ALL LOCAL UNIONS
SYSTEM COUNCIL NO. 2

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

    On the date of January 10, 2006, I met with the Carrier at Omaha, Nebraska, and finalized the Apprentice Agreement.  Copy of that Agreement is hereto attached. I request that a copy of the Agreement be given to each respective Local Chairman.  This Agreement is also posted on our website at ibewsc2.org.

    On the date of January 25, 2006, the Shopcraft Coalition met in the morning by themselves and in the afternoon with CMO Barry Kanuch, John Esses, and Labor Relations.  The Coalition agreed to maintain the Coalition on the generic issues and we requested a meeting with the Carriers on their subcontracting on February 2, 2006.  I can assure you the Carrier was not pleased and Labor Relations attempted to pit one Organization against the other in order to not meet with the Coalition.  Although on such short notice, all crafts could not attend the February 2, 2006, meeting, they set forth their proxy.   If we just sit back and look at the Agreements that are secured by the Shopcrafts, once an Organization signs, it become binding on the others and the Carrier will not budge.  Therefore, it is imperative that the Organizations band together and secure the best Agreement possible as a group.  From time to time, there will be other issues that do not fall within the realm of the Coalition and those issues must be handled on a one-to-one basis.

    Foremost, our members must get involved and as an example of what can be accomplished if our members get involved with politics, it has been brought to the attention that the State of Oregon has a much better Family Medical Leave Act than the National Family Medical Leave Act.  Also, they have a law that prevents the Carrier from forcing employees to work over a forty (40) hours work week.

    Brother Bill Bohne, who was Ray Cobb’s Assistant, and then became the Director of the Personell Department with the IBEW, has returned to the Railroad Department as our Director.  I personally feel that we will be seeing some big changes within the Railroad Department for the better.

    It has been brought to the attention of this office that the railroad is denying an employee for qualifying on his seventh day double time payment on account of using a vacation day.  Should that ever occur, the Local Chairman should immediately file a claim and process it to this office for further handling if need be.  The Carrier is not at liberty to deny the employee his qualifying rights merely on account of taking a vacation because the National Agreement is very explicit in stating that an employee will not be treated any different while on vacation than had he worked.

    Once again, we must police our Agreement and not allow the Carrier to violate any of the provisions which they are signatory to.  Foremost, when any claims are filed under the Union Pacific Agreement, Ruling 19 should always be quoted and that is found on Page 172 of the controlling agreement.  We should always ask for interest at the judicial rate.  It has been brought to the attention of this office that not all Local Chairmen are following the procedures set forth under the One Step Appeal Agreement.  It is imperative that these instructions be followed to the letter, whereas it could bring about a non-representation lawsuit against the Local Union. It is the President’s responsibility to monitor and see that the committees and officers are performing their duties.  If any Local Union needs assistance on leadership, those requests should be made to the respective International Vice President District which they are under.

    Last, but certainly not least, if a Local Union pays wages over $25.00 a month, they must complete the OEIA forms (click here) and making the proper deductions for Railroad Retirement.  In the past, we have had Local Unions fined for their non-compliance by the Department of Labor.  Please govern yourself accordingly.

    Please find enclosed SACP report (click here) from Local Chairman Jack Keeling, LU 807.  Local Chairman LU 1758 Randy Shell has now returned to work and will again resume these duties.  I wish to thank Local Chairman Keeling for all his hard work and time spent on this project in Randy’s absence.

I am enclosing the following information for posting and dissemination:

1.    Working families article: AFL-CIO President John Sweeney’s vision; (details)
2.    Article – “Railroads Seek Release from Mediation with Teamster’s Coalition”; (details)
3.    Article –“Rail Carriers Cut-off Negotiations”; (details)
4.    Labor Member Speakman’s January 2006 report; (details)
5.    RRB Scheduled Informational Conferences for March; (details)
6.    RRB Railroad Job Vacancies List for January 2006; (details)
7.    Letter from Attorney Mike Wolly concerning an FMLA case decision; (details)
8.    UP SACP minutes for November 2005; (details)
9.    New Apprentice Agreement; and (details)
10.  Working families article: “Sago Mine Tragedy”. (details)

    Also, enclosed please find System Council No. 2’s financial report for the month of December 2005, which is not to be posted or disseminated.

With best wishes, I remain

Fraternally yours,

Vic Janecek

General Chairman, SC#2