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Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin Oberman joined the STB in 2019, the same year that I became the president of the SMART Transportation Division. In the five years we have been in our positions, many of the battles Marty and I have fought have been the same.

At STB, Oberman has been dedicated to making the rail industry work for the American people and our economy. What made him stand out is that he understands what SMART-TD and rail labor do to make that happen. He has always, very appropriately, seen labor as a partner in the solutions and in the industry.

Ever since he was with Metra working with SMART-TD members to keep Chicago’s passenger rail flowing, Marty has seen value in the experience and wisdom of crews on the front line. When he became a member, then chair of the STB, this mentality came with him — the people on the ground and in the cab are the ones making things work.

Oberman has gone out of his way to give SMART-TD and rail labor a voice in the direction of the industry. This has earned him tremendous respect from this organization’s leadership and from our members.

His no-nonsense, common-sense approach has served this country well, as well as providing many YouTube-worthy quotes and awkward moments for railroad executives who faced his questions. It’s been therapeutic at times to see Oberman demand accountability from rail executives who are so accustomed to dictating the situation to their will.

STB Chairman Martin Oberman addresses the SMART Leadership Conference via video in San Francisco, Calif., in 2022.
STB Chairman Martin Oberman addresses the SMART Leadership Conference via video in San Francisco, Calif., in 2022.

He has been an ally in our fight to get the nation out from under the thumb of Precision Scheduled Railroading. He’s used his clout as chairman to rally against rail carriers’ abuses of shipper embargoes. In recent months, he’s been an outspoken critic of a hedge fund’s hostile takeover of Norfolk Southern.

When given the choice, he’d prefer the industry concentrate on serving shippers and valuing its employees instead of seeing profit and operating ratios as the chief determinants of success. Throughout, he’s seen rail workers as key to this country’s economy, not as enemies of Wall Street investors. This core belief shines through in his time leading the Surface Transportation Board.

Martin Oberman is a friend of the American rail worker. I‘m proud to say that he has become a friend of mine.

When a champion of our cause retires or, as we like to say, “pulls the pin,” it’s a hard pill for the rest of us to swallow. But looking at the structure of the STB today and the watchdog role this board has carved out under Marty’s leadership, it is evident that his legacy will last for decades to come.

I want to personally wish Marty a long and happy retirement with his wife, Bonnie, beginning today. I and every hard-working American in the industry appreciates the fearlessness with which you served the STB and the nation.

Jeremy R. Ferguson,

President, Transportation Division

“This is a good day for the men and women on the ballast line of Norfolk Southern! The attempt by the hedge fund known as Ancora to take over one of this country’s largest railroads could have been catastrophic to our nation’s economy and to the quality of life for thousands of SMART-TD members.

Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin Oberman and Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg supported NS’s management team because they recognized the threat the Ancora plan posed to rail workers’ safety and quality of life. These leaders’ support for current leadership’s course was not just an endorsement of the recent changes at NS. It was also a rebuke of the destructiveness of Precision Scheduled Railroading.

With two notable exceptions, rail labor leaders saw this scenario for what it was. The majority of us remained in support of the new course set by Alan Shaw and his board. Those others allowed themselves to be taken in by an empty promise.  Thankfully, today all railroaders can be assured that the progress they have witnessed in their quality of life, and the security they and their families count on from their paychecks are no longer at dire risk. Wall Street’s attempt to go back to the Hunter Harrison playbook has failed.

As the president of the largest union on Norfolk Southern’s properties and the largest in the U.S. rail industry, I look forward to continuing SMART-TD’s work with Alan and his team to improve the lives of our rail workforce and to continue to blaze a trail for all Class I railroads to follow.”

Jeremy Ferguson, President, SMART-TD

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (May 9, 2024) — SMART Transportation Division President Jeremy Ferguson issued the following statement on the results of the Norfolk Southern proxy vote:

“This morning, a rare thing happened with the NS vote. Corporate raiders failed to take the reins of an essential player in the rail industry and veer this nation’s economy back into the bad old days of Precision Scheduled Railroading.

“Ancora’s attempt to railroad the railroad and ‘tear Norfolk Southern down to the studs’ has officially failed. A balanced approach, with particular emphasis on rail safety, will continue there.

“SMART-TD looks forward to continuing the progress we have made with CEO Alan Shaw and his team. They have been establishing a resilient approach to railroading and an improved workplace culture. NS has decided to place the safety of our members and the communities they run through at the forefront, and we are excited to see that this will continue!”

