Today we bargain collectively and strike out. Once again, the planned column has been pre-empted, this time by developing news. Last week it was announced the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) reached a tentative agreement with the Canadian National Illinois Central. Notice the key word, tentative. The meaning of this word is strategic. Tentative means just that, tentative. It does not mean this agreement has been ratified, signed and is now in effect. There is quite the process to be completed before this agreement can actually take effect. However, judging from the way the press releases have written it up, it is a done deal. Trust me though, it isn’t. In fact, this is far, so far from being done. There is a great deal of procedure to be followed and steps to be taken before it might actually go into effect. First off, all of the Local Chairmen representing each Local Committee of Adjustment throughout the system will meet with the General Chairman at a round of meetings. At these meetings, the tentative agreement will be presented, discussed and evaluated. Questions from the Local Chairmen will be addressed and hopefully, answered to everybody’s satisfaction. If all proceeds well, the tentative agreement will be presented for a vote by the Local Chairman. If they decide to accept this agreement, they will then vote to present this agreement to the rank and file membership of all the Local Committees across the Illinois Central proper for a ratification vote. Illinois Central proper would be those districts that were Illinois Central at the time of the merger with Canadian National in 1999. This does not include the Chicago Central & Pacific or Cedar River Railroads which, while IC properties, have separate collective bargaining agreements from the IC proper. As a result, they are not affected by the outcome of the tentative agreement with the IC. All Locomotive Engineers that are members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers on the IC proper will be allowed to vote on the tentative agreement when it is presented for ratification. Engineers that are not members of the BLE are not entitled to a vote. There are some Engineers on the property who belong to the United Transportation Union. While they receive the pay structure and benefits under the BLE collective bargaining agreements, they have no voice to vote. For those of you unfamiliar with the structure of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, a Local Committee is the individual local structure for representation. This is referred to as a Division. The International in Cleveland assigns each Division its own identification number. In the case of the Chicago District, we are Division 10. Each Local Committee is represented by a Local President, Vice President, Secretary-Treasurer and of course, Local Chairman. The Local Chairman would be akin to a shop steward in a factory. There are various other positions within each Division such as Committeeman (or men), State Legislative Representative, Guide and Chaplin. Yours truly serves as a Committeeman. All of these positions are voted upon by the membership of each Division. Depending upon the size of the property, there may be one or more General Committees of Adjustment (CGA). The IC proper has just one GCA. Conrail also had just one. Other railroads have (or had) several, often determined by geographic regions within the railroad. Missouri Pacific had several. One of the reasons for multiple committees is the result of mergers. The Chicago & Eastern Illinois was taken over by MoPac in 1967. The C&EI GCA remained intact, but now under the MoPac umbrella. The General Committee of the C&EI only represented Engineers on the former C&EI property. Engineers on what was the MoPac proper (not including the former Texas & Pacific) belonged to the MoPac GCA. General Chairmen are elected by the Local Chairmen of the respective divisions under their jurisdiction. In the case of the IC proper, all of the individual divisions on the property vote on our General Chairman. In the case of the MoPac, the former C&EI General Chairman was elected only by the three divisions under that jurisdiction. The CGA will engage in various activities such as the next level of handling contract disputes when they go beyond the local level. They may also be participants in negotiating the collective bargaining agreements with a Vice President (and possibly others) from the International Division in Cleveland on certain properties like the former IC. Engineers on the former Grand Trunk Western are represented by the GCA on their property and negotiate separately from us. One of several events will transpire in the next week. The Local Chairman may vote to accept the tentative agreement for presentation to the rank and file for ratification vote or they may reject it. Rejecting this agreement at this level would end the process at this point and send the BLE negotiating team back to the bargaining table with the CNIC to resume contract talks. During this period, the terms of the previous collective bargaining agreement ratified in 1997 continue to remain in effect. If the tentative contract is voted for acceptance by the Local Chairmen, it will then be presented to the membership of each Division. There will likely be special Division meetings called to explain details, discuss the ramifications of the agreement and answer questions