Court Rejects Local Bargaining by Union

An effort by a railroad labor union to engage in local negotiations over wages and benefits was rejected by a federal court.

The court ruled that the Railway Labor Act does not allow the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to seek local negotiations with some railroads.

National contract negotiations between railroad labor unions and major railroads have been underway since 2020. It is common for those negotiations to last for several years before reaching agreement on a new contract.

So long as negotiations continue the unions cannot strike. Currently, the parties are involved in mediation in an effort to hammer out a new agreement.

Court Overturns SEPTA Advertising Rule

A federal court has nixed an effort by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority to ban advertising on its buses and trains that the agency considers to be political or otherwise inflammatory.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that SEPTA’s advertising standards “are an impermissible subject matter restriction on speech.”

The court also found SEPTA had applied the rule inconsistently.

The case was brought over an advertisement by the Center for Investigative Reporting on a year-long study of racial bias in the housing market.

Lawsuit Seeks to Force Unions to Talk About Crew Size

A railroad union is being sued by eight railroads in an effort to force it to bargain over train crew size in upcoming contract talks.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court for the Northern District of Texas against the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers Division by BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, Kansas City Southern and three other railroads, two of which (Illinois Central and Grand Trunk Western) exist on paper because they are part of Canadian National.

The eighth railroad in the lawsuit is the Belt Railway of Chicago.

The suit contends that the union has refused to negotiate crew sizes at the national level. The union has contended that negotiating over crew size is banned under its current contracts with the railroads.

The railroads disagree with that interpretation of the contract and want the dispute to be resolved through arbitration.

The lawsuit described the issue of crew size as “one of the most contentious issues that has ever arisen in collective bargaining between the railroads and the unions.”

Negotiations for a new contract are expected to begin on Nov. 1 and the railroads want to talk about crew sizes during those sessions.

The lawsuit contends that the railroads “will be unable to progress the bargaining in the face of SMART-TD’s  . . . tactics to delay or obstruct any negotiations over crew consist. Every day that the railroads are unable to obtain new agreements is another day that they are unable to realize the benefits of more efficient and productive operations, and there is no way for the railroads to recover those lost potential savings.”

In a news release, SMART described the lawsuit as not the first time that railroads have tried to “attack” the crew size issue.

Typically, contract talks over wages, benefits and work rules are conducted by the National Carriers’ Conference Committee, which represents all Class I roads and a number of smaller ones, with 12 unions representing 140,000 railroad workers.

The last round of negotiations between began in January 2015 and drug on for three years.

Because labor contracts do not expire so there is no deadline for negotiations.

Indiana Short Line Challenging Illinois Crew Law

The Indiana Rail Road has joined the Association of American Railroads and the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association in a lawsuit seeking to overturn enforcement of an Illinois minimum crew law.

The law requires at least two crew members on trains operating within the state.

The bill creating the rule was signed in August by Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker following the decision of the Federal Railroad Administration to end a rulemaking procedure into requiring at least two crew members on trains.

In ending its proceedings, the FRA said it had determined that “no regulation of train-crew staffing is necessary or appropriate” for railroads to operate safely.

The lawsuit was filed against the Illinois Commerce Commission in a federal court in Chicago and argues that federal regulations preempt state crew size laws.

The Illinois law is set to become effective on Jan. 1, 2020.

The parties to the lawsuit are asking the court to prevent Illinois from enforcing the crew size law.

In the lawsuit, the parties argue that technological breakthroughs have enabled railroads to reduce crew sizes from five in the 1960s to two at present while also improving safety.

“Now, the nation’s railroads are poised to deliver even safer and more efficient service,” the suit states, adding that the FRA inquiry found no evidence to support the argument that requiring a minimum crew size would improve safety.

Ex-CN Signal Maintainer Facing Prison Term After Cutting Crossing Wires in Battle Creek, Michigan

A former Canadian National signal maintainer is facing a 20-year prison term after he pleaded guilty in a federal court in Michigan to a felony charge of impairing a railroad safety signal by cutting wires at grade crossings in Battle Creek.

Jeffrey Alan Taylor, who lives in the Upper Peninsula, was captured on video cutting the wires during a 2017 visit to the Battle Creek area.

The result was that the crossing gates went down and stayed down even though no train was approaching. That caused a traffic backup.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Davin Reust told the court that it must reject Taylor’s contention that the result of his action was nothing more than an inconvenience for motorists.

“This argument ignores the obvious; removing one of multiple safety systems cannot make the system safer . . .,” Reust wrote in a memorandum to the court. “Taylor’s argument boils down to one that he should not be held accountable for intentionally creating a safety hazard because no catastrophe occurred here.”

The first two wire-cutting incidents occurred in January 2017. After the second incident, the railroad installed hidden surveillance cameras at Battle Creek crossings.

Taylor was captured on video in June after CN received a report of the gates being down.

The video showed him parking his truck near a crossing, walking to the site and using wire cutters to cut signal wires

He was not employed by CN at the time of the wire cutting incidents, but had worked for the railroad between 1994 and 2009.

William Weise, an attorney representing Taylor, said his client accepted full responsibility and did not bear any ill will toward CN. Nor was this an act of terrorism.

Weise contended that Taylor was suffering from undiagnosed depression at the time of the wire-cutting incidents.

Taylor grew up in Richland, Michigan, and was the owner with his wife of a motel in St. Ignace in the Upper Penisula that was struggling financially. The attorney also said that Taylor had been caring for his mother, who died last February.

“Mr. Taylor believed his actions would be a nuisance to the railroad,” Weise said. “This has been an agonizing experience for Mr. Taylor as he has seen the effect this has had on his family and the community around him.”