David Philips, SMART-TD General Chairperson for General Committee 680 stated:

“Committee 680 is pleased to hear the outcome of today’s NS proxy vote and plans to continue the progress we have made for our members. Now that the leadership at NS is stable, it strengthens our future negotiations and paves the way to good outcomes for our members.”

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If you’re interested in speaking more about Norfolk Southern and the impact of today’s shareholder vote, we’d be happy to connect you with:

SMART Transportation Division President Jeremy Ferguson

President Jeremy Ferguson, a member of Local 313 in Grand Rapids, Mich., was elected president of SMART’s Transportation Division in 2019.

President Ferguson, an Army veteran, started railroading in 1994 as a conductor on CSX at Grand Rapids, Mich., and was promoted to engineer in 1995. Ferguson headed the recent national rail negotiations for the Union with the nation’s rail carriers.

SMART Transportation Division Alternate Vice President Thomas Gholson

Thomas “Tommy” Gholson, of Local 573 in Danville, Ky., has worked for Norfolk Southern since 1998, first as a brakeman, then as a conductor and as an engineer.

Gholson has served as general chairperson for GO 898 since 2018 and became a SMART-TD alternate vice president in October 2019. He also serves as vice chairperson of the Association of General Chairpersons, District 1.

In conjunction with multiple union officers, Brother Gholson assisted in the negotiation of the national railroad contract talks that opened in 2019. He also served on the Work-Rest Subcommittee and was a driving force behind the work that led to NS joining the Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3RS).

Congressman Eric Burlison, 7th Congressional District in Missouri, is trying to overturn our long-sought and hard-won two-person crew rule. In April, he introduced legislation trying to overturn FRA’s ruling. He is officially AGAINST US.

Let your congressperson know you will be watching to see if they care to protect their constituents. Let them know they should stand with us. They should reject House Joint Resolution 130, which looks to toss out the 2PC rule we have fought for decades to earn.

Railroads financed Burlison’s campaign

SMART-TD’s National Legislative Department looked at Burlison’s current congressional campaign’s financial records. The AAR (American Railroads), ASLRRA, UP, BNSF, CSX and NS, plus short-line operators Genesee & Wyoming and Herzog have all given to his campaign to be re-elected later this year.

These railroads didn’t have to court Burlison all that much to convince him to help them fight against our unions. Politically, Burlison has been working against unions long before he was in the United States House of Representatives.

Burlison: A longtime foe of worker protections

In 2021, Rep. Burlison was a Missouri state senator. One of his bills, SB 118, was a right to work (for less) bill for the “Show Me” state. On his state website, there was a headline of “Sen. Eric Burlison Continues Right-to-Work Fight.” This article went on to say, “JEFFERSON CITY — State Sen. Eric Burlison, R-Battlefield, presented Senate Bill 118, which establishes right-to-work provisions in Missouri, to the Senate General Laws Committee on Feb. 23. The legislation bars employers from requiring union membership of employees and paying dues or other charges as a condition of employment.”

Speaking of his time in the Missouri Legislature, a quote on his website says “Right-to-work has always been an important issue to myself and my constituents.”

His attempt to end 2PC is a part of Burlison’s larger war against labor.

His short resolution deserves a large response

He is a first-term congressperson, only two years removed from the state Legislature. He is just good enough at his job to write a six-line piece of legislation against rail labor and rail safety with two co-sponsors, which, if we stand up, has zero chance of being signed into law.

Burlison’s press release on his joint resolution featured quotes from Ian Jefferies, president and CEO of the big railroads’ lobbying group, and Chuck Baker, president of the short lines’ lobbying group. It’s not a coincidence. For someone determined to fight railroad labor, they’re going to be on the top of the contact list.

Burlison cites flawed research

From his press release: “The only entity this (2PC Ruling) benefits is unions, not consumers or owners of these small businesses.” Burlison also said that an unnamed study was done in 2015 and found no safety difference “whether there is one qualified person or two qualified persons manning a train.” We think he’s referring to the Oliver Wyman crew size “study” that the industry bought and paid for about a decade ago. Of course, everyone benefits from safer trains with full, and fully rested crews. Railroads are not small businesses.

Pave the way for the Railway Safety Act

With your help, Burlison and his co-sponsors, Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Randy Weber (R-Texas), will find out that SMART-TD’s members are the true industry experts on railroad safety, now and in November when they face re-election.

With the Railroad Safety Act of 2023 gaining momentum in the U.S. Senate, it could be sent to the House of Representatives this summer. It’s important our message be heard loud and clear to pave the way for the law that will protect 2PC, no matter what happens this November.

