SMART UnionA jaunt on a stolen train Thursday ended in a crash and possible federal felony charges for the 22-year-old driver.
Derek Skyler Brux was charged Friday with reckless endangering, felony destruction of property and felony destruction, obstruction or removal of railroad track or fixtures after allegedly stealing a train from North Antelope Rochelle mine and driving it south 13 miles before plowing it into another train.
Read the complete story from Gillette News Record.
DENVER – Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC retaliated against a Mandan, North Dakota, worker in December 2013 after he reported a work-related injury and submitted a physician’s treatment plan, according to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA has ordered Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF to pay more than $30,000 in back wages and damages and to take other corrective action.
The former employee submitted a whistleblower complaint to OSHA alleging violations of the anti-retaliation provisions of the Federal Railroad Safety Act. As a result, OSHA investigated and determined the work-related injury reporting and subsequent treatment plan were contributing factors in terminating the employee, a direct violation of the FRSA.
“Reporting an injury and a subsequent treatment plan ordered by a physician — regardless of an employer’s policy or deadline — is protected activity by law,” said Gregory Baxter, OSHA’s regional administrator in Denver. “BNSF failed to prove that its personnel actions were anything other than retaliation.”
OSHA ordered the employer to reinstate the worker at the same or an equivalent job, restore seniority and benefits, and pay $6,000 in compensatory damages, plus attorney’s fees.
Employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees who raise various protected concerns or provide protected information to the employer or the government. Employees who believe that they have been retaliated against for engaging in protected conduct may file a complaint with the secretary of labor. More information is available online at http://www.whistleblowers.gov/index.html.
BNSF or the former employee may file objections or request a hearing before the department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges within 30 days of receiving OSHA’s order.
OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of the FRSA and 21 other statutes protecting employees who report violations of various airline, commercial motor carrier, consumer product, environmental, financial reform, food safety, health care reform, nuclear, pipeline, worker safety, public transportation agency, maritime and securities laws.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – BNSF Railway Co. has been found in violation of the Federal Railroad Safety Act by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration for disciplining an employee at its Murray Yard complex for following a physician’s treatment plan. The company has been ordered to pay the conductor $12,000 in damages, remove disciplinary information from the employee’s personnel record and provide whistleblower rights information to its employees.
“It is illegal to discipline an employee for following doctor’s orders,” said Marcia P. Drumm, OSHA’s acting regional administrator in Kansas City. “Workers should never be forced to choose between their health and facing disciplinary action. Whistleblower protections play an important role in keeping workplaces safe.”
OSHA’s investigation upheld the allegation that the railroad company disciplined the conductor, who has been employed there since 2004, in retaliation for taking leave in line with a doctor’s treatment plan. The employee was ill and notified a supervisor that he was seeing a doctor the afternoon of Nov. 18, 2013. Following his doctor’s appointment, the conductor immediately notified a supervisor that the doctor had ordered him to stay out of work for the remainder of the day, due to a personal illness. The company then accused the employee of violating its attendance policy and subsequently disciplined the employee.
BNSF Railway has been ordered to pay $2,000 in compensatory and $10,000 in punitive damages, as well as reasonable attorney’s fees. Any of the parties in this case can file an appeal with the department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges.
OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of the FRSA and 21 other statutes protecting employees who report violations of various airline, commercial motor carrier, consumer product, environmental, financial reform, food safety, health care reform, nuclear, pipeline, worker safety, public transportation agency, railroad, maritime and securities laws.
Employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees who raise various protected concerns or provide protected information to the employer or to the government. Employees who believe that they have been retaliated against for engaging in protected conduct may file a complaint with the secretary of labor to request an investigation by OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program. Detailed information on employee whistleblower rights, including fact sheets, is available at http://www.whistleblowers.gov.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.
SMART Transportation Division President John Previsich has responded to an inquiry from Florida State Legislative Director Andres Trujillo requesting an interpretation related to the role of the SMART Transportation Division Legislative Department in connection with the collective bargaining jurisdiction of SMART’s general committees.
The inquiry relates to a proposed collective bargaining agreement between SMART Transportation Division GO-001 and BNSF Railway and is in regard to crew consist for its affected members.
The text of the letter follows.
“Mr. Andres Trujillo, Chairman
National Association of State Directors
“Dear Sir and Brother:
“This is in response to your letter of August 5, 2014, wherein you request an interpretation related to the role of the legislative department in connection with the collective bargaining jurisdiction of our General Committees. Your inquiry stems from questions in connection with a collective bargaining agreement proposed by GO-001 regarding crew consist for its affected members. A number of issues have been raised in connection with that agreement and this response to your inquiry will include clarification of those issues so that all concerned will be fully informed on this matter.
“To begin, the issue of a General Committee’s right to negotiate crew consist for its members is a matter long settled. Our constitution grants the General Committees jurisdiction in this area and this organization has successfully defended that right over the years through litigation and arbitration (see, e.g., United Transp. Union v. Alton & S. Ry. Co., Case No.: 05-190-GPM, 2006 WL 664181 (S.D. Ill. March 10, 2006)). There are no grounds for any entity to interfere with that right and there will be no attack on that authority by this office or any subordinate body of this organization. Nonetheless, it should surprise no one that the proposed agreement is generating a great deal of discussion due to its potential impact beyond its own territory. This office will not interfere with the rights of all of our members to engage in that discussion.
