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October wrap up

Division 130 Members,

As most of you are aware, it has been a very busy time within Division 130, the BLE-T, and at BNSF.  A Presidential Emergency Board, a potential strike, record traffic volumes on BNSF, recent Division officer retirements, officer elevations, and newly installed officers are some of the many question Division officers have fielded recently.

Status of National Contract and PEB 243

The National BLE-T just concluded its participation to Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) No. 243.  The Board, consisting of 5 arbitrators appointed by President Obama, wrapped up the hearing phase on Friday, October 21^st and now has until November 6^th to present their contract settlement recommendations to the President.  After PEB 243 presents its finding to the President, another 30 day cooling off period will go into effect, ending at 12:01 EST on December 6th.  During that time, the carriers and the unions within the two bargaining coalitions can further negotiate towards a voluntary contract settlement.  Barring a voluntary settlement, on December at 12:01 EST, self-help will then be available for the carriers and unions.  Self-help can come in the form of a strike by any or all of the unions involved or a lockout by any or all of the carriers involved.  The BLE-T members voted at the beginning of October, by over 97 percent, to grant BLE-T National President Dennis Pierce the authorization to strike if no settlement is reached.  Congress has intervened numerous times in the past to legislatively prevent or stop self-help, usually by passing a law that requires the parties to accept the PEB’s recommendations as their settlement. Such legislation could originate in either the Senate or the House of Representatives, would require a majority in both chambers for passage, and must be signed into law by President Obama.  Division 130 Officers are prepared in the event our National President calls upon us to strike.  We have fine-tuned our mobilization network and will pass along further information to the membership as December 6^th draws near.  While the BLE-T on BNSF have an on-property settlement in place on wages and work rules, our heath care portion of the contract is tied to the BLE-T national negotiations.

BNSF Operation on Kansas Division

I think we all know that business is up on the Kansas Division.  Management has reported that Argentine yard and the Emporia sub rebounded back to the same traffic levels as we had during the record peak of 2008.  This has caused a number of problems for our members. 

Denied use of personal or float vacation days

Many members have reported that they are being denied taking any of their personal days or float vacation days.  Our position has been that the carrier should have planned for the increased business as the economy slowly rebounded, and thus hired more trainmen and promoted more trainmen to the engineer craft.  Contractual language has always provided that the carrier must maintain adequate staffing levels for reasonable lay-offs, use of personal leave days, and use of vacation days.  If you are denied a lay-off request to use your personal leave days or floating vacation days, please submit a road or yard basic day claim with the following comments:

Lodging at Wellington, Kansas

Lodging at the Oak Tree Inn at Wellington has been a constant problem all summer and fall.  Crew members have constantly had to wait on rooms.  Two of the main reasons for the wait times are not enough rooms or not enough staff at the Oak Tree Inn to keep up with the cleaning of rooms.  Division 130, along with Division 777 and the UTU locals have been after the carrier every step of the way to try and get our members clean and sanitary rooms without delay.   Several meetings have taken place over the course of the summer and fall with the carriers, Oak Tree Inn management, and Corporate Lodging. Many of the issues remain unresolved from our standpoint.  But a policy is in place that Corporate Lodging and the Oak Tree Inn are to follow when the expected wait for a clean room is greater than thirty (30) minutes.  The Oak Tree Inn must call Corporate Lodging for every employee in which the wait for a room is greater than thirty (30) minutes.  Corporate Lodging is then to canvas acceptable and pre-approved nearby motels for overflow rooms.  The Steakhouse motel is the first approved overflow option.  If no rooms are available, then South Wichita motels will be canvased, and so on down a list.  Do not let the Oak Tree Inn or Corporate Lodging try and send you to America’s Best Value Inn or the Sunshine Inn at Wellington.  These locations are not up to the standards the unions and BNSF Division Management feel meet our members’ needs.  Corporate Lodging is to have purged these locations from their overflow canvas listings.  Transportation is to be provided to all crews to and from any overflow location.