Invenies quid valeam

Help us set the tone here and now. If we can’t band together and defend our hard-fought victory on two-person crews, they will have no reason to listen to us when we are pushing for shorter trains, more-regulated use of defect detectors, and the other aspects of the RSA that will keep us out of harm’s way.

The recent news of Ron Batory’s nomination for the Amtrak Board of Directors has sparked a lot of discussion on social media. Unfortunately, much has been based on misinformation.

The SMART Transportation Division wants to provide some clarity on this topic for our members and everyone at Amtrak or any other railroad.

Amtrak’s board structure

First, it’s important to understand the rules and regulations surrounding the makeup of the Amtrak board. The board has 10 members, with eight of these suggested by both political parties. The other two are the Amtrak CEO and the Secretary of Transportation.

49 U.S. Code § 24302 governs the composition of Amtrak’s board. The Speaker of the House of Representatives (currently a Republican), the minority leader of the House of Representatives (a Democrat), the majority leader of the Senate (a Democrat) and the minority leader of the Senate (a Republican) ALL provide input about who to consider. There are also geographical considerations. The U.S. president then “appoints” the people selected by this group for the Senate to consider.

Donald Trump’s FRA Administrator Ron Batory

Batory was recommended for nomination by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Batory was not chosen by President Joe Biden or his administration, despite how some media outlets and social media discussions have framed it.

Much of the uproar assumes Batory’s seat on the Amtrak board is a done deal. It is not. Once appointed, a Senate committee considers prospective Amtrak board members, who are then approved or rejected by the full U.S. Senate.

A history lesson

Biden’s choice for FRA administrator was Amit Bose, who has spent his three years in this post undoing the Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) mess he inherited from Batory, who previously led the FRA. The record speaks for itself, as Bose has worked well with SMART-TD and other rail unions to push back against unsafe and inhumane railroad practices.

Unneeded bluster by keyboard warriors

It’s understandable that some people may be confused or alarmed to see Batory listed as a Biden appointee in press materials and in headlines. The president plays a ceremonial role in transmitting the nominations made by the committee to Congress, as depicted in White House communications. Claiming that the president selected the nominees is a smokescreen designed to outrage people and obscure the truth prior to November.

Batory’s nomination to the Amtrak Board of Directors is not a reflection of the Biden administration’s values or priorities. It’s a partisan political decision set forth by the Senate minority leader. The law ensures that both parties have a meaningful way to decide the makeup of the Amtrak Board.

It is important that American railroad workers understand this reality instead of listening to knee-jerk provocations made by those using surface-level observations of the process.

Read the statement by the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department outlining labor’s stance on the Batory nomination.

CPKC, formed through the merger of the Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern railroads, is one of only two Class I railroads in the United States that have not negotiated with SMART-TD members for paid sick time. As with other railroads, they have adopted a strict policy to punish absenteeism. As a result, managers can dish out discipline and dismissal even if an employee must take UNPAID time off to recover from a high fever or while contagious.

Nobody wins when sick workers are punished for being sick

The new CPKC policy went into effect on December 1, 2023. They followed in the footsteps of Union Pacific and BNSF, who also want extreme employee availability. All these policies are designed to allow lower headcounts while increasing schedule flexibility for the managers. But, by pushing these policies too far, the railroads wear out their crews. The unions cannot change the policies directly, but we can fight their enforcement.

“The carrier is simply dragging its feet. We’ve had nearly two years for CPKC to come to the table after the uproar over time off during the last national negotiations,” General Chairperson Sam Habjan of GCA-457 (former Kansas City Southern lines). “They were super quick to get their merger done, but when it comes to taking care of the people doing the work, it’s been a slog.”

SMART-TD can reverse bad management decisions

The fact that these policies are both absurd and inhumane explains our high win rate when cases are brought to a hearing. SMART-TD’s success at overturning bad management choices may also explain why the railroads dish out steeper punishments if a railroader exercises their right to a hearing and loses. By raising the stakes, the railroads try to prevent their bad choices from being challenged. We win anyway — SMART-TD protects our members.

How SMART-TD members can get help

If any SMART-TD member is being unfairly targeted by their boss, they should talk to their local chairperson ASAP. The local chairperson can estimate if a hearing will be successful and can pull in the General Committee or additional union support if the situation demands it. SMART-TD wants to fix these policies, which starts with each railroader reporting their manager’s misdeeds. The more evidence we have and the more precedent we use and establish, the easier these cases become.

“The best way to combat these ‘policies’ is to challenge them,” Habjan said. “The union exists expressly to counter this nonsense. Talk to your local chairpersons and engage with your union. They’re trying to put fear in the workers when they know that SMART-TD officers are ready to stand up for our people. They’re afraid of the power of what we can do.”

