BRS Local 20 Minutes From Galesburg June 9.
The next regular meeting of BRS Local 20 will be held Saturday, September 8, 2012 at 8:30 at Stoney Creek Inn, 3060 South Kinney Coulee Road, Onalaska, WI. Reservations may be made by calling 800-659-2220.
Following are brief minutes from our last meeting held in Galesburg, IL on June 9, 2012.
The meeting opened at 8:30 with 14 members and 2 guests present. Minutes were read and approved and a treasury balance of $ 78,093.45 in checking and C.D.’s in the amount of $ 21,433.71 was reported.
Don Levell had no grievances to report on, but he did discuss updated pay rates.
Joe Baker reported on 1 claim concerning an injury to a member and the subsequent actions by the carrier to write this member up.
Joe Lokken discussed the lack of members showing up for the meetings. Joe mentioned he has had 10 investigation notices already this year. Joe also discussed the extremely long time frame and delays in the claims process. Joe then talked about an investigation pending for a backing incident and an hours of service issue. Joe discussed the fact that basically all “land line” phones are being recorded on company property, and he said that 8 new hires started the first week of June, and he concluded with the fact that the “fast track” new hire program is done.
John Bitters talked about a previous investigation for failure to perform a test, that resulted in no discipline. He discussed a level “s” waiver for an out of limits issue as well.
Vice General Chairman Kelly Portlock spoke on start schedules for mobile crews, and issues concerning the 8 on and 6 off schedules for on and off district crews. He also talked about hourly vs. monthly pay rates for former ATSF members. Also mentioned was a proposal by the company to install 2 way cameras in our trucks. The General Committee is fighting this at this time. Kelly also discussed the ongoing issue of time comparisons between our hours of service and time roll. The issue of putting out of schedule tests in our PMT’s after trouble calls was discussed as well. As you can see, there is a definite trend of the company wanting to hand out discipline for anything we do wrong. We must remain vigilant on all of these things, take your time to do these things, the company loves to see our local spending money defending our members in investigations, and it’s obvious they are playing hardball.
Grand Lodge Vice-President West Mark Ciurej was present, and he discussed the following items: possible certification for members, CDL driver issues, a “responsibility” study that is ongoing to try to increase our wages. Mark also discussed the upcoming elections, and their impact on our membership, especially if Amtrak is privatized and the effects it could have on our retirement system. Mark also brought up the importance of proper testing procedures, and not taking short cuts. We have to keep our focus on this constantly. Mark concluded talking about the railroad “hot lines” and hour of service issues.
Ballots were counted and here are the election results: President: Dave Malone, 1st Vice President: Don Levell, 2nd Vice President: John Bitters, Recording Financial Secretary: Ed Leeson, the 3 trustees are Todd Anderson, Craig Mayer and Kevin Meyer.
The 5 local chairmen are, Aurora District: Craig McLaren, Ft. Madison District: Jerry Moore, Hannibal District: Nate Estes, Ottumwa District: Joe Baker, Savanna District: Joe Lokken. The grievance committee members are, Aurora District: Fred Fabian and Greg Jones. Ft. Madison District: Craig Mayer and Randy Reittenger. Hannibal District: Kurt Anderson and Darin Edwards. Ottumwa District: Josh Applegate and Jeff Hale. Savanna District: Jason Ritchie and Anthony Robinson. Here are phone numbers for our Local Chairmen, Joe Baker: 636-221-4597, Nate Estes: 217-710-8594, Joe Lokken: 715-495-0810, Craig McLaren: 309-368-8227, and Jerry Moore: 660-734-4006.
Lastly, there was a proposal to amend Article V, section 3 of our by-laws. The following proposal will be voted on by membership at the LaCrosse meeting September 8, 2012. “A phone expense of up to $ 50.00 (fifty) dollars will be allowed Local Chairmen and properly authorized officers per month.” If approved, this will be added to the end of Article V, section 3. The meeting adjourned at 1:45 p.m.
I hope to see a lot of you at our next meeting in LaCrosse. The turnout for our meetings has been pretty dismal lately. There is always useful information at these meetings, and I would encourage you to attend if possible. Please let me know if there is any change in your address, work status etc, and if you would like to receive this notice by e-mail please let me know.
Fraternally,
Ed Leeson
RFS BRS Local 20
brslocal20@comcast.net
309-202-1260