“Next, a question has been raised with respect to the knowledge of the Transportation Division regarding the proposed agreement. Earlier this year, the officers of GO-001 requested a meeting to discuss “a matter of great importance to the committee and its members.” At the meeting this office was informed that GO-001 was negotiating an agreement that may include a provision for engineer-only operation under certain conditions. Included in that meeting was a discussion of general committee autonomy and authority to make crew consist agreements. An actual quote by one of the officers is “I have a file cabinet full of precedent that crew consist is a General Committee issue.” There was a great deal of discussion over the wisdom of making such an agreement and the affect that it would have nationally on other properties and on our legislative effort to require two certified people on every train.
“Some number of months later another meeting was requested, this time to inform this office of the content of the proposed agreement. Again, the wisdom and difficulties of such a proposal were discussed and it was stated by the undersigned that “if a committee is forced to submit to single person operations this outcome isn’t too bad.” In addition, some small errors were noted for correction. The key component of the statement above is “If a committee is forced to submit to single person operations.” Any assertion that such a statement constitutes an endorsement of the agreement is, at best, deliberately misleading and, in fact, the officers in the meeting were told in no uncertain terms that the agreement was in conflict with our national agenda and would not be endorsed by this office.
“Although the proposed agreement is clearly within the authority of the officers of GO-001 to negotiate, there is no doubt that passage of such an agreement would alter our dialogue in the legislative arena. As you are aware, efforts to preserve jobs and safety currently in progress are far reaching and not confined to H.R. 3040. The role of the legislative department is unchanged – we are working in every regulatory and legislative arena to protect our members and the public from the danger of single person operations and those efforts will continue.
“It is worth noting here that all General Committees with crew consist agreements will face expiring moratoriums at some point in the future. It is also important to note that an expired moratorium is where negotiations begin – once expired, notices must be served by the parties to enter into negotiations in accordance with the Railway Labor Act (this is intended to clarify any misinformation that would suggest to the listener that conductors are automatically removed from the train when a moratorium expires).
“Some will say that it is better to act earlier and get something at the cost of current jobs and others will argue it is better to wait while preserving current jobs for some time into the future, allowing legislative, regulatory and safety considerations to play out in the intervening time. Regarding the current proposal, it is up to the members of GO-001 to decide if now is the time for their committee to address single person operations.”
DALLAS – BNSF Railway Co., the only U.S. railroad ordered by the regulator (Surface Transportation Board) to provide weekly service updates, is losing market share to Union Pacific Corp., its main competitor, as train speeds slow and on-time deliveries drop.
The shift in market share had shown up in carload statistics, Union Pacific Chief Executive Officer Jack Koraleski said Thursday. During the second quarter, the Union Pacific’s loads rose 8.2 percent while those of BNSF, owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., gained 4.9 percent.
Read the complete story at Fort Worth Business Press.
A Burlington Northern Santa Fe train carrying crude oil derailed as it left a railyard in north Seattle on Thursday, but there were no reports of a spill or injuries, BNSF said in a statement.
Four railcars came off the tracks at around 2 a.m. PDT (0900 GMT), three of which were carrying crude oil, said BNSF, which is owned by Berkshire Hathaway. The train originated in North Dakota and was bound for Tesoro Corp’s 120,000 barrel-per-day Anacortes oil refinery, 80 miles (129 km) north of the city, Tesoro confirmed.
Read the complete story at Reuters.
U.S. railroad regulators have ordered BNSF Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway to hasten shipments of grain from a backlog that has frustrated farmers and people who run grain elevators.
The Surface Transportation Board, in a decision late Friday, required the two railroads to publicly disclose every week plans to address the delays, which have forced some in the upper Midwest to heap grain on the ground after running out of storage space because of autumn’s massive harvests. Others just can’t get grain moved out of elevators or are doing so at higher prices.
Read the complete story at the Journal Star.
BILLINGS, Mont. — U.S. railroads forced to turn over details of their volatile crude oil shipments are asking states to sign agreements not to disclose the information. But some states are refusing, saying Thursday that the information shouldn’t be kept from the public.
Federal officials last month ordered railroads to make the disclosures after a string of fiery tank-car accidents in North Dakota, Alabama, Virginia and Quebec, where 47 people died when a runaway oil train exploded in the town of Lac-Megantic.
The disclosures due midnight Saturday include route details, volumes of oil carried and emergency-response information for trains hauling 1 million gallons or more of crude. That’s the equivalent of 35 tank cars.
Read the complete story at The Washington Post.
BNSF Railway Co., the carrier owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., will need the rest of 2014 to untangle train tie-ups in the corridor that serves North Dakota’s Bakken shale region.
A system-wide traffic jam, caused by surging grain and crude-oil volumes coupled with harsh weather, is being resolved on the southern lines linking Chicago and Los Angeles, Chief Executive Officer Carl Ice said yesterday in an interview at the railroad’s headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas.
Raed the complete story at Bloomberg News.
BILLINGS, Mont. – BNSF Railway Co. said Thursday (Feb. 20) it intends to buy a fleet of 5,000 strengthened tank cars to haul oil and ethanol in a move that would set a higher benchmark for safety within an industry that’s seen multiple major accidents.
The voluntary step by the Texas-based subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. comes as railroads in the U.S. and Canada are under intense pressure to improve safety for hazardous materials shipments.
Read the complete story at the Associated Press.