As this issue goes to press, blocking confirmation of Linda Morgan as chair of the STB is BMWE's biggest single legislative and political goal.

Morgan's despicable dicing of BMWE contracts and her inequitable pro-management posture are discussed elsewhere in this issue. Please read those articles and take the political action recommended there.

Why pass legislation to make your lives better and safer if an administrator like Morgan can gut that legislation--like she gutted BMWE contracts--with the stroke of a pen, either by refusing to enforce it or, as in Kent County, Washington, by preventing any other public agency from enforcing it?

Politicians pick administrators. Administrators make rules that are as powerful as laws and, as with STB and NMB, that far more directly impact your life. For you, BMWE wants a voice in picking administrators. But we can have that only if you: 1) Register; 2) Vote; 3) Take political action.

Railroad Retirement

Good news: No bill is pending to change Railroad Retirement. What we have seems safe.

Bad news: No bill is pending to change Railroad Retirement. Meaning no progress on 55 and out, requiring contractors to pay into Railroad Retirement, or letting rail employees who are 20-year military vets collect the same railroad unemployment and sickness benefits their co-workers do.

Rail Safety

Two months ago, Congress had no rail safety bill pending. Now it has three.

Improved rail safety legislation is a priority for BMWE but is fiercely resisted by rail management. In late 1998, after fighting to a standstill, management agreed to talk about a joint labor-management rail safety bill. In Spring 1999, the parties met. Labor came prepared to talk. Management did not. (Gee, what a surprise!) Hence no agreement could be reached. Labor alone then sought rail safety legislation.

On the 5^th anniversary of a track-related BNSF derailment which caused major evacuations in his district, Representative James Oberstar (D-MN), the ranking member of the House Transportation Committee, introduced House Bill 2450.

H.2450 makes major changes in the Hours of Service Act, clarifying rest times and includes some contractors under the Act, but lets short lines ask for exemption from the Hours of Service. H.2450 makes maintenance of way working conditions safer and increases protection for employees reporting safety defects.

H.2450 provisions most affecting BMWE members are:

• Drivers of vans carrying rail employees will be covered by the Hours of Service Act in addition to commercial driver's license regulations--meaning van drivers can work and drive a maximum of 12 hours followed by a mandatory minimum 8 hours rest.
• Railroads must submit a fatigue-management plan for all employees to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). If no acceptable plan is promptly submitted, FRA will impose a plan on that railroad.
• In railroad-provided sleeping quarters, each employee has a separate room.
• Management retaliation against employees reporting safety defects is strongly prohibited. Employees disciplined for reporting safety defects can sue the employer and manager responsible. The $20,000 cap on punitive damages is removed, making substantial court awards possible.
• Managers guilty of harassing or intimidating employees who report safety defects can be permanently banned from employment in the rail industry (airlines already have this provision).
• Track inspectors must receive and maintain certification like engineers now do.
• Track inspection vehicles can travel no more than 15 mph.
• By 2002, all on-track equipment must activate ("shunt") signals on signalized track.
• Each work crew must have and use derails.
• FRA must promptly develop railroad crane safety rules.
• All railroad vehicles carrying employees must pass regular safety inspections.
• Unionized rail employees will not lose seniority when working in rail regulatory agencies like the FRA. Today, rail managers can move back and forth between railroads and the agencies that allegedly regulate them without penalty; unionized rail employees cannot.

BMWE supports much of this bill but not the track inspector certification requirement. First, it may allow management to avoid seniority in selecting track inspectors, and second, it exposes them to the allegedly "random' tests now used by management to harass engineers, trainmen, and truck drivers in union affairs.

Later, Representative Ronnie Shows (D-MS) introduced H.2666, identical to the Oberstar bill except for the track inspection and fatigue management provisions to which labor objects.

In response to the Oberstar/Shows bills, the Clinton Administration introduced H.2683, a much weaker version of the Oberstar and Shows bills. It contains far fewer employee protections, particularly for reporting defects. Significantly, the Administration's bill was introduced "by request," meaning that even the representative who introduced it (a bill must be introduced by a member of Congress) does not necessarily support it.

Remember, these bills have been introduced, not passed. None have been heard in committee and no companion bills have been introduced in the Senate.

If you want what's in these bills, you must make the effort to have Congress pass them.

Amtrak Passengers Bill of Rights

Already out of committee, H.2681 has very strong bipartisan support in the House. This bill applies to the standards of record keeping, information disclosure, and services now required in airplane crashes to passenger train accidents. BMWE secured an exclusion from this ban for employees covered by FELA. As now written, BMWE does not oppose the bill.

Fuel Tax

During the Reagan budget crisis, Congress levied a 4.3 cent surtax on all vehicle fuel. Ending this tax has been a major rail management goal ever since. In 1997, trucking lost a similar battle to remove the tax but did get trucking fuel tax revenues transferred from the general fund to the highway trust fund. For rail, H.2060 [Lipinski (D-IL)] transfers all fuel tax proceeds collected on railroads until 2004 from the general fund to a special railroad grade crossing safety fund, then eliminates the tax, a benefit trucking did not get.

Legislative on Line

If you want to see the full text of any of the above bills, they are available at www.thomas.gov. If you're not on the net, the public library in the town where you live or work can probably supply access.

Voter Registration

Of course, BMWE's clout in Washington depends in part on your political action in the field. The most basic step is registering you and your family members older than 17 to vote. Your system officers and legislative representatives have the necessary forms. Call them!

Please register to vote. Help BMWE help you and your kids.