about the tentative agreement. In the case of our 1997 agreement, our General Chairman, Brother John Koonce appeared at Division meetings to participate and answer questions. In the following weeks the rank and file will vote on secret ballots received via the U.S. Postal Service. If enough favorable votes are received, the tentative agreement will become effective at the date negotiated in the agreement, in this case 15 August, 2002. Should the agreement be rejected by the voting Engineers, contract talks will then resume and again, the terms of the previous agreement ratified in 1997 remain in effect. So as you can clearly see, this is by no means, a done deal. Now with all this in mind, we’re going to flash back to 1982. Back in 82 the railroads bargaining collectively under the National Carriers Conference Committee (NCCC) and the BLE had reached an impasse in negotiations. We had gone some two and a half years with no new collective bargaining agreement. Assistance from the National Mediation Board yielded no results. The BLE had requested to withdraw from the negotiations and resort to self help, or a work stoppage also known as a strike. Before a strike could take place, the President of the United States ordered a cooling off period and ordered a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) commissioned to study the impasse and make recommendations to resolve the dispute. When the cooling off period ended and the PEB made their recommendations, the BLE rejected them as they tended to side with the carriers. Of course this was no surprise as being a Republican Administration, the favor lied with business. There could have been arbitration to settle the dispute, but in this scenario, an Arbitrator decides the issue with both sides bound by the decision. In the case of arbitration, one side wins and one side loses, period. It is generally not a mix and match situations. Arbitration was rejected. With all other means exhausted, the BLE was then allowed to withdraw from negotiations and resort to self help. The rail industry then and now is not bound by the same set of labor rules and collective bargaining procedures that govern most occupations. Both the railroads and the airline industry come under the Railway Labor Act. We have a completely different set of rules and guidelines. Unlike say, coal miners, steel workers and automotive workers, we do not go out on strike when our collective bargaining agreements expire. Even when the dates of our contracts expire, the terms of them remain in force while negotiations or mediation continue. Unless the industry attempts to implement the terms of the agreement they wish to be placed in the contract, we continue to work bound under the last contract. However, we do not receive any wage increases during this time frame. If the industry serves notice of their attempt to implement new provisions without a ratification vote, the unions may strike. In my career, this situation has not occurred on the class one railroads. The industry may decide to head off a strike by locking out employees. One railroad, I believe it was CSX was to be struck. The other railroads under national handling decided to lock their employees out as part of this decision saying the CSX strike affected all of them as well. This occurred in the early 90’s and lasted a day before the President ordered everybody back to work. Normally, it takes a good year and a half or more after the expiration date of the previous contract to exhaust all means of negotiations. Organizations like the National Mediation Board have to be satisfied there is nothing left they can do before allowing a withdrawal from negotiations and allowing a strike to be called. And even then, the President can (and often does) order a cooling off period and appoint a PEB first. During the dark era of Reagan/Bush the industry routinely resorted to assistance from the White House to resolve contract disputes. The industry had a very anti-labor administration for a friend and felt free to tap into this sentiment to resolve our disputes. There was serious talk of attempting to make the findings of any PEB’s commissioned binding therefore mandating their findings to become our collective bargaining without any further handling. Fortunately, this mandate did not transpire. A bizarre tactic the industry came up with in the early 90’s to try to find a way around negotiating in good faith was the proclamation "We are not railroads." Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific were two of the companies that seemed to be leading the way in this rather unusual measure. They claimed they were not railroads. True, while the parent companies of most railroads are generally some sort of holding companies that are highly diversified, they own railroads with the same name. Funny how that happens. I guess they figured if they could pull this one through, they could get out of the bind of the Railway Labor Act. And these are the same folks that tell us to trust them. Needless to say, this stunt went nowhere and they were forced to negotiate as railroads. I wonder how much money they paid some consulting firm to dream this little scheme up? And now back to the strike. When the clock reached 0001 hours on the morning of 19 September 1982, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers went on strike against all the railroads participating in the NCCC. Not all