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BLET WEEKLY NEWS RECAP July 14
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| New members for the nation’s oldest union: Florida Gulf and Atlantic Railroad workers vote to join BLET |
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| BLET National President Eddie Hall: “Across the country, locomotive engineers and train service employees at short lines have seen the gain in wages our members have made in the National Freight Rail Agreement last year and improvements in scheduling this year. They know that we have been a voice for improved safety. They are reaching out and want to join us.” |
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Train and engine service employees of the Florida Gulf and Atlantic Railroad (FG&A) have voted to join the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), becoming the newest members of the 160-year-old union. The election was certified on July 12 by the National Mediation Board (NMB), the federal agency responsible for facilitating labor relations within the nation’s railroads and airlines.
In April, roughly 75 percent of the train and engine service employees at the previously non-union FG&A signed authorization cards indicating that they would like to be represented by the BLET. The NMB accepted the cards and scheduled an election where the choice was to designate the BLET as the workers’ representative with the railroad or to remain non-union. Working with its new members, the union will now begin to negotiate a first-ever union contract at the FG&A.
 “Railroaders at FG&A wanted union representation so that they can address issues related to safety, working conditions, wages and other compensation with their employer,” said BLET Vice President Randy Fannon, who led the organizing effort. “I’ve spoken to the company’s CEO and let him know that we want the FG&A to be successful. With the railroad successful, our members will be successful.”
The 51,000-member BLET is the nation’s oldest labor union, founded in May of 1863. The union represents locomotive engineers and other railroad workers on all of the nation’s largest railroads (Class I), Amtrak and most commuter railroads, as well as many smaller carriers. In 2004, the BLET affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
“We recently revamped our organizing department and this win at FG&A is the first of what we hope will be many elections at the nation’s short line railroads,” said BLET National President Eddie Hall. “Across the country, locomotive engineers and train service employees at short lines have seen the gain in wages our members have made in the National Freight Rail Agreement last year and improvements in scheduling this year. They know that we have been a voice for improved safety. They are reaching out and want to join us.”
The Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad, operates 430 miles of track, running east/west along the I-10 corridor between Baldwin, Florida., near Jacksonville, to Pensacola with a branch line that runs between Tallahassee and Attapulgus, Georgia. |
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| Norfolk Southern: BLET continues to expose dangerous operating practices after latest NS derailment |
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| BLET Vice President Randy Fannon: “We’re just lucky right now that it’s coal. If it had been ethanol or LP gas or chlorine or anything like that, it could have been a totally different situation.” |
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The BLET continues to sound the alarm about risky operating practices used by America’s Class I railroads, most recently following a Norfolk Southern coal train derailment in Virginia on July 6. “We’re just lucky right now that it’s coal,” BLET Vice President Randy Fannon told the Associated Press. “If it had been ethanol or LP gas or chlorine or anything like that, it could have been a totally different situation.”
Nineteen cars on the train derailed coming down out of the Appalachian Mountains near Elliston, Va., around 7:45 p.m. on July 6 but remained upright and none of the coal spilled. Before the derailment, the crew received a critical alarm from a trackside detector that a wheel bearing was overheating, and the crew was able to safely stop the train.
The train’s conductor found the railcar that triggered the alarm and confirmed the bearing was overheating. However, someone at the railroad’s headquarters in Atlanta who was working on the “hot box detector desk” told the crew to go ahead and move the train 8 miles down the track. The crew told union officials that they weren’t comfortable with moving the train at the track speed of roughly 40 mph, so they kept the speed to around 20 mph. But the train still derailed.
The BLET will continue to use the national media as a platform to expose these dangerous practices and hold rail companies accountable for the putting the safety of train crews and the general public at risk.
“NS is still in the spotlight and they’re going to remain that way until they make some changes,” Fannon said.
