Man with a Plan?

   Is Sacrosanct Charlie the only man with a plan? This newsletter is quite concerned with where Charlie's plan is going and thinks it knows where he is going.  Out of seemingly nowhere comes a "concerned member" with an alternate plan?  I had to read this 5 or 6 times and give it a whole lot of thought before I decided this PLAN deserves it's own page rather than be simply added to the most recent emails.  And of course, Sacrosanct will think this is Sacrilege. But the Express sees it quite differently since one of our avowed purposes is to present ideas which will be food for thought for union members.

Dear Brother Ruck:

I have read your site, along with that of the UTU and the BLE, in addition to many others which have info concerning my employment on the railroad.

Personally, it would appear that this so-called election which may or may not occur later this year may be the answer to all our problems.

First, there appears to be a general concensus that neither organization, BLE or UTU, is doing their job/s as far as representing the membership. I can certainly vouch for that as an individual.

It further appears that on the Union Pacific, the UTU may in terms of sheer numbers of members outnumber the BLE with respect to membership.

As such, it would be in the best interest of all UTU members to vote for the BLE, and also in the best interests of all BLE members to vote for the BLE.

If that would occur, it would seem that we, as the dues paying members, would end up with a win-win situation.

We would get rid of Charlie Little and his goons in one fell swoop, and then, the former UTU members who would now be forced to be part of the BLE, would hold the majority vote to get rid of the mirror image Charlie Little and his goons in the BLE.

Just think, for once in our Union lives, our vote would be meaningful. Maybe this isn't such a bad idea, one vote and purge ourselves of all the quasi-Carrier officers cross dressing as Union Leaders.

Let me know what you think.

A concerned member.

Dear Concerned:

    I think you have provided an alternate plan that has real potential.  I certainly know the UTU members can't get rid of Sac-C through any process under our Constitution, nor at any quadrennial meeting, albeit Byron's chances may be seriously deminished next time after we get the Armageddon Agreement through another "courageous" presidential decision to go to arbitration over the defeated agreement.

    One thing we do know, the BLE has an officer recall that actually works!  So in actuality, your "plan" could in fact work exactly as you describe, even to the point to replacing the BLE leadership is they don't fairly represent their new members.  The rumor is you do get a vote in the BLE.

    One problem that still faces the NMB if they do allow this specious vote.  The matter was addressed in the Special Edition of the EP Express in January of 1998, to wit: "Of course, as explained earlier, that can't be the plan. Think about this - there is now one singel craft (yea, right monty, ha ha) on the nation's  class I railroads and we vote each one in turn and BLE wins half the elections and UTU wins the other half. We now have one craft represented by two separate unins on the class I's? Hey, if anybody in the National Carrier's Conference thinks that's a good idea, please E=Mail me at IMDUMBERTHAN YOUARE@CHAOS.COM!" (page 8).  Literally, the NMB cannot allow this to happen.  The only solution if they allow the specious vote?   Vote all the Class I's at one time and one union is out of business!

    Because of what has happened relative to Smoot (the complete history and ongoing serious breach of the member's constitution and rights), I can't with a clear conscience say that UTU should be the union to survive.  We need a union in the rail industry, it doesn't have to be UTU or BLE and I don't care who it is as long as they represent the entire membership fairly. But you are absolutely right about one thing, this is a vote that could make a real difference. The other alternative the members have after the smoke clears and they still are not represented is to deny the union it's dues. So the new union (UTU or BLE - who cares) ups the dues, creates new officers, new special reps,  another bus or maybe a yatch, etc., we all go over to MOW and see how long before the union goes belly up?  I can tell you one thing for sure - 25% of either one of these union's members stoped paying dues and they would be into bankruptcy in 3 or 4 months - yea Charlie, even with stealing the rest of the Job Benefit Fund - oops, I guess that's Job Benefit "Program" now?  How's that determination with the DOL coming?  You haven't even asked for one yet, have you?   Hang in there, have a nice day, and I hope you're days are numbered, for the sake of rail labor!