railroads were struck in the U.S. Some railroads did not, and continue to not participate in national handling of collective bargaining, they bargain on a local level. In 82, Conrail and Illinois Central Gulf were two of the class one railroads not participating in national handling and thus, were not struck. Most others however, were. The struck lines included, but were not limited to, Louisville & Nashville, Union Pacific, Southern, Norfolk & Western, Chessie System Railroads, Southern Pacific, Santa Fe and Burlington Northern. There were others included, but there are just too many to list. The mentioned lines were some of the larger systems subject to the work stoppage. Class one railroads not involved in national handling are affected by all negotiations though. In most cases, their contracts are patterned after what is developed in the national agreements. So the entire industry is always closely watching. Smaller operations like short lines and regionals generally have different types of agreements in place that do not normally follow the pattern of class one lines. They too though, follow the proceedings as it can and often does have an impact on what will happen on their respective properties. In the last few months immediately preceding the work stoppage, MoPac began to try to gear up for such a job action. They tried to rapid fire train some of their officials to operate locomotives. Unlike other railroads, MoPac did not have a formal program to strike train officials. So here they came, all these Trainmasters and Assistant Trainmasters who heretofore, had little training and knowledge of running a locomotive, boarding our engines and requesting the opportunity to be allowed to run. Needless to say, I would refuse their request. One evening an Assistant Trainmaster in particular boarded my engine while I was working a switch assignment at Yard Center. He entered the cab and promptly stated his desire to run the engine. I politely told him no. He persisted but I stood my ground. He then told me that as an officer of the carrier, he could order me to let him run the engine. I responded that indeed he could. However, I also told him that should he pull rank and make such a request, I would remove myself from the locomotive, submit a penalty claim for an officer operating a locomotive when I was present and available to perform such service and would then contact my Local Chairman to report this violation. He was quite taken back by my response. As he stepped off the locomotive, this representative of the future of railroad management called me a name that describes a portion of the male anatomy. As he did I told him that yes I was one of those and a really big one too. Over the years I have had several such officials make the same request. In each case, I deny them. When asked by one Trainmaster why I would refuse I told him in a matter of fact response, "I don’t get to go and play Trainmaster and run the yard and operations for awhile, so you are not entitled to run my engine. If you have the burning desire to be an Engineer, go talk to the Superintendent and make your request to enter the Locomotive Engineer Training Program." Needless to say, this was not the answer he wanted. When he likewise threatened to pull rank, I gave him a response very similar to what I told the guy on the MoPac in 82. He seemed rather shocked by my response. While he did not pursue the issue, he did comment on that same body part I could be. Am I being that body part? Contrary to what some might think or say, I don’t believe so. What I am doing is protecting my occupation and preserving the integrity of the craft at which I have strived to become highly skilled and proficient. Sorry, I don’t buy into the notion and misguided belief that a couple of weeks of class and a few more weeks (and not even those few weeks in a row) make one suited to perform the occupation of which I trained for the better part of a year. Is a brief training period to attempt to teach somebody to perform my job under battlefield conditions the regard the industry has for my occupation? In the last couple of weeks immediately prior to the planned date of the 82 strike, MoPac posted a notice about the "Peaceful withdrawal from service" as the called it. The strike word was never once mentioned in this carefully worded notice. I guess they figured if they didn’t call it a strike, nobody would understand what it was they were talking about. They must’ve figured their help was a bunch of dopes or something and not in tune with the current state of affairs within their industry. In this notice was the request for employees whose unions were not involved in the peaceful withdrawal from service to continue to work at their crafts. They offered any Engineers who did not desire to walk off and any Trainmen who desired to keep working during the dispute a simple wage of $8.80 per hour with no arbitraries. This was less than what either craft was making per hour at that point in time. They offered overtime after forty hours of work instead after eight hours per day. We laughed as again, they must have thought their employees were dopes. One would think if they really wanted to entice employees to cross a picket line, they would have sweetened the pot not watered it down. On this eventful morning in September 1982, I was working as the Fireman on the Clearing Run Transfer assignment for MoPac. I actually