Tying-up after waiting on lodging

If you have to wait over thirty (30) minutes for lodging and no alternate lodging is available or offered, members are to submit a CA code claim (WL – waiting on lodging) on their tie-up ticket.  Please note that you are required to tie your ticket up after the completion of your trip.  If you find yourself then waiting on lodging, you must call crew management to then readjust your tie-up time.  Waiting to tie-up your ticket until you have a room so as to accurately report your lodging wait time may run you afoul FRA mandated rest requirements.  The best solution is to tie-up your ticket at the completion of your trip, adjust your tie-up time with crew management if you have to wait for a room, then claim the Waiting for Lodging (WL) CA claim on your return home trip ticket, referencing the previous tie-up ticket.

BLE-T Division 130 News

Division Officers

With the retirements of Local Chairman Dick Lyon, Secretary/Treasurer Mike Zenner, and Division Vice-President Jerry McNee, Division 130 has a few new officers and a new Local Chairman.

Brian Eaton and Jason Mace were elected by acclamation 3 months ago to the positions of Secretary/Treasurer and Division Vice-President, respectively.

Secretary/Treasurer Brian Eaton

Past Secretary/Treasurer Mike Zenner has worked with Brian Eaton for the last few months to help ensure a smooth transition for the secretary/treasurer office.  Per BLE-T By-laws, an audit committee was appointed at a recent Division meeting to audit the Division financial records before the transition was made.  The audit committee reported that the all records were in good order and the transition of Secretary/Treasurers was made.

One of Brian’s first orders of business was to sign up for the Secretary/Treasurers week long workshop that the National BLE-T’s Education and Training Department will hold at Cleveland, Ohio in early December.  This class is essential for any new BLE-T division secretary/treasurer with the many regulations and reporting requirements that the division conducts business under.

Brian’s contact information:

Brian Eaton

BLE-T Division 130 Secretary/Treasurer

Cell – (913) 449-6211

Email – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Vice-President Jason Mace

Jason Mace, along with being the new Division Vice-President, will also serve as a Division Trustee to audit the books on a monthly basis with Local Chairman Jared McNew and myself, Legislative Representative Steve Facklam as required by BLE-T by-laws.  The offices of Local Chairman, Legislative Representative, and Vice-President, under BLE-T by-laws, constitute a local division’s board of trustees.

Jason’s contact information:

Jason Mace

BLE-T Division 130 Vice-President

Cell – (816) 516-6701

Email – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Local Chairman Jared McNew

Jared McNew was elevated from the office of First Vice-Local Chairman to the office of Local Chairman with the October retirement of past Local Chairman Dick Lyon.  Past Local Chairman Lyon kept the Division informed for the last year of his retirement plans and date.  He took great time over the last two years preparing Jared to take over the office upon his pending retirement.  For the last year, Jared has been attending all the local chairmen meetings with management, attending formal investigations on behalf of some members, and chairing our Division’s recently formed strike committee.  For the week of October 23^rd, Jared has been in Las Vegas, Nevada attending the ATSF General Committee of Adjustment’s Triennial Meeting.  ATSF General Chairman Pat Williams has announced his retirement and Jared, along with the rest of the ATSF General Committee of Adjustments, will be electing a new General Chairman, new Vice-General Chairmen, and a new General Secretary/Treasurer.  Jared will update Division members at the next monthly division meeting that will be held on Monday, November 7^th.

Jared’s contact information:

Jared McNew

BLE-T Division 130 Local Chairman

Cell – (816) 674-2777

Email – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

President Lorne Lindquist

Lorne was elected by acclamation to Division President last Division triennial election held two years ago.  He took over the office of President from Don Pritchard, who retired shortly after stepping down as Division President.  Lorne chairs all monthly division meetings per BLE-T By-laws.  Lorne also serves on the mobilization team and is Vice-Chairman of Division 130 strike committee.

Lorne’s contact information:

Lorne Lindquist

BLE-T Division 130 President

Cell – (913) 631-4382

Email – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Alternate Legislative Representative Phil Taylor

Phil was elected to the position of Alternate Legislative Representative two years ago at the last Division triennial election.  It has been great having Phil on the legislative side of the Division for me personally.  He has helped take up quite a bit of the legislative work load.  The legislative side of the Division has the duties and responsibilities of - a) being safety office within the Division, b) political education of the Division, and c) corresponding with various regulatory agencies and State/National legislators.  Phil has represented our division for the last two years at the Argentine Safety Site Team meetings.  He also serves as our Division’s second representative on the Kansas Division Marathon Committee.  In my absence, he also fills in for me on the Kansas East Safety Site Team Committee.  

