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Dear Brothers and Sisters:
Yesterday many of you
received a mailing from the Brotherhood of
Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, a Division of
the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT).
It contained an A-Card and a series of letters
which the Teamsters hope will encourage you to
leave ACRE and join the IBT. We have no
intention of dwelling on this mailing. Our
record of service speaks for itself and theirs
should too. If you want to read further about
their failures click to:
STRAIGHT TRACK
Their argument is the same one that was made
five years ago. It is also the same argument
that has been thoroughly discredited during the
course of those same five years. Against all
evidence to the contrary, they want you to
believe that you would be better off as a small
fish in a large ocean than a big fish in a small
lake. When ACRE was created five years ago, we
believed our interests were best served by
uniting with Conductors, Rail Traffic
Controllers, Power Supervisors, Signalmen,
Yardmasters and Hostlers to create the largest
union on Metro-North. From past experience we
learned that the BLE International was unwilling
or incapable of representing our interests. In
1983 alone they stuck us with the order of
selection roster, swing time, helped to rob 20
engineers of their seniority and failed to get
us the pension system that engineers on the LIRR
received when they became a public railroad. One
thing ACRE has definitely learned over the past
five years is the simple fact that we don't need
the International interference and bungling that
characterized our International representation
for so many years.
Over these past five years, ACRE has dealt with
every issue from the federal level to the state
level all the way to the local level by
effectively exercising its power as the largest
union on Metro-North. During this time, the
former BLE either initiated or conspired with
other unions to put our organization out of
business. They and those working for them
filed accusations or were a party to false
claims that involved the Department of Labor,
the Justice Department, the Inspector General,
and the National Mediation Board. They pushed
legislation in the House of Representatives, the
New York State Assembly, and the New York State
Senate designed to hinder ACRE's
representational abilities. Yet for all their
claim to strength and power they never laid a
glove on us. Their unsuccessful attempts to do
us harm using government agencies sent them the
message that they were going to have to deal
with ACRE on their own. This A-Card drive is
their last ditch effort.
In the five years since ACRE was created, things
have only gotten worse for what used to be the
BLE. They have been party to agreements that
have seen freight engineers' jobs, earnings and
benefits erode away. As a direct result of the
war the UTU has been waging against them, the
privately owned freight railroads are playing
the two unions against each other in their
ongoing contract talks. They have filed Section
6 notices seeking the total elimination of
engineers and conductors and replacing them with
a single ‘transportation employee' who will do
all the work previously done by two people. To
the railroads' amusement both unions are
perfectly willing to sell out the other side by
trying to cut the deal first.
To counter the costly war the UTU has been
waging on them, BLE officers first entered into
an agreement to join the UTU, then when the
membership rejected that idea, they sold their
union to the Teamsters. That is why the first
two letters in the mailing you received are
about Teamster strength and are from BLE&T
President, Don Hahs and Teamster President,
James Hoffa. There is not too much we need to
say about this. Amid their talk of Teamster
strength and Teamster power, no one has
apparently told them that the Teamsters already
represent track workers on Metro-North. We
shouldn't have to dwell on this issue but if
anyone thinks the track workers have the most
powerful union on Metro-North they should go out
and talk to the track workers themselves.
Interestingly, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of
Way Employees recently joined the Teamsters'
Rail Division where they outnumber engineers in
the BLE&T. If engineers on Metro-North decided
to join the Teamsters they too would be
outnumbered by track workers on a local level.
The next four letters in the mailing come from
Metro-North engineers who have chosen to remain
in Division 127. One is from Tom McGrath who
served as a Local Chairman for engineers in
1999. As Local Chairman he was on the company
payroll paid by the carrier to conduct union
business two days a week, a fact he has
conveniently forgotten as he criticized the same
payments that have been part of our collective
bargaining agreement for the past 22 years. Also
forgotten is the fact that Tom was a strong
proponent of the Defined Benefit Pension ACRE
recently negotiated and criticized current ACRE
officers for not getting it when it was much
more costly and not as lucrative two bargaining
rounds ago. For those who would have liked to
see Tom working for the membership, fact is the
ACRE door has always been open for Tom if he
chose to help serve. The other letters don't
even warrant a mention. When Division 127
engineers chose not to participate in the
construction of ACRE Local Division 9 they
denied themselves any say in the construction of
the by-laws and the Local Division's operation.
That was their choice and they exercised it.
The last point we want to touch on briefly
involves a side letter in which Metro-North
agrees to examine a procedure to provide pension
credit to active employees who are union
officers when they are off conducting union
business. This program was designed so that
union officers wouldn't have to suffer reduced
pensions because they were working for the
union. Under this program, ACRE reimburses
Metro-North for all payments including Railroad
Retirement, State and Federal taxes,
contributions to the pension fund and every
other deduction made on behalf of the officers.
If this system was not in place, it would be
impossible to get qualified people to take these
union jobs. In no way does the company pay for
anything out of their pocket.
Much more will undoubtedly be said and written
over the next few weeks. If you have any
questions or concerns contact an ACRE
representative or call the union office. So far,
the most frequently asked question is, "Do I
have to keep this or can I throw it out." The
answer is you don't have to keep it. You can
throw it out.
We
thank you all for the confidence you have shown
in us over the years and again thank you for
your continued support.
Fraternally yours,
ACRE
Local Division 9
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