2014 SECOND QUARTER REPORT

ALL LOCAL UNIONS
SYSTEM COUNCIL NO. 2

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) recently announced
additional locations added to the RRB schedule of Pre-Retirement
seminars designed for railroad employees and spouses planning to
retire within five years or less. Additional information can be obtained by
visiting the RRB website at www.rrb.gov, and selecting the Office of the
Labor Member’s Educational Materials link in the Spotlight section of
the homepage. Seminar space is limited and registration is being
accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Completed forms should
be mailed or faxed to the RRB office listed on the form as soon as
possible.

The IBEW Railroad Department is currently preparing for the upcoming
round of National Bargaining with the various freight railroadsincluded in
national handling. Section 6 notices will be preparedand served on the
various railroad Carrier’s on or after November 1, 2014, with
negotiations to begin on or after January 1, 2015. An email requesting
input from the various IBEW local unions will be forthcoming from IBEW
Railroad Director Bill Bohne’. As in the past, I am requesting that any
local union who wishes to provide input or suggestions for the
preparation of the upcoming Section 6 notice, to please forward such
information to my office well in advance of November 1, 2014. I will
subsequently forward this information to the IBEW Railroad Department
for consideration and formulation of the IBEW Section 6 notices.

As discussed in my previous report, the System Council is
currently awaiting funding and approval by the National Mediation Board
(NMB) to process our outstanding cases for arbitration before PLB
7001 with Union Pacific Railroad, and PLB 7160 with the Kansas City
Southern Railway. Although, these cases have been docketed with the
NMB and added to their case management system, final approval and
funding has been denied to this point. As indicated in a recent update,
the NMB advised that Section 3 (arbitration) appropriation had been
determined after all the various cuts associated with sequestration and
other budget deals were figured out. This roughly equates to 2,000
cases being processed a year, about 167 cases a month, with this
amount spanning all of rail labor across the National Railroad
Adjustment Board (NRAB) and PLB/SBA’s. The current funding level is
about half of what it was in 2010 when there was a supplemental
appropriation applied towards the large backlog that existed. Funding
has been reduced approximately five percent a year without the
supplement due to all of the budgetary cuts that have occurred since
2010. Nevertheless, I will notify the Claimant’s and LU’s as soon as I am
notified of final approval and funding by the NMB.

In a recent news release, it was announced that a tentative
agreement was negotiated between BNSF and the General Committee
of the Transportation Division of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and
Transportation (SMART) Union (formally the United Transportation
Union) to allow freight trains equipped with Positive Train control (PTC)
to operate as early as next year with a lone engineer in the cab and no
conventional on-board conductor between specific territories in the
Midwest and Pacific Northwest. The full report can be found at
 www.railwayage.com.

April 2014

*   During the week of April 7th, the System Council staff and I
attended the General Chairman’s biannual update meeting with
Union Pacific Railroad.

*  During the week of April 14th, VGC Tortorice and AGC Starkjohann
toured the Rocklin, CA. Progress Rail facility and met with
management personnel. They also met with the members
and  President of Local 800 in order to gather some
information and prepare for our upcoming contract negotiations
with Progress Rail.

*  On the date of April 15th, VGC Tortorice and AGC Starkjohann
met   with officers and members of Local 1682 and toured
the Roseville, CA. Mechanical and Telecom facilities.

*  During the month of April, AGC/ST Shell was busy gathering and
reviewing information in preparation of our annual audit and LM-2
and 990 reports filing.

May 2014

  • During the week of May 5th, AGC Shell and I toured the San
    Antonio, Texas locomotive facility and met with members and the
    officers of Local 1911.
  • On the date of May 8th, I attended a job fare with Union Pacific
    Railroad in San Antonio, Texas allocated for recently furloughed
    Boeing employees.
  • During the week of May 13th, the System Council staff
    accompanied IBEW local chairman to shop craft meetings with
    Union Pacific Mechanical Department personnel.
  • On May 16th, AGC Shell attended a meeting with Kansas City
    Local 1832 regarding concerns with run-through train work.
  • On May 22nd, AGC Starkjohann assisted Roseville, CA Local
    1682 with a disciplinary investigation.
  • During the week of May 27th, AGC Shell and I met at the System
    Council office to finalize financial reports.
  • On the date of May 29th, VGC Tortorice assisted Roseville, CA.
    Local 1682 with a disciplinary investigation.
  • On the date of May 30th, AGC Shell attended a Railroad
    Retirement Board Labor Member Conference.

June 2014

 

  • On June 4th, AGC Starkjohann and I met with Omaha Local 618
    Local Chairman Crafton to discuss some outstanding issues.
  • On June 5th, AGC Starkjohann and I met with UPRR Labor
    Relations and Telecommunications General Director to discuss
    various certification requirements by the Carrier.
  • During the week of June 10th, AGC Shell attended the IBEW Tenth
    District Progress Meeting.
  • During the week of June 17th, I attended the IBEW 7th District
    Progress Meeting.
  • On June 17th, AGC Shell attended the monthly meeting of Little
    Rock Local 807.
  • During the week of June 24th, AGC Starkjohann attended the
    IBEW 11th District Progress Meeting.
  • On the date of June 24th, AGC Shell and I toured the UPRR
    Desoto, MO. Car facility and met with local management and LU
    633 members.
  • On the date of June 25th, AGC Shell and I attended a meeting with
    Union Pacific Labor Relations and other Shopcraft General
    Chairman to discuss possible amendments to the Mechanic in
    Charge (MIC) agreement applicable on the C&NW property.
  • On June 25th, AGC Shell and I met with the officers of St Louis
    Local 633.
  • During the month, the System Council staff assisted several Union
    Pacific locals with disciplinary issues.

In closing, I would like to remind those locals who have recently
had changes in officers or local chairmen to please forward these
changes to this office together with address, phone numbers and email
so that we may update the System Council records accordingly.

Please find the following attachments for your review and
dissemination:

  1. RRB Information Publication –RRB-April 2014
    2.    RRB Information Publication – RRB-May 2014
    3.    RRB Information Publication – RRB-June 2014;
    4.    RRB informational conf 2014
    5.    RRB Job Vacancy 2014

With best wishes, I remain

Fraternally yours,

Jim Wisniski
General Chairman

Cc:      IVP’s System Council 2
Bill Bohne, Director of Railroads
Staff