SMART-TD is negotiating improved sick-day and time-off policies, one carrier and one property at a time, coast to coast. As the largest freight rail union in the United States, we are making progress. The time has come to call CPKC to the table. Respecting our members is in CPKC’s best interest.

Canadian carriers need to do better for their U.S. crews

It’s simple. No one should be forced to work while they are sick. Everyone should have the ability to take a day or two each week to attend to personal business. Rested and alert railroaders do a better job than fatigued ones. Canadian crews are protected by governmentally mandated time-off policies. Americans who work for Canadian companies don’t inherit those protections, which makes them vulnerable.

We show up to do a tough job and we are proud to do it well. But everyone has a physical limit. If we collapse from overwork, CPKC suffers. Experienced workers are safer and more efficient in the field than new hires, even if the fresh faces have learned all the rules.

This is a crisis in the making. CPKC has copied their peers’ punishing unplanned time-off policies. Without negotiating a just attendance and sick leave policy to balance it, CPKC will suffer. So will their customers. Once lost, rebuilding their ability will take years, even after refreshing their headcount.

CPKC’s policy

The CPKC policy includes the following language: “CPKC T&E and Yardmaster employees who book off sick or unpaid personal leave on two or more available workdays in the calendar month will be subject to attendance review for that month. Disciplinary action may result.”

First
Offence		Second OffenceThird OffenceFourth
Offence		Fifth Offence
Employee option:
Admit culpability and waive a formal investigation*
• Formal Reprimand

Or:

Elect a formal investigation and if found culpable may be assessed
10 demerits		Employee option:
Admit culpability and waive a formal investigation*
• 10 demerits

Or:

Elect a formal investigation and if found culpable may be assessed
15 demerits		Employee option:
Admit culpability and waive a formal investigation*
• 15 demerits

Or:

Elect a formal
investigation and if found culpable may be assessed
20 demerits		30 demerits, up to and including dismissal
At company
discretion, up to a 30-calendar day suspension or 30 demerits deferred in lieu of dismissal for accumulation of
demerits;
consider continued employment/last chance agreement (Consult with LR)		Any combination thereof, up to and including dismissal
* Admission of Responsibility/ Waiver as provided for in the employee’s Collective Agreement

When a railroad takes a broken-down old yard engine, paints it, reupholsters the interior and, of course, updates it with inward-facing cameras, they tell us it has been refurbished. They act like the yard crews should thank them for a massive improvement!

But that new paint job is no help at all when we’re trying to pull an ore train up a 3% grade. It’s the same POS, just a little shinier.

When the Canadian Pacific absorbed Kansas City Southern, (former) KCS crews hoped that life MIGHT be about to get a little better.

It turns out the “refurb” attendance policy is still that same garbage SD-40 they always knew not to trust.

CPKC: meet with us so we can give this thing the overhaul it deserves.

The Trade Union of Railwaymen and Transport Construction Workers of Ukraine (TURWTC), equivalent to SMART-TD in the United States, needs to find more personal protective equipment for their members. Work clothes and personal hygiene products are also needed.

SMART-TD is asking for locals or individual members to take up collections and send them to our office in Cleveland, Ohio:

  • Gloves (work, insulated, combined, leather, welder’s, cotton, cotton w/ PVC drops, latex coating, rubber (acid proof, acid-alkali resistant, anti-vibration, dielectric)
  • Work boots
  • Winter balaclavas (ski masks)
  • Dialectric boots/galoshes
  • Dielectric mats
  • Respirators (dustproof, gasproof, anti-gas and erosion)
  • Protective eyewear
  • Protective goggles for welders and gas cutters
  • Safety helmets
  • Face shield / welder’s masks
  • Safety shields
  • Earplugs / headphones
  • Safety belts
  • Aprons (tarpaulin, rubberized)

Railroaders before politics

While surrounded by bombings, rolling blackouts, and an ongoing struggle to keep themselves and their families alive, one thing is universal: You don’t get to say no when you’re first out and the railroad calls you to work.

Our Ukrainian brothers and sisters are not only obligated by their company to take that call to work, but they also have the added obligation to keep the country’s supply chain, people, and humanitarian support moving while their country is under attack. It is a heavy moral burden that, hopefully, no SMART-TD member will ever have to know.

SMART-TD leads a team effort

SMART-TD brother Nathan Hatton, local chairperson of Local 168 in Chicago, initially had the idea to reach out to SMART-TD’s counterpart in Ukraine. He and Justin Wolters, general chairperson of GCA 449, made it happen with help from the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center. This office was established in Warsaw, Poland, to keep communications flowing to Ukrainian labor unions during the Russian invasion.