Read the full story here. |
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| Long trains: Rail industry greed leads to blocked crossings |
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The BLET is helping to shine a light on one of the railroad industry’s dirty little secrets — corporate greed has led to an alarming increase in blocked highway/rail grade crossings. The New York Times on July 11 reported that these blocked crossings — a nationwide phenomenon that has grown steadily worse in recent years — has delayed emergency responders, inconvenienced citizens, and financially harmed small businesses. This “public be damned” approach to profits has left communities and residents frustrated as the big railroad corporations use their political influence to avoid accountability.
BLET National Vice President Randy Fannon, who leads the union’s Safety Task Force, told the Times that the industry’s pursuit of greater efficiency and profits has led to longer trains. As a result, when those trains are moved, assembled and switched at rail yards, they often spill over into nearby neighborhoods, blocking roads.
“If you’ve got two 5,000-foot trains or one 10,000-foot train, you cut your locomotive use in half and your train crew in half,” he said. “That’s all this is about — profit,” Fannon said.
The U.S. railroads and the Association of American Railroads, the railroads’ trade group, have spent about $454 million on federal lobbying over the past two decades, according to a Times analysis of federal lobbying disclosures. Courts have thrown out several state laws seeking to punish rail companies for blocking traffic, and no federal laws or rules penalize railways for blocking crossings. Congressional proposals to address the issue have failed to overcome opposition from the rail industry.
Union Pacific, BNSF, CSX and Norfolk Southern have made $96 billion in profits in the last five years, 13 percent more than in the previous five years.
Read the full story here. |
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Industry trade publication, Progressive Railroading, does feature story about BLET’s moves to engage members and keep pressure on the railroads for improvements
BLET “is working to engage younger union members… pressing Congress to adopt the Railway Safety Act of 2023… [and] continues to negotiate and reach agreements with railroad management that balance high wages with quality-of-life changes.” This is how Progressive Railroading describes the new energy at our union in the first paragraph of an article released to subscribers this week. The article is titled, “BLET’s Hall focuses on driving membership engagement — and keeping safety and quality-of-life issues front and center.” |
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| Video: Special interest for Local Chairmen, Secretary-Treasurers and Legislative Representatives — see highlights from the Milwaukee workshops |
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| Register now! Join us August 14-18 in Myrtle Beach for the BLET Eastern Regional Meeting |
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| BLET history: Insurance Association answered a genuine need in 1867 |
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This Locomotive Engineers Mutual Life Insurance Association certificate was issued to Emery O. Tyler, Division 132, in November of 1871. He worked on the former Canada Southern, which was taken over by the Michigan Central, and his terminal and home were at St. Thomas, Ontario.
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An important milestone in BLE history occurred on December 3, 1867, when the Locomotive Engineers Mutual Life Insurance Association was established at Port Jervis, New York.
The need for such insurance for the protection of the engineers’ families was obvious when it is recalled that a locomotive engineer in those days was engaged in one of the most hazardous occupations in the land.
Read the full story here. |
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| Have you properly planned for retirement? Register now for upcoming RRB pre-retirement seminars in Fort Worth and Philadelphia |
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The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) has announced its schedule of Pre-Retirement Seminars for Fall 2023. Designed for union officers and railroad employees and spouses planning to retire within five years, Pre-Retirement Seminars will familiarize attendees with the retirement benefits available to them, and also guide them through the application process. The Fall 2023 dates and locations are as follows:
• September 15, Fort Worth, Texas: Fritz G. Lanham Federal Bldg., 819 Taylor St., Room 4A1-4H.
• October 20, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Sheet Metal Workers #19 Union Hall, 1301 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd.
Space is limited. These seminars are available on a first come, first served basis and advance online registration is required. Those wishing to attend should register as soon as possible on the RRB website.
Please note that a security screening is required for seminars hosted inside any Federal buildings. Please bring a current, valid photo ID issued by State/Federal government. No weapons are permitted.
Attendees are encouraged to bring original records (or certified copies) of documents required to file a Railroad Retirement applications (such as proof of age, marriage, or military service), along with an additional copy of each item to leave with field service staff. |
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Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen · 7061 East Pleasant Valley Road · Independence, OH 44131 · USA
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