Phil Taylor’s contact information:

Phil Taylor

Cell – (913) 940-0163

Email – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Legislative Representative, Vice-Local Chairman, and Delegate  Steve Facklam

At the last Division triennial elections, I was re-elected Legislative Representative, elected Delegate to the BLE-T National, along with being elected by acclamation to the office of 2nd Vice-Local Chairman.

In 2007, as a newly elected Division Legislative Representative, I attended the first BLE-T National Legislative Representative weeklong workshop held at IBT headquarters in Washington, D.C.  I strongly feel that in order to represent the members as best one can, one must first educate their self on how to effectively do just that.  This intensive workshop concluded with two days of lobbying U.S. Senators and Congressmen at the nation’s capital on Amtrak funding.

For the last two national election cycles (2008 and 2010), I was assigned to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters “Get out the Vote” campaign.  During these campaigns, I was assigned different IBT/BLE-T properties in the western area of Missouri and eastern area of Kansas to register IBT members to vote and to educate IBT members on the IBT political candidate endorsements.  I did have the honor of seeing and hearing then-candidate Barack Obama at a Kansas City rally in 2008 and then actually meeting President Obama at a 2010 Robin Carnahan event.

Being elected Delegate to the National Division, I had the honor of representing Division 130 at the BLET’s Second Quadrennial National Convention held October 2010 in Reno, Nevada.  There, the National Delegates gathered to nominate candidates for the BLE-T’s first ever membership wide national election of officers.  Delegates also were responsible for considering various proposed changes to the BLE-T by-laws.

For the last 5 years, I have been Division 130’s representative on the Kansas East Safety Site Team Committee.  At the Site Team meetings, labor representatives bring their members’ safety concerns in front of the carrier for resolution.  We have our victories and we have our times where it feels we may just be banging our head against a brick wall trying to get the carrier to address our safety concerns.  But the most important thing is that we are bringing these issues to the carrier and logging all of our safety concerns.  This can go a long way in proving a member’s case if, God forbid, they were ever injured on the job by a safety problem that the carrier was made aware of through the Site Team Meetings and did not correct the issue properly, for whatever reason.

On October 16th through October 22nd 2011, I attended the BLE-T National Local Chairman Workshop held at the National Labor College in Silver Springs, Maryland.  My goal in attending the Local Chairman workshop was to learn as much as I could of the protective side of the union to assist Local Chairman Jared McNew in any way I can as Vice-Local Chairman and a member of the Local Committee of Adjustment.  With the retirement of past Local Chairman Dick Lyon and his 17 years being Local Chairman of Division 130, we had 17 years of experience and knowledge retired as well.  Although Dick is always there to assist the Division with his past experience, it is up to us to gain the knowledge and education to best serve our division and stand on our own.  The workshop focused on union structure, grievance handling, pre-investigation interview and research strategies, investigation objections and motions, and investigation appeals, just to name a few.  It was very intensive, to say the least.  On Tuesday, October 18th 2011, we were able to attend the Presidential Emergency Board hearing held in downtown Washington, D.C. where the union presented their craft specific issues to the board.  BLE-T National President Dennis Pierce did a great job with the BLE-T presentation portion.

My contact information is at the top of page one in the header. 

Wrap up

In conclusion to this letter, your division officers are committed, now more than ever, to keep and improve the line of communication to all the members of our Division.  We know it is hard to make monthly Division meetings with our work schedules and family commitments.  So we are improving our methods of getting information out to Division members with a highly organized mobilization team, Division website – www.ble-t130.org, Division Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/groups/blet130/, Twitter page for breaking announcements and reminders - #BLET130, Division mailing list, and Division text alert system.  But do not let these improved lines of information dissemination keep you from attending the monthly Division meetings.  The monthly Division meetings still and will always remain the best place for information on what is going on within your Division, your BLE-T, your IBT and your BNSF labor front.  It is the duty of all union members to make as many meetings as they can.  As always, the monthly meetings are held the first Monday of every month at the Lenexa Community Center starting at 1:30 pm.

In Solidarity and Fraternally yours,

Steve Facklam

BLE-T Division 130

Legislative Representative

Vice-Local Chairman