The AFL-CIO, in conjunction with an organization known as Union To Union out of Sweden, made this connection possible.  They provided an interpreter for a meeting between TURWTC’s Chairman Oleksiy Semerun and SMART-TD Alternate National Legislative Director Jared Cassity, who led the SMART-TD delegation on the call.

As GC Wolters stated while talking to the Ukrainian delegation, “This is not a political stance being taken by SMART-TD or any of its members. Railroaders help other railroaders and rail families. That is what we are doing here. All of us can get behind that.”

Ukraine has complicated needs

Chairman Semerun categorized the way SMART-TD and our members could help his 260,000 freight, transit, and metro members.

  1. Training
  2. Lobbying our Congress
  3. Humanitarian support

The first two of these categories are complicated. The leaders of our National Legislative Department are doing their part to assist and the aid package that was passed in late April. Humanitarian support is easier to accomplish by contributing what you can from the list of items above or by contributing monetarily.

Ukraine has a very robust rail system as demonstrated by the high number of rail workers represented by the TURWTC.  During the meeting, the Ukrainian delegation made it clear to SMART-TD that they were not interested in a one-sided project. They brought up that they are aware of the rising problem of assaults facing our members in transit and commuter service. Chairman Semerun offered that his union would like to engage in efforts to train our members in crisis management and de-escalation once they are on more solid ground.

Chairman Semerun didn’t need the services of the interpreter to express his gratitude to SMART-TD and our three representatives in this first meeting. Brother Semerun ended the call (in English) by saying, “I’m ready. I’m ready to build a partnership with SMART-TD.”

Please contact Dan Banks in the Cleveland office with any questions about donating at dbanks@smart-union.org or by phone at (216) 227-5450.

Contributions can be mailed to:
SMART-TD (Ukraine assistance)
c/o Dan Banks
6060 Rockside Woods Blvd N., Suite 325
Independence, OH 44131

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is looking into Union Pacific and its management for painting an inaccurate picture about its safety strategy.  SMART Transportation Division members were coerced to paint a rosy picture of their employer.

All SMART-TD members who took part in this survey should get on record with their local chairperson, then call UP’s ethics hotline. That number is (800) 998-2000.

East Palestine raises railroad safety awareness

When Norfolk Southern’s freight train lit up the horizon of East Palestine, Ohio, on February 3, 2023, it woke up more than the sleeping residents of Southeast Ohio. Federal regulators, legislators, the press and the general public all became instantly aware that dangerous materials were being hauled in mass quantities through their communities.

This prompted the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to conduct a safety culture analysis of Norfolk Southern and all other Class I railroads.

Norfolk Southern and its management team were cooperative. NS CEO Allen Shaw and his board cooperated with FRA and a valid and thorough safety evaluation. 

Union Pacific has chosen a more dangerous approach.

FRA says Union Pacific coached employee responses

On Friday, April 26, FRA served UP’s management team with written notice that it was suspending the assessment, suggesting that things are about to get ugly for the Omaha, Nebraska-based corporation.

The FRA safety evaluation begins with an employee survey to get the perspective of front-line workers.  The administration is looking for unvarnished answers and observations from our members. This creates a baseline for their investigation.

In his letter to Union Pacific, FRA Associate Administrator Karl Alexy shared that he suspects that, instead of allowing employees to speak freely and without fear of retribution, several employees were “coached to provide specific responses to FRA questions if they were approached for a safety culture interview.”

Survey manipulation widespread; workers fear retaliation

Alexy’s letter said that reports of management “coaching” workers “span the UPRR system and railroad crafts,” putting the objectivity of the information in jeopardy.

Workers during the process also expressed reluctance and a “fear of retaliation,” according to FRA.

Workers also had to report to their supervisor if they took part in the data gathering. Data integrity and confidentiality were thus not assured, Alexy wrote. “With widespread evidence that these fundamental elements have been jeopardized, FRA has no choice but to end data collection activities,” he wrote.

Union Pacific appears to violate its own policies

Two things jump out at SMART-TD about this situation. First, the study being conducted by FRA concerns the safety culture at UP. According to the railroad’s propaganda “Safety is Union Pacific’s No. 1 Responsibility.”  The obvious question is, what would CEO Vena and UP have to hide and why would they need to coach its workers if safety was its top responsibility?

