and AGC Randy Shell will oversee and assist those locals with the handling of grievances, time claims, disciplinary matters and other issues that may arise. Of course, feel free to call on me as well.

On the dates of August 1–2, 2007, I attended the IBEW Railroad Task Force meeting in Washington, DC along with System Council Two Local Union representatives Jack Keeling – LU 807, Cheryl Mosley – LU 1682, John Jennings – LU 1829 and Cosme Barron – LU 1920. This was the second meeting of the Task Force which was appointed earlier this year by President Hill to discuss the direction the IBEW should take in restructuring the Railroad Department in an effort to better serve the membership. The next meeting of the Task Force is scheduled for September 6, 2007.

I recently requested a meeting with Union Pacific Telecom Director Neal Spencer in order to address outstanding issues involving our Telecommunication Department members. Although, schedules would not accommodate a meeting in August, Mr. Spencer has indicated that a meeting is forthcoming, possibly sometime in September. I am also currently in the middle of on-going discussions with the Union Pacific concerning their proposed “Automated Vacation Scheduling System” and have recently requested a more inclusive meeting to discuss this matter further. Until such time that this process is fully understood or arrangements are made to allow the local committee’s involvement in assigning vacations, I suggest that each Local Chairman monitor and police this process and provide any feedback to this office. The intent of the National Vacation Agreement and interpretations clearly describe that the local committee and the Carrier will cooperate in assigning vacations and should not be fixed in an arbitrary manner by the Carrier. Rather, the vacation dates should be fixed by joint action of the representatives of the employees and the carriers.

On the date of August 17, 2007, IBEW RR Director Bill Bohne, VGC Pat Perry, AGC Don Tortorice and myself met with LU 1920 Local Chairman Dave Hunt and toured the North Platte, Nebraska facility. Also, on the date of August 18, 2007, this office and staff attended Vic Janecek’s retirement banquet in North Platte. On August 24, 2007, AGC Randy Shell and IAM General Chairman Don Hall and myself attended a meeting in Omaha to discuss on-going subcontracting issues and concerns. We have requested a follow up meeting to be held sometime in September.

On the date of July 17, 2007, the rail labor coalition, including the IBEW, reached a tentative national agreement for freight railroads. Any local union who has active members who have not received the ratification packet, tentative agreement and cover letter from President Hill should immediately forward such member name and IBEW card number to Railroad Director Bill Bohne at Bill_Bohne@IBEW.org. As a reminder, ballots must be postmarked no later than September 7, 2007.

With the assistance of AGC Don Tortorice, we recently established four (4) Electrician-Road positions in Mira Loma, California. We are currently discussing the establishment of several more road positions in Bakersfield, California and other locations. AGC Tortorice is also assisting this office with the preparation of upcoming negotiations with Progress Rail located in Rocklin, California. We anticipate that negotiations will begin sometime early this fall.

VGC Pat Perry has been assisting in the relocation of our North Platte office and has recently finished our yearly audit and continues to handle on-going claims and discipline appeals. VGC Perry has made several trips to North Platte in order to transfer files for storage and has been assisting me with the opening of our Texas office.

AGC Randy Shell has been assisting local unions with disciplinary hearings at Houston, Pine Bluff, Kansas City and North Platte. He continues to handle ongoing claims and discipline appeals with the Union Pacific and Kansas City Southern railroads. Randy is also assisting this office with a proposed amended apprentice agreement with the Kansas City Southern.  

Please find hereto attached the following which can be disseminated and posted:

1. Letter from UPRR Vice President John Marchant concerning the Carrier’s United Way campaign; details

2. Email message from AFL-CIO President, John Sweeney; details

3. System Council 2 Executive Board Resolution; details

4. RRB Labor Member Speakman’s newsletter for August 2007; details

5. RRB Scheduled Informational Conferences; details

6. RRB Job Vacancies list for August 2007; details

7. AFL-CIO Working Families e-mail concerning HR 2834; details

8. AFL-CIO Working Families e-mail concerning health care issues. details

With best wishes, I remain
 

Fraternally yours,

Jim Wisniski

General Chairman, SC#2