went on duty on the evening of the 18th at 2330 hours. In the first thirty-one minutes of my run, all I managed to do was inspect and bring the engines off the pit. I was not planning on working beyond midnight. The Trainmaster was trying to encourage me to hurry along figuring if we got into the middle of the yard and busy, I would continue to work. At 0001 hours, like all of my brethren on the MoPac and those nationally, I stepped off and manned the picket lines. For the first time in years, there was a national strike against the rail industry. And for the first time in my life, I was on strike against my employer. And now some of the most interesting railroading I have ever witnessed would begin. Some of the most bizarre operations (and excuses to justify them) took place as those in charge manned the trenches to show us how to railroad. It was actually more of a demonstration in what not to do when railroading. Watch closely at what I do, and then don’t do it! When the Engineers stepped off the job, all the Trainmen continued to work. They were required to work with the officials who stepped up to take our places. According to the rules, they are required to work as they are already on the property and not on strike. If they were to refuse to perform service, they could face insubordination charges. It would be the same if they struck, we would be required to continue to work at that time. However, once their hours of service had expired and they completed their tours of duty, they left. Those coming to work after the strike began were then faced with two options, honor the picket lines or cross them and come to work. They cannot be charged with any disciplinary action if they refuse to cross a picket line contrary to the word put out by some officials. And now we offer proof of and demonstrate just how well strike training officials has worked over the years. We were only on the pickets about an hour or so when we heard this tremendous crash and saw a puff of smoke rise above the north end of 8 Yard (also referred to as B Yard) at Yard Center. Another Engineer and I quickly took a walk up onto the Sibley Boulevard Bridge which spanned the width of Yard Center near its middle. Upon reaching the area over B Yard we looked down and observed the first of what would be many disasters to take place in the next four days. Inbound Grand Trunk Western train 385 was pulling into 8 Yard. They were pulling out on the lead at the B Yard end when a cut of cars was shoved out into the side of one of their engines nearly turning it over on its side. There was extensive damage to the locomotive, a GP38 series model as well as to several rail cars. One of the cars involved was almost sideways. There was significant track damage as well. Later while several of us went to get some coffee and go warm up on this chilly fall overnight, we overheard a couple of MoPac mechanical officers in the place discussing the events involving the B Yard wreck. One of them commented there was probably $50,000 worth of damage to the GTW engine. It was not easy to not laugh out loud. We would learn what happened later that morning and were told this engine that got rammed nearly turned over on its side. After the strike was over, the cost of the damage to the locomotive was claimed to be around $500 dollars. I saw this engine right after the wreck. Trust me, it was far more than $500 in damage. When the switch crew working on the job involved in shoving these cars into 385 tied up, they reported the following story to us. That very same Assistant Trainmaster who attempted to coerce me into letting him run my engine was working the night lead job at the south end of 8 Yard as the replacement Engineer. It seems he was shoving a cut of cars into a track and was moving them right along. Guess he had that false sense of actually believing he really knew what he was doing with what little training he had been given. In reality though, he didn’t. He was going far too fast and with only locomotive brakes to stop the cut of cars he was shoving, he could not get them stopped safely or in time. He shoved too far into the track and right out the other end, into the side of 385. This character actually tried to pin the blame of his incompetence on the Trainmen working with him. Months after the episode, he commented they should have told him he was going too fast. Over the course of the following days there were other episodes that took place as those who lead us were now playing with those really expensive toys in their sandbox. Included were such episodes as getting passed stop signals and then running through power switches not lined for their movements thus ruining them. Back in 82 I was told the motors for these switches that were damaged cost around $5000 to replace. There were numerous cars cornered and sideswiped causing damage to them and their lading. Some cars were derailed. In many cases, those managers replacing the striking Engineers were a major part of the blame for some of the occurrences. One of the more heralded episodes occurred on the Southern Pacific. I believe it was on their Cotton Belt subsidiary in Arkansas if I recall correctly. There was a head on collision involving two trains. Significant damage was sustained to the several of the locomotives involved. Attempting to spin some damage control and play down the entire episode, SP management tried to convince the unwary