Secondly, what happened to UP’s “Statement of Policy on Ethics and Business Conduct,” which is prominently featured in their rule book?

pdf_up_govern_bus-conductDownload

UP’s policy clearly says that “No employee should take advantage of any party through manipulation, concealment, abuse of confidential information, misrepresentation of material facts or any other unfair practice.”

An effort to deceive a federal regulator and threaten/bully its employees into taking part in its scheme appears to violate all of those rules.

Another interesting quote from UP’s Ethics and Business Conduct Policy is that “Communicating this policy and OVERSEEING COMPLIANCE is the responsibility of the Chief Executive Officer and officers of the Company.”

FRA stopped collecting safety data from the carrier due to its discovery of manipulation, according to Alexy. It may try to restart the process later.

Ramifications

As far as SMART-TD is concerned, if FRA’s allegations are proven to be true, UP CEO Jim Vena and his executive team have violated their own Ethics and Business Conduct Policy. Either he was part of this scheme to mislead FRA or he was derelict in his duty to oversee the compliance of the ethics policy according to his company’s policy. Moreover, such conduct does not show a responsible approach to safety that the company says it adheres to.

No matter how this situation between the FRA and UP plays out, it is in the best interest of all SMART-TD members who have taken part in this survey to get on record with your local chairperson and the carrier’s ethics hotline. That number again is (800) 998-2000.

Your union will keep you informed as this situation progresses.

2024.04.30_UP_notification_from_FRADownload

Editors are entitled to take liberties with what they put in their columns. This is not new to the editorial pages, and the SMART Transportation Division (SMART-TD), the nation’s largest freight rail union, is never shy about expressing its opinion, either. But there is a distinct difference between an intelligent editorial based on facts and an unhinged hit piece on a public figure with different views than your newspaper’s.

On April 24th, the Denver Gazette and owner Phil Anshutez, who also has ownership ties to the Union Pacific Railroad in addition to former ownership of both the Southern Pacific Railway and the DRGW Railroad, crossed that line.

SMART-TD Colorado State Legislative Director Carl Smith
SMART-TD Colorado State Legislative Director Carl Smith

Omitting the fact that this newspaper is owned by a man who has owned up to 6% of the UP is not a crime. It is noteworthy and shaky from a journalistic and editorial perspective. Mr. Anshutez, like every American, has freedom of speech as given to him by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. This right entitles him to publish whatever he would like without being punished by imprisonment. It does NOT, however, entitle him to publish unfounded, ignorant statements about the SMART Transportation Division’s leaders without receiving a response.

The editorial “Radical bill seeks to regulate trains” targets Colorado House Bill 1030 and, more personally, myself. I serve as SMART-TD’s Colorado State Legislative Director and am the “union boss” referred to. I also have worked on the railroad since 1995.

What has Anshutez angry is that the bill’s goals are to limit train length in a state that famously features the Rocky Mountains as well as to clarify that union representatives have the right to be on-site and involved during investigations of rail accidents. Anshutez and his editorial board said these provisions were “concocted by union bosses, who fund Democratic campaigns to give them more power and control over what they don’t own.”

The first part of this statement and the last part are 100% true. The SMART-TD’s Legislative Board think our crews should not be doubling up five tracks and pulling 14,000-foot trains through mountains on 2% grades. Nobody denies that. And when our members are involved in a derailment, and the company is investigating to determine the cause, you are damn right SMART-TD has a dog in that fight. We believe wholeheartedly that workers have the right to be represented during any investigation to make sure they don’t become the railroad’s scapegoat for management’s failings.

Additionally, Anshutez is correct in saying that we (SMART-TD) don’t own the railroads. If we did, they wouldn’t be the hot mess they are today. Any reasonable railroad worker would not ask another to risk personal safety or that of the communities they travel through to make a few extra dollars for Wall Street investors to pad their dividend. Management, on the other hand, would if it saw a self-serving benefit — similar to an editorial being written at the behest of the owner of the publication.

The rest of the Gazette’s column is both ridiculous and false. There’s a clumsy comparison of our rail safety bill to Jim Crow laws. It concludes with a dire warning about taking free speech away from “wedding artists.” In the midst of the disjointed ramblings, rail labor and HB 1030’s rail safety provisions enter the mix as do pleas to prevent corporate victimhood. The column was long, with no rhyme or reason for how it was built — much like the trains UP and BNSF send to run through the mountains of Colorado with a hope and a prayer that it would stay together and reach a successful conclusion without breaking apart to please the boss and live to work another day.

As for the allegation that this bill is being pushed by “radical legislative Democrats” and that it was “concocted by union bosses, who fund Democratic campaigns,” Anshutez, the railroads’ and the Associations of American Railroads’ agenda come clear.

