Rail Workers Revolt against Driving Solo- and more

 

LaborNotes  August 12, 2014 / Alexandra Bradbury

“There’s a real rank-and-file rebellion going on right now,” says Jen Wallis, a Seattle switchman-conductor for Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway. “People who’ve never been involved in the union, never went to a union meeting, they are showing up and they’re joining Railroad Workers United in droves.

“People are saying, ‘We have to take action now to stop it. We can’t let our union officers do this to us.’”

What’s all the fuss? On July 16, thousands of railroaders abruptly learned their union officers had held secret negotiations with BNSF, one of the country’s biggest freight carriers, and reached a deal to allow single-person train crews: a safety disaster.

Ballots on the tentative agreement went out in early August, and are due back in early September. If the vote goes up, huge freight trains could rumble through towns across the western U.S. with just an engineer onboard, no conductor...... 

.....“This vote will affect far more people than just the ones that vote on it,” said James Wallace, a BNSF conductor in Lincoln, Nebraska, and RWU co-chair, “because it is going to set a precedent for all freight railroads in the U.S., and potentially endanger the job of every conductor in this country.”

“This vote will affect far more people than just the ones that vote on it,” said James Wallace, a BNSF conductor in Lincoln, Nebraska, and RWU co-chair, “because it is going to set a precedent for all freight railroads in the U.S., and potentially endanger the job of every conductor in this country.” - See more at: http://labornotes.org/2014/08/rail-workers-revolt-against-driving-solo#sthash.OIn0czvy.dpuf

.....read more here

 

DOT Proposes Anticipated Safety Rule for Crude by Rail Transport

8/12/2014 by    King & Spalding

 

On July 23, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and its Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to strengthen safety standards for rail transport of crude, ethanol, and other flammable liquids.....

 

.... Along with the proposed rule, DOT also issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on a related recommendation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). [2] In that notice, DOT seeks comment on whether it should expand the regulatory requirement for Oil Spill Response Plans (OSRPs) by lowering the threshold of transported crude oil that triggers the need for a more robust "comprehensive OSRP." A comprehensive OSRP differs from a basic OSRP by requiring a shipper or offeror to have additional training, documentation, coordination, and contracted personnel and resources available to provide emergency response in the event of accidents
.
Under existing rules, most shippers and offerors of crude oil are not required to prepare a comprehensive OSRP because the current threshold limit of 42,000 gallons of crude is measured on a per-package (or per-rail car) basis, and a typical rail car holds roughly 30,000 gallons. DOT proposes to redefine this threshold by aggregating amounts of crude oil transported on a single train. DOT seeks comment on an appropriate new threshold, measured on a per-train basis, and on the costs of such a change. Options under consideration include: 1,000,000 gallons (35 rail cars); 42,000 gallons (1.5 rail cars); 20 carloads; or another threshold..... read more here

 

“There’s a real rank-and-file rebellion going on right now,” says Jen Wallis, a Seattle switchman-conductor for Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway. “People who’ve never been involved in the union, never went to a union meeting, they are showing up and they’re joining Railroad Workers United in droves.
“People are saying, ‘We have to take action now to stop it. We can’t let our union officers do this to us.’”
What’s all the fuss? On July 16, thousands of railroaders abruptly learned their union officers had held secret negotiations with BNSF, one of the country’s biggest freight carriers, and reached a deal to allow single-person train crews: a safety disaster.
Ballots on the tentative agreement went out in early August, and are due back in early September. If the vote goes up, huge freight trains could rumble through towns across the western U.S. with just an engineer onboard, no conductor.
- See more at: http://labornotes.org/2014/08/rail-workers-revolt-against-driving-solo#sthash.OIn0czvy.dpuf

August 12, 2014 / Alexandra Bradbury

August 12, 2014 / Alexandra Bradbury