public that incidents like this "happen almost daily." They also tried to liken this situation to a minor fender bender in a parking lot. So if situations like this occur that often and are so relatively minor in terms of severity, how come there is usually media coverage and then FRA and NTSB investigating teams are brought in? Also, why then, are there "fair and impartial investigations" held on the crews involved resulting in somebody getting fired? Seems like an awful big fuss over a parking lot "paint swap." Having seen the pictures from the event, I was amazed SP management actually seriously attempted to make light of the situation. There was significant damage to several of the locomotives involved. I cannot recall if there were any injuries to the crews involved though. The strike waged on with all of the BLE Division 613 Engineers staying off the job. All of the Trainmen of the UTU continued to honor our pickets and likewise remain off the job as did nearly all of the Clerical and Mechanical employees. While there were a few Car Inspectors and at least one Clerk who did work during the strike, the vast majority of them honored our pickets. Locally as well as nationally, the strike was having quite the impact on the nation’s economy. Car plants were rapidly running out of the parts required to build automobiles. Other industries were getting short of raw materials and also beginning to build stockpiles of finished product that could not be shipped. At the time of this strike, I was living right along side the L&N’s Monon Subdivision in Dyer, IN. There used to be two daily trains on the line at that time plus two daily Amtrak trains. While the strike was in progress, I only recall seeing one freight train operate in three plus days, staffed by a couple of L&N officials. During the strike, Amtrak did not operate passenger trains on any of the strikebound lines. In preparation for the strike, I had borrowed a scanner and brought it to work on the night of the strike. I carried out onto the picket lines. We listened into the activities and got to hear the trials and tribulations. It was quite comical to say the least. When I was at home and not out on the pickets, I was also listening in to the action. In addition to the management attempting to perform our jobs, others within the company referred to as "non-agreement employees" were summoned into strike relief service. Non-agreement employees are those who are not management but are employed in various capacities within the company such as sales representatives and information services personnel. On the third day of the strike I observed one of these "NA’s" in action with a Road Foreman of Engines. It was almost pathetic and made me wonder how there weren’t more wrecks and how personal injuries were avoided. A monster sized northbound with over 170 cars rolled into Yard Center. They were to set some cars out, take a dinner break and then proceed onto the Belt Railway of Chicago’s Clearing Yard. Being that I had a scanner with me, I really had a pulse of what was going on at Yard Center. The NA in question was very obviously very poorly prepared for what was transpiring. The Road Foreman was literally talking this poor guy through the procedures for making a set out. It was a set by step process, Road Foreman; "Close the angle cock on the last car we are setting out. Pull the pin there that makes the car uncouple." NA; "It won’t move." RR; "Stand clear of the cars and I’ll give you some slack. When the slack comes back, you should be able to pull the pin up. When you can pull it all the way up, do so and then tell me to take them ahead. " And so it went. Personal injuries hell, I cannot believe nobody was maimed or killed! As some of the officials who were forced to work extended hours and endure the conditions we routinely are required to work under would enter and leave the property, some of them would stop and chat with us on the pickets for a few moments. On our property it was a very orderly, non-violent and non-confrontational scenario, although I was accused of threatening to attack a truck driver. More on that in a little bit. Some of these guys would ask us how we do this day in and day out. They also asked when we were coming back to work and also asked to please come back. No, make that hurry back, now! One of them, one of the very high ranking Eastern District officials, stopped and talked with me for a good twenty minutes about the situation. He sympathized with our cause and actions. He told me he felt the industry was giving us a raw deal and not attempting to negotiate in good faith. He also said we were killing him and he really wanted us to get back to work as soon as possible as he was exhausted. And then there were a couple of them that, when they passed through our pickets, either gave us dirty looks or just looked away and didn’t stop at all. Oh well, can’t please everybody all the time. The company was actually very cooperative during this entire situation. They allowed us to set up our pickets on the property and not just on the edge of the driveways leading into the various facilities. We built small bond fires to keep warm. Even though it was September, we were experiencing colder temperatures than normal. As long as we remained peaceful, they tolerated us being there. One of my tours of picketing duty had me at the intermodal facility at 37th Street Yard as it was