Labor — the people who do the work — are the driving force behind this legislation. But make no mistake, the people whom this union represents, cannot be confused with radical leftists. This union is very clear that we support candidates on both sides of the aisle. We classify office holders and candidates as “With us” or “Against us,” not Republican or Democrat. W’s and A’s matter. D’s and R’s do not in our organization.

We don’t have time to waste on blanket ideology, and our members are all over the political spectrum. SMART-TD endorsed Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Braun for the governor’s race in Indiana recently, and we have a higher percentage of our PAC dollars going to Republicans than other unions, even within rail labor.

A bill similar to HB 1030 is gathering momentum in Nebraska as we speak. By the Denver Gazette’s logic, Nebraska must also be run by “radical legislative Democrats!” Either that or, much like Colorado, this bill is what happens when SMART-TD has good leadership in place who push for legislation based on common sense that makes our members safer on the job.

In short, Anshutez and his newspaper have no idea what they are talking about.

HB 1030 has momentum in this session based on being chosen as one of five priority bills by a bipartisan committee made up of both House Representatives and Colorado Senators known as the Transportation Legislation Review Committee (TLRC).

The difference between this Colorado Subcommittee and the owner of the Denver Gazette/railroad shareholder is that the committee is made up of people with years of experience in transportation issues whose goal is to better the lives of the people of the state. The Denver Gazette’s goal is to sell newspapers and ad space to companies. Anshutez wins when railroads such as UP and BNSF.

That editorial moves the ball toward those goals. For the worker, the public and the supply chain at large, not so much.

Carl Smith has been the SMART Transportation Division’s state legislative director for 12 years.

After the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) flip-flop last week led to it becoming the second Teamsters union deciding to buy in with a hedge fund, everyone wondered what its leadership thought they would get out of the deal. 

It has now come to light that the BLET has entered into a “memorandum of understanding” (shown below) with Ancora’s aspiring Norfolk Southern (NS) management. This group has no authority on NS and the deal for BLET is based solely on promises “if” successful in a takeover bid.

2024.04.26_BLET-Ancora_memoDownload

They’re hopeful that by cheerleading this hostile takeover that Ancora will give them what SMART-TD already has achieved. Our NS general chairpersons’ professionalism and quality leadership have achieved superior agreements to what the BLET has. They’ve decided to sell out to catch up.

The attached memorandum shows BLET’s desperate attempts to take over certain remote-control operations already belonging to SMART-TD. BLET is also attempting to inject their officers into the conductor new-hire training process and the locomotive engineer training process. SMART-TD already holds the contracts on these arrangements.

Furthermore, they are also trying to get “me-too” improvements to their on-property agreements following SMART-TD’s successful negotiations of Articles 6 & 7 in the 2022 National Agreement. 

BLET and BMWED have chosen to blatantly sell out SMART-TD AND the 10 other rail labor groups who oppose Ancora’s takeover. Most importantly, they are selling out RAIL SAFETY and QUALITY OF LIFE for thousands of workers to serve their own purpose.

Ancora promised to hand BLET President Eddie Hall and the BLET GCs everything SMART-TD worked to gain. All he had to do was sell out the men and women working for Norfolk Southern. 

BLET TOOK THE DEAL!

Here are the repercussions

Ancora hasn’t hidden that, if successful in their hostile takeover, they are bringing Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) back big time. SMART-TD and the majority of rail labor unions (and BLET — up until two days ago) had stood together in solidarity for two months and said no. Meanwhile, BLET is playing Judas and has chosen to sell out workers so they can get a do-over on past negotiations their organization fell short on with NS.  

Eddie Hall and everyone associated with BLET’s decision should be ashamed. They were willing to hand over everything our movement has done to defend our men and women against PSR at NS. 

A display of blatant hypocrisy

For the record, less than one day before BLET announced they were backing Ancora, they had given their word to the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department that they were standing with us. Apparently, the attached agreement was an effective sweetener. Eddie Hall and his NS general chairpersons have turned on us. 

Prior to succumbing to Ancora’s temptation, BLET’s stance was clear. Featured on their website since late February and even after the April 26th announcement went public was an infographic of BLET General Chairman Dewayne Dehart with the quote, “Ancora would be bad for investors. It’s easy to imagine a train wreck under their proposed plans, both literally and figuratively speaking.” A second quote from Dehart says, “I can assure you I will be voting all shares in favor of Alan Shaw and his team.”

The two other BLET GCs shared similar sentiments in a Feb. 29 press release. All three were highly critical of Ancora’s executive selections, including proposed COO Jamie Boychuk, a former CSX executive.

