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Published Saturday March 11, 2006 Railroads dealt setback in bid for 1-person crew BY STACIE HAMEL WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER A judge ruled Friday that a union has no obligation to take part in national bargaining with railroads over the size of train crews, apparently thwarting carriers' immediate hopes of implementing one-person crews. The carriers affected include the Omaha-based Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railway Co., which also operates in Nebraska and Iowa. The lawsuit was filed in March 2005 by the United Transportation Union, which represents mostly conductors, against railroads represented in negotiations by the National Carriers' Conference Committee. The UTU has been in negotiation with the carriers since Jan. 1, 2005, over rates of pay and working conditions. A union spokesman called the ruling a significant victory. National Carriers' Conference Committee representatives were not immediately available. The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge G. Patrick Murphy of Southern Illinois also rebuffed railroads' request that the union join in proposing that Congress repeal or change the Federal Employer Liability Act, which allows injured railroad workers to sue carriers for on-the-job injuries. The agreements over crew size - known as crew consist agreements - were negotiated railroad-by-railroad, rather than through national bargaining, and require at least one conductor and, in some cases, a brakeman on all through freight trains. In his order, Murphy wrote, "UTU has no obligation to bargain with Defendant Carriers in national handling regarding the crew consist issues . . . the subject is local as a matter of law." He wrote, however, that national bargaining is appropriate on a wage-reduction proposal once crew consist has been resolved at the local level. On the proposal regarding the Federal Employer Liability Act, Murphy wrote that the issue is outside the scope of mandatory bargaining and railroads have no right to insist that the union negotiate. Contact the Omaha World-Herald newsroom Copyright ©2006 Omaha World-Herald®.
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