called back then. Today the facility is known as Canal Street. It was hoped that maybe our pickets would stop the machine operators and truckers from going into the facility. If the truckers didn’t either drop off or pick up trailers used in intermodal service, we could also interrupt another aspect of the business. It was ironic that the drivers who honored my pickets were actually the independents and not the union Teamster drivers. Numerous Teamster drivers drove right through, some without even pausing and many of them were rather hostile towards me. Several of them indicated to me that I was "number one." One Teamster driver did stop to talk. When he learned I was a railroader and this was a rail strike issue he told me that he should have tried to run me over instead of stopping to see what the picket was about. I politely suggested that "any idiot sitting inside a tractor pulling a forty foot trailer can be brave and tough." (Not saying truckers are idiots as I have many trucker friends, several who read this column regularly. This particular individual was the idiot). I also commented as to my wonder of just how tough he was without the big rig to surround him. I never once threatened him, but mentioned that if he had an interest in demonstrating his toughness that maybe he could step out and attempt to partake in such a display. He responded with a wish that I should perform a sexual act upon myself and then drove up the ramp and into the facility. A few moments later the MoPac Police were at my side, two of them. They were rather perturbed and not very polite. I was told they received a formal complaint from some driver that I threatened to kill him if he drove across my picket. He told the police that he "feared for his life." I tried to explain that he was the one who threatened me and all I did was suggest he wasn’t as tough as he believed himself to be. They told me I had to move my picket to the very end of the driveway and not to come further than a mark on the one wall there or they would be obligated to arrest me. Gee, all that from a little conversation with some loudmouth driver. Having no desire to sup on prison food and share a small cell with ten or fifteen murders, rapists and robbers, I complied with their instructions and moved my pickets closer to the street. Their request actually made it a little more difficult for the drivers though as my car now partially blocked the entrance to the ramp leading up to the facility. I did get even with this driver though. As he came down the ramp with his outbound trailer, I snuck behind him while he waited in line to pull back out onto Canal Street. In the grime on his trailer I wrote a message for any and all motorists to see. It was a very unflattering message about his inability to perform sexually. Threaten me will you? On 22 September, what became the final day of the strike, everybody was screaming bloody murder. Car plants were out of parts and closing. Other shipments were horribly delayed, lost and misrouted wreaking all sorts of havoc with just about every other industry. Finally that afternoon, President Reagan took the findings of the PEB he had appointed, gave them to Congress and instructed them to act. Their action was the first of three contracts not settled by negotiations. They passed a law that was our new contract based upon the PEB’s conclusions. We got the first of several Reagan era screwings that took far more than they gave. The industry used Washington to settle our contract instead of doing it themselves. They had a friend and sympathizer in the White House and used him to their advantage and against us. About 1500 or so on day four of the strike, we were instructed by then BLE President John Sytsma to take down our pickets and return to work. The dispute had literally been settled by an act of Congress. I was actually amazed we had been allowed to stay out this long. Most of us had figured we would be back to work in a day or two with more negotiations mandated by those "inside the Beltway." We returned to our jobs and began to undo the mess those in charge created. Upon my return to work, I just had to ask several of the managers how they managed to tear up so much in such a short time. One of them responded with the excuse, "We don’t do this on a regular basis, so you cannot expect us to perform as well and efficient as you boys do." As well and efficient? Gee, the way they discussed us in the media while we were on the pickets, we were worthless, lazy and stupid, not knowing what we were doing and already far overpaid. Oh, I guess that was just to get the vote out on Capitol Hill. "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life." In any event, while there were some officials with hard feelings after we returned to the trenches, overall we all went back to our same manner of tentative coexistence doing what we do best, operating locomotives and trains. We helped them dig out of their mess and brought the industry and America back up to speed in a matter of a few days. Within a few weeks most of us (officials included) were laughing and joking about what they did to the place while we were off. We were all back to what we did best, moving freight. Of course there were those few officials who still had not put the entire affair behind them but well, that was their own personal issue. And so it goes. Tuch Hot Times on the High Iron, ©2002 by JD Santucci