2012 Second Quarter Report

2012 SECOND QUARTER REPORT

ALL LOCAL UNIONS
SYSTEM COUNCIIL NO. 2

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

For those locations subject to Part 219, “Drug and Alcohol         Testing”,please find the attached Federal Register identifying the  Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) list of certified labs effective April 2012. Please note that the Oklahoma City St. Anthony Toxicology Laboratory as well as the Miami Toxicology Testing Service, Inc. have voluntarily withdrawn from HHS certification.

On May 15, 2012, the National Mediation Board (NMB) pub-lished a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal
Register and on the NMB website to amend existing rules for hand-
ling representation disputes to incorporate statutory language added
to or amending the Railway Labor Act by the Federal
Aviation Administration Modernization and Reform Act of 2012.
The NPRM proposes changes to the existing regulations pertaining
to run-off elections, showing of interest for representation elections
and the NMB’s rulemaking proceedings. The comment period runs
for 60 days following publication in the Federal Register.

The National Mediation Board (NMB) recently advised that it
will exercise its discretion to prioritize funding for fiscal year 2012. As
a result, the NMB will not accept any new cases for assignment
to arbitrators for the remainder of fiscal year 2012. As a result,
the System Council will have to reschedule arbitration orig-
inally scheduled for September 2012. I will notify those local unions
as soon as a subsequent date is secured.

April 2012

  • During the week of April 9th, AGC’s Shell, Starkjohann and I
    toured the Fort Worth, Texas locomotive facility
    and Telecommunication shop and met with the members of
    Local 942.
  • During the week of April 16th, VGC Tortorice, AGC Shell
    and myself attended arbitration before Public Law Board 7001
    with Union Pacific Railroad.
  • During the week of April 23rd, AGC Starkjohann toured
    UPRR facilities and met with the members at Local 1920,
    North Platte, NE; Local 775, Cheyenne, WY, and; Local
    708, Denver, CO.
  • On April 24th – 25th, AGC Shell and I toured the UPRR
    North Platte, NE facility; attended a monthly union meeting and
    met with the officers and members of North Platte Local
    1920.
  • On April 26th, AGC Shell and I met with UPRR General Direc-
    tor John Estes regarding various issues regarding the
    Positive Train Control Mods; DPU Mods being completed at
    South Morrill, NE; Tool standardization, and; Electrician Road
    jobs. We later met with UPRR Labor Relations to dis-
    cuss settlement of several outstanding claims.

May 2012

  • During the week of May 1st, AGC Shell and I met with Kansas
    City Southern Railway Labor Relations and Asst. Vice Presi-
    dent Mechanical Rudy Bernard regarding the Positive
    Train Control project and several other outstanding issues.
    We also began discussions concerning amending the
    KCS apprentice agreement.
  • During the week of May 8th, AGC Shell attended an Arbi-
    tration Class in Little Rock, AR.
  • During the week of May 14th, VGC Tortorice assisted Local
    799 with a disciplinary hearing in Portland, OR.
  • On May 22nd, VGC Tortorice met with Local 889 Local chair-
    man Reynoso and UPRR Management at West Colton,
    CA regarding concerns with implementation of the Positive
    Train Control project.

On May 30th, AGC Starkjohann and I, together with representatives of    

IAM, met with Union Pacific p[ersonnel to discuss the Certified
Training instructor’s rates of pay and possibilities of increasing such
rates, of which we are awaiting the Carrier’s response.  Later that day,
AGC Starkjohann and I met with UPRR Labor Relations and the
Telecommunication Department to continue discussions regarding
PTC wayside radio installation work.

June 2012

*On the date of June 5th, AGC’s Shell and Starkjohann met with UPRR
Labor Relations to discuss outstanding claims.

*On the date of June 6th, the System Council staff attended an all-day
meeting with UPRR in OMaha, NE.  The purpose of the meeting was to
update General Chairman on operations, safety and performance,
along with initiatives designed toimprove customer service and
employee relations.

*During the week of June 4th, I attended the convention and con-
ference of IBEW System Council No. 9.

*On the date of June 20th, AGC Shell toured the Shreveport, LA,
Kansas City Southern facility and met with KCS personnel as well
as the members and officers of Local 1829.

*During the week of June 20th, AGC Starkjohann attended the IBEW
11th District Progress Meeting.

*On the date of June 26th, VGC Tortorice assisted Los Angeles
Local 889 with a disciplinary hearing.

*During the week of June 26th, AGC Shell attended the IBEW 10th
District Progress Meeting.

In addition to handling fo claims, grievances and disciplinary
matters, this office and Council staff were successful in securing
several agreements with Union Pacific Railroad during the second
quarter (hereto attached).  We also began discussions with the
Kansas City Southern Railway concerning amending and updating
the apprentice agreement provisions, and were successful in
settling several subcontracting disputes with UPRR including the
out-sourcing of locomotive work with Mid America Car, Kansas City,
MO.  AGC Starkjohann is currently progressing several subcontracting
disputes associated with UPRR Telecommunication Department
work of which he continues to research.  Secretary/Treasurer Shell
has been busy gathering and reviewing data in preparation of our
annual 2012 audit, and has also contacted each local union Financial
Secretary in order to secure confirmation letters regarding monthly
and annual totals submitted to System Council No. 2.  Brother Shell
has participated in several conference calls concerning preparation
of this year’s audit as well as finalization of the annual LM-2 report.

Please find the following attachments for your review and publi-
cation:

1.  RRB Labor Member Barrows letter – RRB-APRIL 2012
2.  RRB Labor Member Barrows letter – RRB-MAY 2012
3.  RRB Labor Member Barrows letter – RRB-JUNE 2012
4.  RRB Job Vacancy list – June 5, 2012 (see rrb.gov);
5.  RRB Scheduled Information Conferences – March 4, 2012
(see rrb.gov);
6.  FEDERAL DRUG TEST-7-2012;
7.  May 7, 2012- Agreement between System Council 2 and UPRR
regarding CTI TO ELECTRICIAN – 5-2012;
8.  May 17, 2012 – Agreement between System Council 2 and UPRR
extending provisions of the May 5, 2010, DISTRICT ELECTRICAL WORK-5-2012
9.  June 29, 2012 – Agreement between System Council 2 and UPRR
regarding the installation of wayside radios associated with Positive
PTC SENIOR ELECTRONIC TECHS-5-2012

         With best wishes, I remain,

                                                         Fraternally yours,

Jim Wisniski
General Chairman
Enclosures
cc: IVP’s System Council 2
Bill Bohne, Director of Railroads
Staff