BROTHERHOOD OF RAILROAD SIGNALMEN LOCAL 20
The next regular meeting of the Brotherhood Of Railroad Signalmen Local 20 will be held Saturday, April 18, 2015 at 8:30 a.m. at the Stoney Creek Inn, Quincy, IL located at 3809 East Broadway. Reservations may be made by calling 217-223-2255.
Following are brief minutes from our last meeting held in Chillicothe, MO on February 28, 2015.
The meeting opened at 8:30 with 8 officers, 6 members, 1 retiree, and 2 guests. A treasury balance of $54,618.68 in checking and c.d.’s in the amount of $21,696.60 was reported. Thirteen new members were voted in, bringing our local’s total to 312 dues paying members, along with 23 exempts paying dues retention fees.
Mike Dake discussed the following: The 2014 contractor extension, and the pay increases that were included in it, including some changes in travel pay on holidays, rest days, and protect days; establishing a written agreement on call out sequence for maintainers; the heavy handed discipline the company is handing out; and a joint meeting with the carrier on 7.2 crossing procedures.
Mark Ciurej discussed the following: The signalmans political league; the good financial condition of railroad retirement; a coalition of unions to negotiate on healthcare issues in the next contract; and the ongoing issue of human caused crossing activation failures that are still occurring. He also talked about getting an umbrella insurance policy for added protection.
Joe Baker discussed the following: A reprimand on a backing incident; a crossing activation failure; a seat belt violation caught on a drive camera; a crew not offering overtime to the senior signalman; hours of service and the implications of the law concerning operating commercial vehicles.
Nate Estes discussed the following: The denial of all his claims for the Galesburg hump yard since the new agreement has taken effect; the FRA is actively checking our hours of service against our trouble calls and the out of schedule tests we input into raildocs. Please remember to put out of schedule tests in when you are called out on trouble. Nate closed with a review of all the forms and documents that should be in our locations.
Jerry Moore discussed the following: Off the record issues with supervisors complaining about overtime when members are following the rules properly; Jerry also discussed the drive cameras, seat belt policy, and the importance of following the cable locating policy to the “t”.
Craig McLaren discussed the following: An email sent out concerning HLCS and the back up camera beeping issues, ARI needs to be involved in the process; he also said ops tests can be
challenged; an upcoming investigation involving a 7 critical failure; Craig is trying to get a straight answer on when it is ok to use a train move instead of a track shunt for crossing testing; he closed with a talk about social media, and the railroad’s practice of watching us.
We started taking nominations for our upcoming elections. We will be accepting nominations up to the end of our meeting in Quincy. I would like to thank everyone who has signed up on the email list. I encourage everybody to do so, it is very handy for me to keep members up to speed on any developments. I hope to see a nice turn out in Quincy, and as a reminder our June 13 meeting will be held in Ottumwa, IA this year.
Fraternally,
Ed Leeson
Recording Financial Secretary
BRS Local 20
brslocal20@comcast.net
309-202-1260