“From our vantage point and from what we’ve learned from our union brothers and sisters at CSX, Boychuk was reckless and ran CSX operations into the ground before he was run out by CSX’s management team,” said BLET General Chairman Scott R. Bunten (NS-Eastern Lines GCA). “Ancora wants to turn back the clock and return to the failed Precision Scheduled Railroading business model with Boychuk’s help that the other Class I railroads are now abandoning.”

“Ancora has been pointing to the East Palestine derailment as a failure by Alan Shaw and his team, but we believe that the PSR model is directly linked to the East Palestine failure. Shaw was only on the job for a few months prior to the disaster. Since the derailment last year, NS’ CEO has risen to the occasion and, through his leadership, NS has become a safer, more efficient and customer focused company again,” said BLET General Chairman Jerry G. Sturdivant (NS-Southern Lines GCA).

“Having a CEO like Barber with zero railroad experience and a Chief Operating Officer such as Boychuk wedded to the worst aspects of PSR would likely lead to more, not fewer costly train wrecks,” said Sturdivant.

Dehart also had seemed very steadfast in the February statement, adding:

“I am a shareholder and I also vote hundreds of thousands of shares of NS stock for BLET as a fiduciary of the BLET NS 401(k) Plan. I can assure you I will be voting all shares in favor of Alan Shaw and his team. The leaders of our union and our members see the potential for increased revenue for Norfolk Southern with him at the helm,” said BLET General Chairman Dewayne L. Dehart (NS-Northern Lines), who has been with Norfolk Southern for 28 years.

But a private closed-door meeting with Ancora out of sight of its members changed their minds and made them flip the switch to support the group they had demonized.

Said BLET President Hall in an April 26th statement published by Trains Magazine attributed to him: “BLET’s three elected General Chairmen representing locomotive engineers and trainmen at Norfolk Southern met with Ancora’s leadership team yesterday and determined that they are the right leaders for Norfolk Southern moving forward. After the railroad’s CEO Alan Shaw hired COO John Orr and following the public comments of both those executives on their strategy for NS, our General Chairmen determined that a change at the top is needed. Although this decision was not easy, the General Chairmen believe it is necessary.”

A failure to communicate and serve its membership

What is not featured on the BLET website is any reference to the announcement they made switching their allegiance to Ancora. One would think that a labor organization making that big of a change in direction would want to inform its members, rather than having them find out from the press.

BLET appears to not want to talk about this abrupt decision, nor to be transparent to members who pay union dues for their protection and representation.

In contrast, their membership has been willing to talk about it this weekend. A 36-year BLET Division 110 Member, engineer Scott Pendygraft, spoke to one of our NS general chairpersons over the weekend and said,“I cannot pay dues to a union that would sell out for what’s probably an empty promise and not consider all of the membership.” 

Brother Pendygraft has joined SMART-TD Local 1190.

Please take the time to read the signed agreement between BLET and Ancora below to see what a backroom sellout of rail labor looks like. 

2024.04.26_BLET-Ancora_memoDownload

Our lines of communication are open.

The SMART Transportation Division, as the nation’s largest freight railroad union, reasserts its support of Alan Shaw and the leadership at Norfolk Southern.

CEO Alan Shaw and his management team have focused on creating a resilient carrier. They have made a conscious effort to diverge from the operating ratio-obsessed mentality that has degraded rail service and safety since 2017, and have made safety, employees and customers their priority.

The vast majority of rail labor, including SMART-TD and the coalition Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, recognizes this effort. The recent announcements by the BMWED and BLET unions that they are willing to roll the dice with a group wanting to re-implement an operating mode that contributed to a national supply-chain crisis and puts safety and employee well-being at risk is puzzling.

Under present leadership, NS is cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board in a thorough safety review. This comes after the carrier became the first Class I to commit to the Confidential Close Call Reporting System (C3RS). Shaw and NS also became the first Class I to reach paid-sick leave agreements with all bargaining units — an accomplishment that some other Class I carriers operating in the U.S. still haven’t achieved.

Shaw and the current leadership team have taken solid, tangible steps to establish a safety culture that values the contribution of our union members and officers, while also improving Norfolk Southern’s operations at the same time. The challengers seeking to take over the carrier have provided flimsy rhetoric to try to sway shareholders and that has swayed the BMWED and the BLET. At the same time, Shaw and his team continue to work to create results for labor, management and customers.

We have supported Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw and his team since the activist shareholders announced their intent. As the nation’s biggest freight rail union, we continue to do so and we will not waver.

Read a release by the 11-union group including SMART pledging support for the NS leadership.