Description : News Release - 03/01/2000 - Panel Denies Attempted UTU Raid

February 29, 2000, Southfield, MI -- The BMWE extends its congratulations to all members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers on their victory in a most difficult fight and applauds their endurance during more than two years of struggle.

In January 1998, the United Transportation Union filed an application with the National Mediation Board asking that a single craft of "Train and Engine Service Employes" be established and that the NMB authorize an election, initially on the Union Pacific, in which UTU and BLE members would vote as to whether they wished to be in the UTU or the BLE in a winner-take-all election. This was simply a thinly disguised gun-at-the-head approach by the UTU to try to force a consolidation with the BLE that the BLE's membership overwhelmingly opposes.

BLE, with the support of all of Rail Labor except the UTU, filed charges against UTU with the AFL-CIO. After a hearing, the AFL-CIO found that the UTU application to the NMB calling for an election of UTU and BLE members on the UP to pick which union all would belong to was a violation of their anti-raiding provisions. But the AFL-CIO still attempted to mediate the dispute and under its auspices negotiations between the two unions were conducted for over a year. In the end, however, for reasons known to the two parties, a voluntary result could not be obtained.

"The UTU's approach was wrong on all counts," said BMWE President Mac A. Fleming. "Wrong on the facts and the law and it was a fundamental breach of the principles of union solidarity and unity. I commend the arbitration panel for its principled application of the facts and the law and the NMB for adopting the panel's decision as its own. We urge President Little to pull in his horns and end his attempts to raid BLE and absorb the work of other crafts. Although his public comments imply an intention to continue raiding, we hope that cooler heads will prevail and this raid will end now. The whole labor movement, the NMB and the arbitration panel all oppose the UTU raid. Although there is room for disagreement within rail labor - each union has the right to its own position on issues - this right to disagree does not imply or permit an abridgement of the AFL-CIO Constitution and By-laws regarding raiding. President Little, Give Up this Raid."