Chairman's Archives Page 2

DATE:March 6, 2003

TO: ALL NEW JERSEY BLE MEMBERS

Re: REMOTE CONTROL PROTEST RALLY

As you may have already been advised, the International has scheduled a rally and protest of the FRA’s failure to act in a responsible manner with regard to adequate and safe implementing procedures for Remote Control Operations.

In the last several weeks, we have seen several of our co-workers injured or killed due in large part to the irresponsible manner in which Remote Control has been implemented.

At the insistence of the International, the FRA initiated a Rule Making Procedure Docket in November of 2000 and to date has taken no action on it.

The rally to begin at 1:00 PM on Tuesday March 11, 2003, will be held at the FRA Offices at 1120 Vermont St. NW, Washington DC.

We in New Jersey are in the process of placing into law, legislation which will ban the use of Remote Control state wide in New Jersey. We have several state legislators working on our behalf. As a Brotherhood, we all need to stand together regardless of freight or passenger service, Class I, or Short Line to show our objections to this lack of safe operation of Remote Control. Once allowed to be placed into general use, there is no indication it might not be implemented unilaterally.

As a delegation from New Jersey, we will meet at the Capitol side entrance of Washington’s Union Station at 12:00PM and move to the FRA building for the Rally.

I am urging all Legislative Reps to contact their Local Chairmen and Division Officers to coordinate a representative body of members to attend this very important event.

I will be available all day Monday March 10, to coordinate the New Jersey delegation to this event.

Please, Please speak to your members and get a commitment to attend. I am attempting to contact as many New Jersey Congress members to alert them to this and hopefully they will see our commitment to this issue and apply pressure to the FRA to complete and enact proper Rules and Procedures for Remote Control Operations.

If you are not sure of how to travel, Amtrak has several trains operating between Newark NJ and Washington DC between the hours of 6:00 AM and 9:00 AM which would put you in Union Station in time to meet with other NJ members before we move to the Rally at the FRA building.

Please contact the NJSLB office on Monday March 10 and advise who will be attending, and how you will be traveling.

Looking forward to seeing you in Washington DC.

Ken Michel

Remote Control Decision

By now I am sure that most of you have all heard that Special Board Award 1141, has place the operation of the RCL in the hands of trainmen. In a decision released on January 10, 2003, SBA Chairman Gil Vernon presented a number of analogies, which he felt describe the authority for movement of a locomotive. All of them supported the concept that no movement takes place until some form of communication passes between the Conductor and the Engineer. On this basis, he ruled that a Conductor was in fact the person who controlled the movement of the Locomotive.

To digress slightly, I can not begin the count the number of times I have been directed to move in one direction when in fact the Conductor should have requested the opposite move. To present as balanced a picture as possible, I suppose, that I have accidentally moved in the wrong direction as well. So the total argument presented regarding the elimination of movement errors is really invalid, since it is to be expected that at some point in time, that RCO will move the toggle switch in the wrong direction still.

“A close analysis of the BLE arguments reveals that the BLE doesn’t particularly dispute that control decisions have to be made in order to operate engines…”

“With regard to this question, the Neutral respectfully disagrees with the BLE and agrees with the UTU and the Carriers that these control decisions in yard and terminal operations, in their most fundamental form, are not made exclusively by the engineer but are made by the ground man.”

In a national phone conference held on January 14, BLE legal counsel stated the case for and against the decision of the Neutral. After the explanation of the Award, President Hahs opened the phone to questions from those participating. While some of the questions regarded existing craft protective agreements on various properties, many of them reflected the current push for legislation on the local and state level for laws restricting the widespread implementation expected by the Carriers.

“The last ancillary issue is whether RCO operations may be used on ‘road switchers, locals and other comparable assignments?’ The Carrier framed this question in its opening statement to the Board. It was stated:

So the Carriers’question presented comes down to this” May then the

Carriers, assign the remote control operator positions to train and ground

crew employees on yard engines, road switchers, locals and other comparable

assignments. That’s the universe of the operations that you’re dealing with.”

“The Chairman indeed shares the BLE’s and perhaps the FRA’s concern about the Carriers trying to possibly parlay this dispute into a blank check to operate all road switchers and locals via remote control regardless of whether they operate in terminals”

This doubt in the mind of the Neutral is the core of the additional questions on the conference call pertaining to proposed legislation. From this question we have directed our efforts to see that legislation takes into account the broad definition of Terminal Operations as used by the Carriers.

In New Jersey, recent meetings with the Chairman of the State Transportation Committee, Assemblyman John Wisniewski, have resulted in his intention to see that language is included in any legislation that will strictly define the limits of a Terminal. For those familiar with the former North Jersey Consolidated Terminal, this would mean that the operation of any RCL would be restricted to the confines of each of the inherent parts of the Terminal, thus prohibiting the use of the RCL to transfer cars between those parts.

Discussion also centered on the requirement that some form of CRT be utilized that provided a video image from the locomotive cab when the RCO was not at that location.

The State Legislative Board asks that as members of the craft of Engineer, whether in freight or passenger service, you take the time to forward a note explaining your support for this legislation to Assemblyman Wisniewski. at

Suite B, 3145 Bordentown Rd. Parlin, NJ 08859.

In addition, we ask that you forward to this office examples of situations you feel need to be represented in the legislation.

Ken Michel

Chairman NJSLB

Division 373 Legislative Rep. Attends Public Hearing

Jan. 24, Atlantic City. Brother Bob Daniels on short notice attended a Public Hearing conducted by the South Jersey Transportation Authority. Held with little or no fanfare, the SJTA hosted a number of pro “light rail” persons for the purpose of announcing the intention of converting the existing NJT operation between Trenton/Camden and Atlantic City to a “light rail” operation.

Spurred on by $500,000 to study the feasibility of the conversion SJTA Chairman Crawford, and Roger Tees, co-ordinator of Pleasantville’s Urban Enterprise Zone, stressed that any delay in advancing the project will result in loss of funds and grants to NJT’s other Northern projects. Mr. Tees stated that the conversion was necessary to be a catalyst to future economic development in the Atlantic City area and would help revive struggling businesses.

Chairman Crawford envisioned the “light rail” to link up in the city to comprise an intra-city transportation system, but added that was very unlikely since it is next to impossible to get the casinos to agree or participate on such a level.

It was documented that upwards of 1300 passengers a day in each direction ride the current operation. That is half of the projected ridership when NJT originally began service on that corridor. The question begs to be asked, “Why would more people ride the “light rail”?

Brother Daniels was quoted “Light rail is like light beer, its not always what it is purported to be”

Based on a report by Brother Daniels, the Legislative Board has addressed this issue to Governor McGreevey. We are asking for an explanation of who the major proponents of the project are. When SJTA Chairman Crawford was asked who comprised the panel of experts providing direction on the project, the answer was that 4 of the 5 members represented major corporations who would participate in the final construction.