Like its predecessor during the last 15 years or so of its existence, however, the STB "has lost sight of its statutory mission," said Edward Wytkind, Executive Director of the Transportation Trades Department (TTD) of the AFL-CIO, testifying on March 31 before the Senate Subcommittee considering the reauthorization of the STB. "Instead of an agency whose mission is to protect the public, it has become an agency whose mission is to carry out the wishes of the railroad industry it regulates. Whether it is rail employees, shippers, competitors or the general public, the STB ignores their needs and its own statutory mandate." In his statement before the Senate Subcommittee, Wytkind noted that even Business Week observed in a recent article that the three-member STB "has been no champion of the consumer" and "now's the time for Congress to get rail merger policy right."

Wytkind was testifying for the TTD (consisting of 30 affiliated unions, of which 13 rail unions-- including the BMWE-- comprise the Rail Labor Division) which passed a resolution in March of this year calling for reforms in the STB to protect workers and the public interest. The text of that resolution follows.

With Surface Transportation Board reauthorization legislation possible this year, Congress has the opportunity to reign in the power that mega-rail carriers exercise over workers, shippers and communities. Workers' rights and job security must be enhanced, safety must take on added importance, and Congress must end the outrageous practice of discarding private union contracts at the mere request of merging railroads. Unfortunately, the STB has typically adopted and implemented policies that ignore these concerns and the effect they have on railroad employees and the overall public interest.

Since the passage of the Staggers Act in 1980, the nation has witnessed an unprecedented consolidation in the rail industry that has left thousands of workers out of jobs and has vested unprecedented market power with a few mammoth rail carriers. While the STB has a statutory obligation to consider "the interests of rail carrier employees" affected by proposed mergers, not a single proposed transaction has been rejected or significantly altered because of employee concerns. Workers are promised generous New York Dock benefits, but in reality the railroads fight making these protective payments every step of the way by using long, drawn out legal proceedings to delay or escape fulfilling their obligations to employees.

Not only has the STB refused to protect employees, but it has used a tortured interpretation of law to cancel out collective bargaining agreements made between employees and railroads who later argue that the agreement interferes with a pending merger or acquisition. The STB has extended its authority to justify almost any change that the carriers request even if it is far removed from what is required to complete a transaction. If the nation's rail carriers want to make changes to private collective bargaining agreements, then they should do what every other company with a collective bargaining relationship must do--sit down with the employees and negotiate an agreement. Transportation labor calls on the Congress to finally put a stop to the practice of a federal agency trampling on the private contract rights of thousands of taxpayers who work on America's railroads.

We are also concerned about the lack of attention that has been paid to ensuring that rail transactions are completed in a manner that will not jeopardize the safety of workers and the public at large. We need only look at the problems that Union Pacific is experiencing as it attempts to complete its merger with Southern Pacific to understand the terrible impact a merger can have on safety. The STB has recently entered into a rulemaking designed to ensure that the safety concerns of rail transactions can be fully evaluated before approval is granted. While we support imposing new safety requirements on merging railroads, we suspect that there will be attempts to weaken this rule by excluding certain transactions or limiting the amount of information that rail carriers must provide. It must be recognized that the STB has an obligation to ensure that the transactions it approves, regardless of the size or type of applicant involved, will not put workers or the general public at further risk.

Shippers and their employees who are dependent on rail transportation also find themselves at the mercy of virtual rail monopolies. Transportation labor has long maintained that the reduction of competition in the rail industry causes devastating job cuts, harms the economy and communities, and is contrary to sound transportation policy. The massive consolidation also threatens the motor carrier sector where hundreds of thousands of Teamsters are employed. While operators in competing transportation modes fight over market share, the gains on one side always come at the expense of workers on both sides as carriers play the cut throat game of downsizing and squeezing more out of fewer employees.

As rail mergers and other transactions continue to reduce transportation options and market power is further concentrated, it is increasingly important that the role of the STB be reexamined. While transportation labor continues to evaluate proposals to increase competition or address shipper-carrier issues, we know from first-hand experience that massive and unrestrained consolidation in the railroad industry without regard to the needs of shippers, communities and employees, and to the transportation system itself, has been disastrous. We will continue to be mindful of this fact as Congress considers rail competition proposals.

Some have suggested that the STB, as currently structured, is simply incapable of fulfilling its public interest obligations and should be disbanded with its responsibilities parceled out to other government agencies. While this is not a new proposal, it has surfaced again because many believe the STB may have outlived its purpose or is too close to the industry that it is charged with overseeing. Transportation labor is seriously examining such a proposal. Meanwhile, to help guard against potential conflicts of interest, we propose that STB members be subjected to a "revolving door" policy curtailing their participation in the industry once their service terminates.

It is clear that Congress must take every opportunity to force the STB to perform its statutory responsibility to protect the public interest and ensure that protections embodied in statute are carried out in practice, and that voices other than those railroad executives are heard. Workers, shippers, communities, and state and local governments deserve nothing less; Therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That TTD will insist that Congress put a stop to the Surface Transportation Board's practice of breaking or making wholesale changes to privately negotiated labor agreements; and be it further

RESOLVED, That TTD will work with its affected affiliates to evaluate and respond to legislative proposals to reign in the power of large railroads; and be it further

RESOLVED, That TTD will advance the views expressed in this statement to the Clinton Administration and to the House and Senate authorizing committees.