Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and the Teamsters

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to know of what people think of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters merging into the largest transportation union in North America.

[Anonymous]

HA, HA, HA, HA, HAH! There will be no reduction in the number of vice presidents. Unions: the last stand for good old-fashioned featherbedding! (This from someone who's been dealing with these birds for almost 35 years...)

[Anonymous]

This is another example of the reason for the loss of union power. To much infighting amongst themselves.

43 years a union member and we used mor time and money fighting with the BLE the last 30 years that it isn't even funny.

First 30 years of work on the RR were GREAT. Last 13 take them and shoove it.


RINGER
God Bless the Great Northern

[Anonymous]

Can't say that I enjoy the prospect of the proud B of LE merging with the union most often identified with organized crime. Of course they could've merged with the UTU, the union recently identified with disorganized crime...

One thing is certain, a merger with a much larger union representing truck drivers can't help the cause of railroad workers much. At best, we'll be lost in the shuffle.

LC

[Anonymous]

I agree with all the comments. Myself personally, I voted against the merger. The only good point I see right now is that CSX management is at all thrilled about it. I dont think i would go as far and say they are scared, far from it, but maybe they wont be as begrudged around bargaining time. I do know that the division of the Teamsters that was formed, The International Brotherhood of Engineers and Trainmen, had a hand in forming the new national agreement. It seems that we did get the wool pulled over our eyes again.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

It appears that the BLE members will get lost in the shuffle by merging with the Teamsters. It would be interesting to hear from a Teamster member who is not in the transportation business on how well the union has served them.

One other related question: Does the Railway Labor Act still mandate union representation along craft lines?

[wabash1]

Ringer you say that for 30 years you been wasting money fighting the ble and with that you let it out of the bag you are utu. And everytime there was a fight it was utu picking the fight. and the ble stood proud and defeated you guys. then we get alittle help from the teamsters and you guys start your properganda machien up again and start running scared. the thing is if we decide it is not worth being merged with the teamsters we have the right to seperate from that merger. pretty simple. and the utu is running scared but we dont care. The fact is we are 2 seperate identeties only with mass . the other thing is that if you read it right it is engineer and trainman. the ble ( unlike what the utu says ) wants seperate crafts. and wants a conductor on the engine . the only union that wants one union and one craft is the utu and this is only so they can sell you down the river again. I will not join the utu and pay those guys to get rid of my job. and any new conductor who has any common sense wouldnt join them either.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Further comment on the Teamsters. With the onset of deregulation in trucking, the Teamsters have lost much of their influence in that business. Many of the larger carriers that grew after dereg are non-union (JB Hunt, Overnite, and others) and they have grown often at the expense of union carriers.

[wabash1]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CSSHEGEWISCH

Further comment on the Teamsters. With the onset of deregulation in trucking, the Teamsters have lost much of their influence in that business. Many of the larger carriers that grew after dereg are non-union (JB Hunt, Overnite, and others) and they have grown often at the expense of union carriers.

this is somewhat true. JB Hunt grew due to deregulation but they are a truck load carrier . Overnight, ETMF, Spector, ABF, Yellow, Roadway,CF, to name a few ( and a few fallen flags) are all LTL ( less than truck load) the LTL company were all union JBHunt never was union. and the teamsters are still powerful ( they cant strike either) all i say is to have the voices heard have a strike. how many of us are they going to put in jail? they dont have the facilities to do this. It is not so much the union as the union employees the company is forcing guys to break agreements on a regular bases. and then calling it past practice to get by with it. if you would get everyone to stand together things would be better. Look at this forum how many times have you had more than 2 people agree on something? shure they are in agrement on the issue but on the settlement they are miles apart. rail crossing at grade everyone says something needs to be done but out of 10 replies 10 differant ways of doing it and each saying this way is better. with this merger we have the ability to get everyone in the same building now lets see if we all can sit down at the same table..

[Anonymous]

One other comment. It is well known that the BLE, like many other unions has had some financial difficulties over the last few years. The Teamsters have also had financial difficulties, most recently related to the Central States Pension Fund (Teamster Trucker's pension fund). One thing I'd like to know is will our (BLE&T) dues be going to support these pension debts in some way?

LC

[Anonymous]

I am a young trainman and I voted for the merger. In truth (or as it was told to me) is that a small portion of the IBT membership is truckdrivers. IBT's membership even extends to delivery drivers and bakers. The company doesn't like the idea and that speaks to me! If you were in office and a BLE rep came to visit with some 40,000 members behind him, would you listen..........NO way! 40,000 people is less than a mediocre sized town. Now if the Teamster rep came to speak to you with some 1.4 million members behind him, you might lend that gentleman an ear.....don't you think. The Unions are losing the good fight in the political arena every day. G.W. Bush is screwing the working class blue! We need a bigger voice or we will cease to exist.....period! Case in point with God, Guns and War Bush: He is fighting to get rid of paid overtime! Yep, that affects even you non unioners out there! Shows you where his heart is. Oh, yeah, you can thank the Unions for some of the benefits that you enjoy even if you are non-union, including higher wages. It is proven that union shops raise the prevailing wages for the areas that they are in. It even is the base line for Davis-Bacon government jobs. Thank God for Unions! Don't even get me started on that turd of a union UTU..........SOLD to the lowest bidder: My job!
Ken

[Anonymous]

Yes the teamsters does reach much more far and wide than truck drivers.

When I worked maintenance at a Casino I was a Teamster.

It's going to be interesting to see what happends in the next few years with the teamsters now riding on the rails.

[Anonymous]

The Teamsters have just recently merged with the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees (BMWE). No idea how this will affect the progress of the BLET or give any additional leverage, but hey, who knows?

LC

[Anonymous]

Trucking is way too big for a few union drivers to make an impact. Now...

Seaports, Longshoremen, Markets, JIT facilities such as Assembly plants etc etc.. that is where the power lives.

I have for years listened to impassioned and very angry drivers pounding the counters sloshing coffee and ranting until they ran short of breath over various issues. And it goes on thru the night over the radio.

You can never organize the trucking on the driver level nationwide. There are just too many "mixtures" of drivers from many walks of life, each motivated by different things.

I have managed to stay clear of the Unions and the Non unions most of my life. However some parts of the Nation relies on them equally to function day to day,.

[Anonymous]

DOES THIS MEAN I CAN COLLECT RAILROAD RETIREMENT AND A TEAMSTER RETIREMENT ALSO???????

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BigBilly5xL

DOES THIS MEAN I CAN COLLECT RAILROAD RETIREMENT AND A TEAMSTER RETIREMENT ALSO???????

No. You need to re-read my post at the start of this thread.